Tiny Toez @ Lords & Ladies

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Upon arrival, staff greet children with excitement and children respond positively to show that they enjoy coming to this nursery. The welcoming atmosphere and strong relationships with staff in the nursery help children to feel secure. Staff support children well, allowing them to explore activities, such as using real hammers to break ice to release the dinosaurs within. Children demonstrate high levels of focus during this 'risky play'. Babies explore a soapy mixture in their water play to learn more about textures. When the toddlers use the water trough outside, they build on previous learning by carrying out investigations about whether objects float or sink. Children excitedly jump in puddles and explore the mud when they are following their own interests.

Children thoroughly enjoy taking part in activities. Children have opportunities to explore different materials. For example, they use mini diggers to scoop and transport materials, such as soil and flour, to other parts of the tray and then mix them to create new combinations. Pre-school children use the role-play kitchen to make meals and serve it to each other on wooden plates made from tree-trunk slices. This gives children opportunities to use their imagination, to work as a team and to share resources with one another. Access to healthy food choices throughout the day, well-established hygiene practices for handwashing, and well-planned sleep times for babies and toddlers all promote a healthy lifestyle.

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

• Leaders have clearly set out the intent for the nursery's curriculum. Each room has specific milestones set out for the children to achieve before they transition to the next room. The nursery's overall intent for their curriculum is to ensure the children are ready for school and that they can thrive in the next stage of their educational journey. Although children have access to a small selection of books, they are not always good quality or support topics being covered in other areas of learning.
• Staff gather information from parents about their child before they attend, which helps staff to meet the needs of the children and plan familiar care routines. Gaps in children's learning and development are identified accurately, and help is given to parents to seek external support where needed. A wide range of support is available for individual children with specific needs, such as external speech and language intervention and physical development sessions.
• Staff are aware of children's next steps as they assess the children regularly. However, planned activities do not always support children's next steps to help them make the best possible progress.
• Children enjoy the time they spend outdoors. Babies are able to explore activities safely, whether they are crawling or toddling. In comparison, the larger outside area for toddlers and pre-school children allows them to develop more advanced skills appropriate to their age and specific physical needs.
• Staff have established clear routines and put policies in place to keep children safe. Staff risk assess all areas of the nursery throughout the day to ensure the spaces are safe for the children to use. Induction processes for new staff are robust to ensure all adults are suitable to work with the children. Staff can access a wide range of training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date.
• Behaviour is excellent throughout the nursery. Children follow the nursery's 'Golden Rules' which clearly set out the expectations of how they should behave. Children can recall these during circle time and also demonstrate appropriate actions associated with each rule. When children need support with making the right behaviour choices, staff remind them of the golden rules.
• Parents say they are really happy with this nursery. They are positive about the communication they receive via an online learning journey, and also verbally when they collect their children in person. Parents say that the staff are 'very supportive', 'like a family' and they provide 'the personal touch'. They say they know what their children learn about in the nursery in order to be able to continue the learning at home. Overall, parents say that the nursery is a 'nice place for their children to be'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to focus more precisely on children's next steps during adult-led activities and consistently extend children's learning, so that they make the best possible progress
• enhance the opportunities children have to extend their enjoyment of books and develop their literacy skills.