Toad Hall Nursery Felcott Road

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have a good knowledge of child development. This enables them to understand why some new babies get upset easily. Staff are attentive and give them the care and attention they need. This helps babies to be reassured by the emotional support they receive from staff and builds on forming positive relationships. Children enjoy their time at nursery and benefit from the range of learning opportunities that staff provide for them, such as playing with the play dough. Staff use these opportunities to promote children's language skills by talking to them about 'rolling' and 'squashing' as they manipulate the play dough.

Throughout the nursery, staff set clear expectations for children's behaviour. For instance, they remind babies of the importance of sharing and using their 'kind hands'. This enables very young children to begin to learn what positive behaviour looks like. Overall, children are friendly towards staff and their peers. Older children learn to share the resources with their friends when they have finished their turn. Staff praise children for being kind and this reinforces their understanding of how they are expected to behave at nursery.

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

• Leaders have strengthened parent partnerships. This helps to ensure that information is kept up to date so that parents can be contacted promptly when necessary. Leaders have strengthened communication with parents so that they are better informed about their child's progress and are given ideas for home learning. Leaders have also improved their accident and injury procedures to ensure that all staff are aware of how to manage these consistently.
• Leaders have implemented a curriculum that is shared effectively with staff. This enables staff to have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn so that they can plan for children's ongoing development. Additionally, the manager has identified that some children need additional support with their communication and language skills. Therefore, she has implemented strategies to promote children's speech. This includes creating a 'communication cabin', where children can participate in activities with staff, such as listening to stories and singing songs.
• Leaders consider ways to evaluate the provision. This includes seeking feedback from parents, children and staff to ensure that the service they provide continues to be highly effective. For instance, older children are invited to share their views of the nursery, which provides opportunities for them to have their voices heard and valued.
• Staff extend activities to promote children's learning and development. For instance, they support older children to build a 'house' together to encourage them work as a team. When children experience difficulties with the activity, staff guide them to think of ways to problem-solve. However, at times, staff are sometimes slow to engage with quieter children. This does not fully enable all children to join in during group times.
• Staff follow children's interests to enhance their learning. For example, when children play with the 'jumping frogs', staff suggest that they look to see how far they can move. Children enjoy sharing their successes with their friends as they talk about how far their frogs have jumped. This provides opportunities for them to use mathematical language in their conversations.
• Staff support children to gain the appropriate skills they need for when they start school. This includes teaching children to complete tasks for themselves. For example, during mealtimes, children learn to serve their lunches and pour their drinks. Staff gently remind children to pass the bowls and jugs along to their friends, which helps them to manage the daily routines independently.
• The special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) works well with parents, other agencies and the local authority. This helps to ensure that children receive effective and consistent support in their learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from warm interactions with staff, which supports them to build strong bonds with staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to enhance the organisation of group activities so that all children are able to join in.