Tinytots@Emmanuel Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have a lovely early years experience at this nursery. Staff provide a warm and nurturing environment in which children are eager to learn. They are very attentive to children's individual needs. Staff gently cuddle and sing to children who are upset, promoting their emotional well-being. Children are well settled and very happy. Staff have clear expectations for sharing and turn taking. They model excellent manners and respectful interactions, which children copy. This helps children to understand what is expected of them and contributes to their good behaviour.

Staff implement a curriculum that is focused sharply on promoting children's communication and language development. They provide targeted learning sessions to support those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language. Babies progress from babbling, to learning animal names and making the corresponding animal noises. Older children learn the words and actions to familiar songs and rhymes. Staff implement signing across the nursery to further support those children who do not yet communicate verbally. Children skilfully remember lots of signs and use these throughout their independent play. All children are making good progress from their individual starting points.

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

• Managers have a good understanding of what they want children to learn. They have clear intentions and share these with the staff team. The curriculum is focused on what children need to learn next and sequenced effectively across the nursery. This helps to ensure that children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning.
• Robust procedures are in place to monitor children's development. Staff use what they know about children to form accurate and achievable next steps in learning. Managers use additional funding, such as early years pupil premium, wisely to support the development of individual children. This helps to narrow the gaps in learning and support children who may be at risk of falling behind.
• Support for children with SEND is well embedded. The special educational needs and disability coordinator (SENDCo) implements targeted learning plans swiftly when staff have developmental concerns about children. She makes timely referrals to outside agencies when necessary and works closely with other professionals. Children with SEND benefit from knowledgeable practitioners, who get to know their unique needs well.
• Children are developing positive attitudes to learning. Older children are motivated to take part in group activities, such as dough modelling, and show perseverance as they practise new skills. However, occasionally, larger group activities are not always adapted well enough, particularly for those children who speak English as an additional language. Consequently, some children disengage and become distracted.
• Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to develop their independence skills. Children wash their own hands, pour drinks and skilfully use knives to butter their own crackers. They are learning to self-serve at lunchtime with some hand-over-hand support from staff when needed. Children are developing important skills needed for their eventual move to school.
• Children enjoy exploring the outdoor area. They practise climbing, balancing and building their core strength on the scooters and bicycles. Staff encourage children to access story books and mark-making equipment in the outdoor area. This helps to support the literacy development of those children who prefer to learn outdoors.
• Managers place high priority on working with parents. They collect a wealth of information from parents when children first start to help them plan appropriately from the beginning. Parents attend parents' evening and stay-and-play sessions throughout the year. They receive information about children's development and how they can extend next steps at home. This helps to provide continuity in children's care and learning.
• The provider and newly appointed managers are passionate and truly dedicated to their roles. They have some arrangements in place for the supervision and coaching of staff. Managers observe staff practice and provide feedback. However, feedback is not always specific enough to help less-experienced staff to improve their knowledge and skills further. Consequently, there are some inconsistencies in the quality of education across the staff team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• adapt larger group activities, particularly for children who speak English as an additional language, to help them engage more purposefully
• provide more specific performance feedback, particularly to less-experienced staff, to raise the quality of education to the highest level.