The Woodlands Nursery School (Newton) Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are greeted with warm, friendly faces at the door. Parents are unable to take children directly into the room due to measures put into place in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. Children are happy and confident as they enter the setting. Staff support new children by providing cuddles and reassurance. This enables children to settle well. Leaders and staff know children incredibly well. This ensures that the needs of children are being met. The manager greets all children by name and encourages children to stop and chat about what they are doing. This promotes children's self-esteem.

Children benefit from healthy home-cooked meals and snacks, which are all prepared by the on-site cook. The cook provides parents with recipes of meals they can make at home. This helps children and their families to learn how to make healthy choices. Parents speak very highly of the setting. Communication between staff and parents is done face to face and electronically and parents feel they are kept well informed about their child's time at the setting. Leaders have established good relationships with parents and other professionals. They access appropriate support from other agencies for children and families in a timely manner. Additional resources and the extra allocation of staff are used well to support children's emotional well-being. This enables children to make progress across all areas of learning.

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

• Staff promote children's communication and language development well. Babies are exposed to lots of singing and familiar nursery rhymes. Older children are given opportunities to create and act out their own stories. Pre-school children enjoy reading stories and then re-enacting the main events. Staff work closely with parents, encouraging them to continue this experience at home. Pictures of children reading at home are displayed. This opens up meaningful conversations with children about their favourite books, which help to enrich children's vocabulary.
• Staff have recently started to use Makaton as a way to communicate with children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This is having a positive impact on children as they demonstrate that they are able to communicate their needs to staff.
• Children are given lots of different opportunities to develop their physical skills. Babies are provided with safe spaces to practise sitting unaided and lots of space to crawl, pull themselves to standing and to walk. The outdoor areas provide opportunities for children to develop their small and large movements. For example, children enjoy playing with sand, filling and emptying trucks and finding different resources to bury and dig out vehicles. Children enjoy running and playing chase with members of staff. Children are given opportunities to practise new skills, such as yoga. Children are being encouraged to build an awareness of what is happening to their bodies. Staff weave in stories which maintain children's focus and attention.
• Children are supported to develop their independence. Staff teach older babies how to feed themselves. They are encouraged to use the correct utensils at mealtimes, and activities are used to help to embed this learning. For example, children have great fun with a mousse like dessert, learning how to hold spoons themselves, make different marks and explore the texture.
• Leaders support staff well. Staff are given regular opportunities to talk with the deputy manager, which supports their emotional well-being. Leaders are good at identifying strengths and areas for improvement. Staff are provided with appropriate training courses based on the needs of children. For example, to further promote the setting's dedication to developing children's communication and language skills, staff have recently attended storytelling training.
• Staff plan activities for children with clear intentions on what they want children to learn. However, at times some staff limit the learning for children by being too rigid and focused on set objectives and outcomes. As a result, some children lose interest in these activities.
• Children's behaviour is, generally, good. Children are encouraged to follow the rules, such as tidying up, walking inside, using scissors safely and sitting at the table to eat their meals and snacks. Occasionally, children become a little disruptive when the activities provided are not capturing their interests or offering enough excitement and stimulation.
• Leaders and staff are teaching children to respect and celebrate different cultures, ethnic backgrounds and families. Children are kind and considerate to each other.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop a deep understanding of how to extend children's learning more broadly, and keep them focused and engaged during activities.