Timsbury Childcare

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at Timsbury Childcare happy and excited for their day to begin. They are met at the nursery door by warm and welcoming staff, which supports children to feel safe and secure. Children's behaviour is good. Staff promote children's independence skills as they encourage children to take off their own coats and bags and hang these on their pegs. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic,, parents are unable to enter the nursery building. Staff utilise electronic communications to ensure information is shared effectively with parents. Therefore, this has had no impact on children's learning and development.

Children are eager to access the range of activities and resources on offer inside and outside. Children demonstrate good attitudes to learning and are keen explorers. For example, children curiously scoop up tadpoles from the water using clear jars to examine any changes that may have occurred over the weekend. They look closely with their friends and discuss whether the tadpoles are nearly ready to be frogs. Children gain good communication skills as they benefit from a language-rich environment. Staff introduce new vocabulary into children's play. For example, staff use descriptive language to explain to the younger children that the dough needs to be sticky and stretchy for the pizza toppings.

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

• Staff provide children with a variety of stimulating activities outdoors. Children use tools while exploring the texture of sand and are encouraged to fill and empty containers. Children and staff work together to transport and pour water down pieces of guttering, to wash away the plastic animals that are stuck.
• Staff support children to develop the small muscles in their hands and fingers, to promote their early writing skills. For example, they have a go at cutting and squeezing oranges in the mud kitchen to collect the juice to make potions. Children show good concentration and coordination skills as they use the pestle and mortar to crush different leaves and herbs to add to their creations.
• Children become engrossed in imaginative play. For example, children act out different characters in the shop role play and use different props and resources to extend their pretend play.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents describe the nursery as a 'home-from-home setting'. Staff share information with parents regularly about their child's learning and development, including what they are working on next. Parents comment on the high levels of progress that their children have made since starting at the setting.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on children's personal, social and emotional development. They have used recent training to support children to recognise and talk about their emotions, and how these may feel in their bodies. This has helped children understand their emotions in more detail and seek support from staff if needed.
• Staff know all the children well and have developed good bonds with children and their families. They continuously give children praise for their individual achievements, which enhances children's sense of belonging and promotes their self-esteem.
• Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively. They have developed good partnerships with other professionals to provide ongoing support for individual children's learning and development. Staff attend relevant training to extend their knowledge and help support children with SEND. For example, staff have recently attended Makaton training to support individual children's communication development.
• Leaders have worked hard to make changes to enhance the provision. They have introduced new planning systems which provides a more child-centred approach to learning. While the new systems are working well, there is still some work to be done to fully embed these changes, to enable children to build on what they already know and can do to make the best possible progress.
• Although children show good engagement most of the time, the structure and organisation of group times, such as circle time, are not as effective as other group activities. As a result, children become restless and struggle to concentrate.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine and strengthen the recently introduced planning systems to enable children to build on what they already know and can do, to ensure they make the best possible progress
• review the structure and organisation of group times to take into consideration the age ranges and individual needs of the children present, to enable all children to remain focused and engaged.