Tiny Steps Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff have high aspirations for all children. They want all children to receive a positive start to their learning journey. Staff plan and deliver an effective and fun programme of learning. Children gain a wide range of skills and knowledge in preparation for starting school. This enables children to approach the move on to school with confidence and excitement. Staff support children especially well in their independence and language development. They skilfully help children build a wide vocabulary of words and phrases. This enables children to confidently talk to each other and express their thoughts and opinions. Children learn to do lots of things for themselves. They happily hang up their coats and use cutlery at mealtimes.

The highly inclusive nature of the nursery means all children feel valued and very welcome. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are fully involved in all aspects of nursery life. This enriches the experiences of all children who attend. Children learn well from the example set by the happy and helpful staff. They learn to manage their emotions and consider the needs of others. They show they feel safe, secure and very welcome.

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

• The support for children with SEND is exemplary. The highly experienced special educational needs coordinator advocates hard for these children. She works closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that children get the extra support they may need to make the progress they are capable of. Staff provide children with excellent support and celebrate the many achievements of all children.
• Partnerships with parents are a real strength of the nursery. Parents cannot praise the staff enough for their support and guidance. The manager uses a wide range of successful strategies to help parents support children's learning further at home. She shares information and guidance on blogs and social media. She is always available to offer wise words and support. Parents are enthusiastic users of the lending library to encourage children's love of books.
• Staff's strong focus on children's personal, social and emotional skills has a very positive impact on children's confidence and attitudes towards learning. Children demonstrate a 'can do' attitude, keen to try out their ideas and use resources in imaginative ways.
• Staff are clear about the broad aims they have for children's learning. However, they are, on occasions, less clear about the specific learning purpose behind some activities they set out. This impacts on their ability to use these opportunities to precisely help children build further on what they can already do.
• Staff understand how important children's physical development is to their overall progress and good health. Staff encourage all children to spend time outside. Children have lots of opportunities to build their stamina, coordination and confidence.
• Staff understand the mathematical skills young children will most benefit from developing. However, they are not fully confident in how best to plan for this aspect of children's learning to ensure that mathematics is fully embedded in the curriculum.
• Staff show real care and concern for all children. Babies and toddlers thrive in the very nurturing environment. Staff meet children's care needs with dignity and kindness. Babies wake from their sleeps to soft words and cuddles. Older children laugh with staff and show delight to be at nursery. This good practice helps build children's confidence in themselves as valued and capable young people.
• Staff delight in the wide range of cultural backgrounds of the children. They ensure that special days in children's lives and communities are marked and celebrated. This highly inclusive approach helps all children feel valued. It also helps all children build a very positive view of the similarities and differences between themselves and others.
• The manager takes great care to consider how best to use additional funding to which children are entitled. She considers children's specific needs and interests. She closely monitors the effectiveness of this funding on children's progress.
• Staff thoroughly enjoy working at the nursery. The manager has created a workforce who, quite rightly, are proud of what they do. She supports staff to develop their skills through a well-considered programme of professional development. Under her guidance and encouragement, staff have grown in confidence and feel valued and appreciated.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• identify more precisely the learning intent for some activities, so staff can focus their teaching more precisely on building on children's existing skills or knowledge
• support staff to develop a clearly defined curriculum for mathematics, to increase their confidence in supporting children to learn about numbers and mathematical concepts.