Toad Hall Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily and are keen to start their day. They enjoy their play and activities and confidently interact with staff. Staff respond with kindness to children, particularly those who need some extra support, and they provide cuddles and reassurance to babies and children. As a result, babies and children feel settled, safe and secure.

Staff have a good understanding of the curriculum and children's individual learning needs. They promote children's speech and language, such as through discussions, reading stories and singing songs. Babies and toddlers show they are learning the actions and words to familiar stories and songs. Staff are fully aware of children who may need extra help with their learning. This helps to promote all children's progress successfully. Overall, staff provide consistently good-quality interactions and support to children.

Staff implement consistent support for children's behaviour across the age groups. They remind children about the identified expectations, such as using 'kind hands'. Children listen well and cooperate with requests, including to help tidy up or to line up to go outside. They benefit from a calm environment, where they learn to play together cooperatively. For example, pre-school children create bridges for the toy train track with a variety of different resources. This helps children to experiment and test out and share their ideas with others.

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

• Leaders have addressed actions raised, including ensuring that staffing arrangements meet the qualified staff ratios. Staff use knowledge gained from behaviour management training to successfully implement positive strategies. Staff provide a good role model to children, such as being calm and using good manners. They praise children positively to help reinforce the behaviours they want to see. Leaders have a development plan to help work towards further improvements. Staff praise the support leaders provide for their well-being and practice.
• Staff understand and adapt the nursery curriculum well and take account of children's interests. This helps to ensure that the curriculum is age and stage appropriate and motivates children's learning. Staff have a good knowledge of their key children's development and what they need to learn next. They identify ways to support children's progress, such as learning signing and using flashcards to encourage communication. Children develop their concentration skills well. For example, pre-school children focus on activities with and without staff's support.
• Staff build children's confidence effectively. Children show curiosity and explore resources with interest. For instance, babies work out how to remove model animals taped to a tray. Staff name the animals and the noises they make and encourage children to repeat these. Overall, staff promote children's learning securely. At times, staff do not fully extend their explanations to develop children's further understanding or provide more support for children's developing skills. For example, staff do not always recognise when some pre-school children struggle to use scissors correctly.
• Staff promote children's independence well. They encourage babies to learn to do things for themselves, such as wipe their own face and hands. Toddlers and older children learn to manage their clothing, pour their drinks and carry their plates to the table. Staff monitor children's well-being closely and take appropriate action when needed, such as contacting parents if a child seems unwell. Sometimes, staff do not organise routine times of the day, such as mealtimes, as well as possible. This leads to children waiting or staff not having everything they need for children to hand.
• Leaders and staff carefully manage the move between rooms to support children's emotional well-being. Parents are provided with relevant information in advance of children moving rooms. Some staff work with children in their existing room or move to the new room with children. This helps to provide a familiar face to children. Effective handovers of information ensures that staff have a good understanding of their new key children.
• Leaders' and staff's partnerships with parents and outside professionals are effective. Leaders are sensitive to the individual needs of all families. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and professionals to meet children's needs consistently. Parents speak positively about the care their children receive. They highlight staff provide regular feedback about their children, including their activities, learning and care needs. They also have access to resources, including story packs to support home learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop staff's teaching skills to help them extend children's skills and knowledge further
• build on staff's organisation of routine times of the day, such as mealtimes, to manage these times more effectively.