Toad Hall Nursery Horley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly and feel secure in this warm, friendly and caring environment. Children show that they enjoy their time at nursery. For example, they smile, laugh and talk with staff and other children about their day. Children separate confidently from parents and carers. They form strong bonds with staff, and babies seek staff out for cuddles as soon as they arrive.

Children show positive attitudes to their learning and make good progress. Staff skilfully organise the environment to promote children's natural curiosity and eagerness to learn. Children benefit from a good range of experiences that prepare them well for their future success. For example, they use leaves and mud to stir and make magic potions.

Staff are positive role models and reinforce their expectations of children's behaviour very well. They use a fair and gentle approach. For example, staff talk to children about how to tidy away during tidy-up time. As a result, children are very well behaved and follow the nursery routine well. Staff recognise children's efforts and offer lots of praise when they succeed. Children respond to these positive reinforcements. This helps to boost children's confidence and self-esteem.

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

• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language is a strength of the nursery. Staff quickly identify children who need additional support. They work effectively with other professionals to put targeted strategies in place, tailored to children's needs and preferences. As a result, children make good progress in their learning and development.
• Overall, younger children develop good communication and language skills. Staff engage in conversation with children, introducing new words to increase their vocabulary. However, some staff do not use the correct pronunciation of words when talking to children. For example, staff use the word 'dino' instead of 'dinosaur' and 'doggies' instead of 'dogs'. Staff do not encourage children to put their dummies away when they are not needed. Therefore, at times, staff do not consistently support and fully extend children's speech and language skills.
• Partnership with parents is effective. Staff make good use of settling-in arrangements to build strong relationships with families and children. Parents say that they appreciate the daily verbal feedback about their children's day at the setting and the activities given to them to support children's learning at home.
• Children develop a good understanding of mathematical concepts. Staff have a good knowledge of how to bring the teaching of mathematics into everyday activities. For example, as children enjoy playing with rice, filling and emptying containers, staff use language such as 'full' and 'empty'. In addition, children are encouraged to count during activities. This supports children's understanding of mathematics well.
• The management team evaluates the provision effectively. Managers carry out supervision sessions with staff and check in on their well-being in regular team meetings. Staff comment that they feel valued and respected in their role. Staff are supported to use resources such as online training to support their ongoing professional development. The manager values the individual skills of her team and rewards their good practice. Effective systems are in place to recruit and induct new staff members.
• Younger children begin to develop good levels of independence. For example, they find their own shoes, help lay the table at mealtimes and manage their care needs. Occasionally, staff do not plan effective opportunities for older children to be independent, to help them continue to build on these skills. For instance, older children are unable to pour their own water at snack time as the jug is too large, and they cannot spread their own butter on bagels as it has already been done for them.
• Children have many opportunities to play and enjoy exploring outside. Older children's coordination, balance and physical skills are promoted well. For instance, they ride tricycles and balance bicycles around a racetrack. Younger children enjoy building sandcastles and make marks with dinosaurs in flour.
• Staff provide good opportunities for children to learn about the local community in which they live. For example, children thoroughly enjoy buying ingredients at local shops to use for cooking. Babies have the opportunity to visit local parks and search for bugs for their insect hotel. Children enjoy regular visits from local care home residents to share stories and songs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on staff's understanding of how to model language and further support children's communication and language skills
• support staff to develop a more consistent approach to encouraging older children to be more independent in their daily activities and routines.