The Willows, Toad Hall Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children throughout the nursery display positive relationships with staff. Strong bonds quickly develop and children demonstrate that they feel happy and safe. They enjoy exploring the well-organised environment and develop good attitudes to learning. Children's interests are known and used to encourage their play and learning. They show high levels of involvement in their play. For example, babies enjoy exploring in trays of sand and feeling the difference it makes when they add water. Two- and three-year-olds get excited as they play in coloured water and hunt out bugs and other objects in yellow 'gloop'. Pre-school children fully immerse themselves in being hairdressers. They enjoy making over adults' hair with clips, hair extensions and pretend brushing colour on to dye the hair. Staff use these activities well to extend on children's interests and build on their vocabulary, communication and language skills.

Children learn to take turns and share. Staff help babies learn that they need to wait until their friends are away from the bottom of the slide before going down. Older children understand the expectations for behaviour. They learn to consider their friends when splashing in the water tray or spraying a water bottle. Children show respect for one another and quickly offer comfort if they see a friend unhappy.

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

• Since the last inspection, the new manager, with the support of the management team, has made positive improvements to the provision and staff practice. Staff are confident in their understanding of safeguarding, implement effective risk assessments and deploy themselves to meet children's needs well.
• The manager completes regular supervision sessions with staff and has an open-door policy so they can come and share their thoughts or concerns at any time. An improved key-person system enables staff, and their buddy, to continually support children's needs.
• Staff understand how to provide activities that are appropriate for children's ages and stages of development but also challenge them in their learning. They provide a varied curriculum and use children's interests to make learning fun. Children are all making good progress. Staff help them to develop the skills they need for their future learning consistently as they progress through the nursery.
• Children's home and cultural backgrounds are reflected within the nursery. Staff learn words in children's home language to support children's settling-in process and inclusion. Resources, such as books, are available in dual languages to build on all children's awareness that words have meaning and can come in different forms.
• Children enjoy healthy lifestyles and staff actively encourage their independence skills throughout the session. Older children confidently lay the table and serve their own food. They receive a varied range of snacks and meals, that also meet their dietary requirements, and take part in the companies 'Cook and grow' initiative.
• Children enjoy using the outside area to build on their learning. They build on their physical skills as they climb over, under and through obstacles, play imaginatively in the 'mud kitchen' and negotiate on tricycles and scooters. Babies enjoy climbing up and sliding down the slide. Staff closely supervise children to support their learning and ensure their safety.
• Staff with the youngest children are attentive to their needs and meet their routines well. They provide babies with comfort when needed and encourage their new skills, such as supporting them to pull themselves up and walk. Babies enjoy group activities, such as singing. Due to the differing ages and abilities for these youngest children, at times, the group sizes do not enable staff to fully support them all to get the most from these.
• Staff are swift to identify emerging needs in children. They liaise closely with parents and other professionals to seek the support needed to help these children make the best possible progress in their learning and development. Children with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support from staff. However, the range of resources and visual aids available to assist these children to engage and build on their concentration skills fully is currently limited.
• Partnership with parents is a strength. Parents state how pleased they are with the staff, the information they receive and how well their children are cared for.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve adult-led activities for the younger children to enable them to gain the most from these activities
• develop the range of resources available to support children with emerging and identified needs to engage and concentrate in their learning.