The Wendy House Day Care Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the nursery. They enthusiastically embrace all the opportunities that they create for themselves and from staff to learn, experiment and explore. Children gather natural materials to create an environment that they think birds would like to visit. They confidently describe what they have made and how the wild birds could use each aspect. For example, they gather long grass to make a nest and place a twig next to it for birds to perch on. Babies splash their hands in a shallow tray of water and watch with interest as the water drips from items that they lift out of the tray. Staff talk to them about what they see and do. This contributes to the foundations that babies build to begin to understand the world around them.

Children are immensely proud of their own efforts and their contributions to ideas and activities, helping to rapidly build positive self-esteem. In the 'willow barn', children talk about their friends in another local nursery. They talk about the songs and dances that they show other children during secure and supervised video links with them. They learn to listen and to find out about the lives of others in the wider community, helping to promote a strong sense of identity. Differences and similarities are celebrated throughout the nursery, effectively helping children to build a healthy respect towards others.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• The dedicated nursery owners and senior team work exceptionally well to provide and maintain the highest levels of care and education for children. Bespoke training helps to ensure that all staff have a deep understanding about how children learn. In turn, staff effectively combine a variety of impactful teaching methods to help children to rapidly build on what they already know and understand. As a result, there is a consistent and focused approach across the nursery, helping children become highly confident and independent learners.
• Staff embrace the strong ethos shared throughout the nursery. They understand that the environment is a valuable resource to aid children to learn in different ways. Children satisfy their curiosities in a variety of spaces during their well-planned day. For example, in the bird hide, staff provide binoculars, reference books, and posters to help children to identify what they see. While in a wooded area, children balance on logs and dig in the earth to create a habitat for an imaginary troll. Children successfully transfer the knowledge and skills they have learned, and confidently make links to other aspects of their learning. Staff skilfully encourage children to recall what they already understand, helping them to expand their knowledge effectively.
• The emotional well-being of both children and staff are promoted by senior staff and providers. Children learn to identify how they are feeling. As they grow, children independently access different resources to help them to regulate their feelings and emotions. Strong bonds between staff and children contribute to a trusting and safe environment in which to seek support. From a very young age, babies snuggle in the arms of staff. The highly receptive and nurturing staff gently rock and soothe babies, who swiftly relax and settle.
• Staff have a clear understanding of how children's home experiences influence their progress. Parents share a wealth of information with key persons and other staff. Parents report that staff quickly incorporate new experiences and outings that children have with their families into activities within the nursery. This enhances children's desire to expand their learning even more.
• Staff encourage children to take supervised age-appropriate risks during their play and explorations. For example, children climb in trees and use tools in their play. Before groups of children enter designated outdoor spaces, they help staff to identify any potential risks that they need to be aware of. They describe these to other children in the group and talk about what they need to do to prevent accidents, helping them to all begin to keep themselves and others safe.
• Children behave exceptionally well. When needed, they spontaneously find sand timers to help them to manage situations where they need to share or take turns. During group activities, children welcome others to join in. For example, when children experiment with different colours in water, they happily share cups and pipettes with newcomers. They enthusiastically describe what they see, recalling terminology such as 'primary and secondary colours', allowing others to receive new facts and information.