Tiny Treasures day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled in this welcoming nursery. Leaders recognise the importance of having an effective key-person system in place and ensure children are greeted and cared for by familiar staff. This helps children to form firm attachments and promotes their well-being and confidence. Children confidently approach new people, demonstrating that they feel safe and secure in the nursery.

All children receive a good quality education. Key persons know the children well and establish positive relationships with the whole family. Staff plan appropriate next steps that build on what children already know and can do and incorporate their interests. Staff are effective in engaging with other professionals when needed. This helps to ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive the support they need so they can make progress from their starting points.

Children behave well. They listen to staff when they give them gentle reminders about the rules in the nursery. Children have formed friendships and play well with each other. They are kind, considerate, and polite to one another. Staff are good role models. They encourage and praise the children during the day this helps to boost their self-esteem.

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

• The leadership team is committed to providing high-quality care and education. They review the quality of children's care and learning and work with staff to improve outcomes for children. For example, they recently moved the babies into a different room, which gives them more opportunities to develop their physical skills.
• Children hear a wide variety of spoken language. Staff who work with young children name objects and draw children's attention to the colours, shapes, and features of the items they play with. Staff who work with older children use activities to introduce new words, such as 'roots' and 'nutrients', and explain the meaning of them when required. This helps children to learn new vocabulary and supports their good communication and language development.
• Children are eager to participate a wide range of activities and experiences that staff provide. For example, babies delight in exploring messy play with conditioner and sponges. Staff engage with children during their play and follow their interests. They encourage older children to think about the features of a face during a playdough activity to further their knowledge. Staff explain some concepts to children, such as how watches work. However, they do not always make the best use of their interactions to develop children's current knowledge and understanding to help extend their learning.
• Staff provide children with daily opportunities for exercise and fresh air. Children are encouraged to participate in active group games to promote their physical well-being. They have plenty of opportunities to build and develop their gross motor skills as they climb the steps on the slide and pedal the trikes. Children pour and scoop mud into containers and use chalk to draw on the easel. This helps develop their hand-eye coordination.
• The day generally runs smoothly, and children are engrossed in their play. However, the organisation during transition times impacts on children's engagement. For example, older children help tidy up before lunch, but this takes a long time. As a result, some children lose interest in what they are doing and become disengaged. In addition, the arrangements when babies come inside from the garden are not well organised. This leads to younger children becoming unsure what is expected of them.
• The leadership team is focused on building strong partnerships with parents. As a result, parents are very positive about the nursery. They report that their children are happy and settled and that their individual needs are met. They feel the communication in the nursery is effective. They are kept informed of their children's progress and state they have made progress since attending.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• coach staff in developing their interactions with children to help them recognise when children need more challenge to extend their learning
• enhance the organisation of transition times to ensure that children's needs are fully supported at these times.