TLC Neighbourhood Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and enjoy their time at this well organised and welcoming nursery. Children have strong relationships; a robust key person system is in place which helps children to feel secure. Staff have high expectations for children's learning, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who speak English as an additional language (EAL). Children make good progress from their starting points.

Staff carefully balance child-initiated play with adult led activities. Children make independent choices in what they want to do, they play together sharing and taking turns at their chosen activity. For example, older children enjoy building towers together with large scale construction and smile when the tower falls. Whereas younger children enjoy cooking real potatoes in the pretend oven. Staff support children as they learn to share, take turns and to use their manners.

Younger children are comfortable in the environment and enjoy involving the staff in their play. Children enjoy story time and singing five cheeky monkeys while jumping up and down and rolling on the floor. Children benefit from going outdoors promoting physical development and emotional wellbeing. For example: older children use big muscle groups to run, jump and throw while confidently navigating split level surfaces.

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

• Managers are clear about what they want children to learn. They have developed a well organised curriculum covering all areas of learning. Staff share their passion and focus to develop communication, physical development and promoting healthy emotions as a priority; for all children from the youngest children who attend to those getting ready to transition to school.
• Managers have provided training to fully embed the planning and assessment process so that staff are confident and knowledgeable. This ensures children are provided with support to achieve the best possible outcomes. Managers have adopted an effective way to monitor staff allowing for immediate feedback, promoting practice improvements.
• Managers are passionate about children's learning and supporting individual needs. Children are provided with an assortment of stimulating resources. Staff deliver well planned and sequenced learning opportunities that are stimulating and challenging, as well as arranging visits from professionals, such as the dentist and 'Animal man' who brings various animals into nursery for the children to see.
• Support for children with SEND and EAL is a strength of the nursery. Managers and staff work closely with professionals to ensure support is received at the earliest opportunity. Staff value children's cultures, traditions and home languages and use opportunities to speak of them. For example: staff talk to children about their families, who they live with and use familiar words in Arabic to communicate with them. Managers have worked hard to identify how additional funding is used effectively to further enhance children's learning.
• Managers strive to build positive relationships with parents and understand how important they are in their children's care and learning. Staff build strong relationships with parents who are happy and speak positively of how their children are settled and enjoy their time at nursery. They comment on how staff help the family to get additional support to encourage the child to make the best possible progress.
• Staff know the children well and provide a range of good quality learning opportunities covering all the areas of learning. Children enjoy playing with dough. They use rolling pins and cutters to develop their small muscle skills, hand and eye coordination and early writing skills.
• Staff encourage a 'can-do' attitude throughout children's time at nursery. Children put on their own coats when going outside and wash their own hands before eating at snack time.
• Staff are good role models and have high expectations for children's behaviour. Staff consistently praise children's achievements no matter how small. Children are valued and experience a sense of achievement, which develops their self esteem. Children's behaviour is consistently good.
• Children benefit from a language rich environment. Staff promote communication and language through play. They enhance older children's experiences by introducing new words and asking open ended questions. Younger children benefit from staff narrating what children are doing and building on what they already know. However, older children would further benefit from having more time to respond to questions when asked to promote their critical thinking skills.
• Children enjoy using technology. They use torches, listen to stories through headphones and are able to independently record their own voices. However, at times, staff do not encourage children to explore how things work for themselves before telling them what they need to do.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children more time to think about what they have been asked, formulate their reply and respond to questions
• encourage children to explore and think about how things work before offering a solution.