Tilbury Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this caring and nurturing environment. Leaders and staff warmly welcome children as they get ready to start their day. Children independently put away their belongings and share how they feel. They learn how to place their name on a visual emotion board and understand how to recognise their feelings. Staff know children very well and build strong relationships to help them feel safe and secure. Leaders and staff plan an ambitious curriculum to ensure all children make excellent progress and prepare them for their next stage of learning.

Staff have high expectations for all children. They motivate children's experiences through imaginative play. For example, staff engage children's curiosity to create pancakes with sand and transport this into different sized pots. Children develop an understanding of mathematical concepts. Staff role model words such as 'full' and 'empty'. This helps to bring children's creations to life. Staff are highly responsive and offer praise and encouragement for children's efforts. For example, they help children to wash their hands effectively. Staff demonstrate this through role modelling and singing a song to engage children's learning. This helps children to develop a positive sense of self.

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

• Leaders and staff organise a curriculum with a focus on developing children's independence, social and physical skills. Staff effectively build on what children already know and identify what they need to learn next. For example, children's assessment is built on this information to identify gaps and swiftly intervene. Leaders and staff seek support from external professionals to prioritise children's development. From this, children make good progress.
• Children deeply engage in the outdoors. Staff provide ample opportunities for children to practise their physical skills. Children create obstacle courses and staff build on these interests by following their ideas. Children are confident to climb and use trees to help their stability and balancing skills. This helps children to build their core strength and navigate their environment with curiosity.
• There is a good focus on keeping children healthy. Leaders and staff encourage children to make healthy decisions, for example by involving children in making choices for snack. Staff talk about the impact of good nutrition on children's physical well-being. Children wash their hands at key times in the day. This supports children's development and understanding of self-care.
• Children build secure bonds with their key person and staff know them well. Organised routine activities throughout the day, such as registration time, story time and snack time, provide some valuable group learning opportunities. However, at times these can take too long, meaning some children lose focus.
• Children who need additional support or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Leaders and staff work closely with other professionals to ensure all children make progress. Effective strategies are in place to ensure that children's gaps are swiftly identified. From this, leaders and staff prioritise children's progress and identify further development.
• Partnerships with parents are well established. Parents feel confident that children have settled very well and arrive to nursery ready to learn. They receive regular communication about their children's development. This makes them feel actively involved in the progress children make. Parents feel that children are well accommodated through a flexible approach by leaders and staff. From this, parents make recommendations for the nursery in the community.
• Leaders maintain a good oversight of the nursery and a commitment to continuous improvement. There are effective processes in place to prioritise staff development. Regular training and workshops keep staff and leaders up to date with relevant knowledge and training. Professional development is prioritised, and leaders ensure that staff have access to effective supervision sessions and appraisals to celebrate their achievements. From this, leaders identify gaps in knowledge and effectively support improving better outcomes for children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review daily routines to consider how children can be even more engaged in purposeful learning at all points in the day.