Tiny Tots Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery team warmly greet the children and their parents at the door. Most of the children that enter the building, quickly settle into a familiar routine. Those who are unsettled get welcomed in by their key person. Children in all rooms engage in free-flow play, staff place a strong emphasis on independence in all the rooms. Children develop their independence by self-serving at mealtimes, learning how to dress themselves and using the toilet. Babies show delight in sensory play, using their hands and feet to discover the textures of dry cereal in tuff trays. Staff encourage this by asking appropriate questions and allowing the children to explore freely. Toddlers enjoy role play, actively engaging with the resources and being supported by the staff in a sensitive manner.

Pre-school children join in with parachute games and use climbing equipment to develop their physical abilities. Inside, the children roll and squash play dough and a group of children gather round a staff member to listen to a story about firefighters. The staff member asks questions and recaps on what the children learned the day before. Pre-school children independently ice teddy bear biscuits using their fine motor skills to drip and spread the icing. They then count the raisin 'buttons' on the bears. Staff reinforce children's number skills by counting with the children and allowing them to choose how many raisins to put onto the biscuits. Staff listen and model language well, they demonstrate quality interactions with children as they play, by showing and explaining as well as facilitating children's spontaneous play.

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

• Children can access their lunch when they are ready to eat. They confidently serve themselves while staff are on hand to help them as needed. The nursery cook prepares nutritious and balanced meals and takes careful account of any food intolerances. She finds suitable alternatives for all of the children to enjoy, which keeps children safe and promotes their well-being.
• Children benefit from being outdoors throughout the day. The pre-school room has direct access to the outdoors, which children enjoy during the day. This benefits children who learn better outdoors.
• The manager and staff plan activities to build on children's knowledge and skills. They ensure that children's learning experiences cover all of the areas of learning. However, following the recent change to how activities are planned, the manager is aware of the need to monitor the effectiveness to ensure children's learning is sequenced.
• The manager and staff have a whole-team approach to tackling unwanted behaviour. They have received training recently on this and have created an area in pre-school where children displaying unwanted behaviour can visit and talk about their feelings. However, on occasion, the behaviour of others has an impact on children and at times staff are less effective in managing the feelings of all children.
• The management and staff team ensure that all children have the same opportunities. They recognise the impact the pandemic has had on children's learning and behaviour. Staff carefully monitor children's progress, so that gaps in learning are identified. They provide opportunities for children to catch up in their learning through purposeful play. Furthermore, children who require additional support make good progress, due to staff's effective support for them.
• The manager and staff use what they know about the children to support the preparation for school. They use local guidance to support ten key areas of focus that they implement throughout the nursery. For example, children are given opportunities to put own their own coat and serve their own meals. This has a positive impact on children as they prepare for school readiness.
• Staff benefit from peer observations. The feedback from these observations is used to develop staff practice. As a result, overall staff's interactions with children are strong and help children to learn.
• Children benefit from a strong key-person system. Care routines are respectful and give children the confidence and self-motivation to increase their independence and self-help skills.
• The management and staff team have a good relationship with external agencies, including when children attend more than one setting. The team work with other professionals and attend relevant meetings and groups that support the children while they are at nursery.
• Staff build on children's vocabulary. The staff in the baby room repeat words back to the babies and acknowledge their early speech when they babble back. Staff ask questions and use a running commentary while they engage with the children in the room. This gives the children opportunity to use and explore new words.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor how staff make sure that each child's learning is sequenced appropriately
• continue to reflect on the impact of the unwanted behaviour on all children.