The Woodland Rose Day Nursery With Forestry Learning

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children become deeply engaged in their learning at this warm, welcoming and interesting nursery. They persevere at their self-chosen tasks and practise their problem-solving skills. Children hold nails carefully and hammer them into tree stumps. When the nail bends, they consider how to fix this before staff skilfully intervene. Children then have another go and are able to independently work out their own solution next time.

Staff follow children's interests to extend their learning, building on what they already know and can do. Babies try to copy older children with water paints. When their interest turns to filling and pouring, staff facilitate this well by giving babies access to a water tap to experiment with.

Children have ample opportunity to be creative. Older children create stories with toy dinosaurs and dress up as superheroes, using their 'super strength' to mix play dough. Babies sing familiar songs with their key person. All children enjoy a whole-nursery dance session and move their bodies in a variety of fun ways. Children laugh with delight as they stick out their tongues and bend their knees. This helps children to develop their whole-body control.

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

• Leaders strive to constantly improve the care and learning for children at the nursery. They value learning and encourage the staff to undertake research and work towards higher qualifications. Children benefit from this extra knowledge. For example, they have the opportunity to use real tools during the forest-school sessions.
• The staff team has a good understanding of how children learn and develop. They have thoughtfully prepared the rooms and garden with children's needs in mind. For example, staff promote discussion about safety simply by having a gate that children must go through to get to the large forest area. This helps children to understand their own safety, when they can do things themselves, and when they must wait for adults.
• Staff know children well and incorporate their next steps in learning during fun activities. For example, while building shapes in the sand pit, staff encourage children to count reliably to 10. They gather information about their home life and use this to plan experiences that complement this, such as taking the bus.
• Staff extend children's vocabulary well. They talk about what they are doing and are genuinely interested in what children are saying. They use words such as 'calcium' at breakfast to discuss how it keeps them healthy.
• Completing tasks at routine times help children to gain awareness about their own health and practise independence. Staff encourage babies to wash their hands after changing their nappy. Older children pour their drinks and scrape their plates at lunchtime by themselves.
• Leaders spend time investing in staff's teaching skills. They observe their practice and meet regularly with staff to discuss their needs. As a result, staff feel well supported and motivated to work. They are genuinely interested in what the children say and do. However, not all staff are highly skilled at including quieter children in play.
• There are good and some outstanding instances of teaching. However, not all staff skilfully question children throughout their play and wait for them to come up with their own ideas. At times, the answer is given for them. This means that children are not always stretched in their thinking.
• Staff help children to learn about nature and the environment. Babies lay in hammocks and look up at the leaves. Staff encourage them to hold leaves that have fallen off the tree and see the difference in colours. Older children watch as worms and spiders wiggle and crawl out of sand. Staff help them to learn the correct names and what the insects might be doing there.
• Parents praise the nursery staff for all they do. They tell the inspector how staff tailor the settling-in procedure so that children and parents feel comfortable. They explain how staff know the children well and work closely to support children's learning needs and all-round well-being, including any medical needs. Staff send home a learning backpack filled with activities to help parents support their children's education.
• The staff at the nursery work with other professionals to support children's needs. They communicate with other settings that children attend to complement the learning needs of children. They ensure that any delays in development are referred to appropriate professionals quickly so that children receive the support they need to catch up with their peers.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen teaching to be more reactive to children's various learning dispositions so that all children have equally high-quality opportunities to learn
• help staff develop their interaction with children even further so that children have more opportunities to come up with their own ideas.