Toad Hall Nursery Woking

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and eager to learn at this inviting nursery. They are warmly greeted by friendly and enthusiastic staff, who help to set a positive tone for children's busy day ahead. Staff provide a well-organised learning environment, which includes activities that ignite children's interests. Children move freely between the indoors and outdoors, exploring the variety of interesting activities on offer. They remain actively engaged and focused as they play on their own and with friends. Children demonstrate that they recall prior learning, such as when making up their own imaginary play. For example, they use all items in their pretend doctor's kit correctly to check the heart and body temperature of their doll.

Staff are good role models, and they have high expectations for children's behaviour. Children follow rules well, leading to seamless transitions from one routine to another. They show patience and consideration towards others and politely wait their turn to use equipment if being used by another child. Children learn about the benefits of team work. For example, during water play, children use their developing critical-thinking skills. They work together as they experiment with pouring water slowly and then quickly. Children explain how the rate of pouring has an effect on the speed of the water wheel.

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

• Children love to be active in the fresh air. They acquire good control and coordination of their bodies. For example, babies master climbing on soft play equipment. Toddlers practise moving around on tricycles. Older children climb, balance and competently manoeuvre around obstacles on balance bikes. Children's hand muscles develop well in preparation for more controlled movements when using tools and other resources, such as squeezing play dough. Older children persevere and improve their cutting skills with scissors.
• Staff regularly teach mathematical concepts through routine activities. For instance, children count the number of children in their class before they place cutlery and plates on the table for lunch. Younger children fill buckets with sand and learn to apply mathematical vocabulary of measurement, such as 'full', 'empty', 'more' and 'less'.
• The manager and staff place a strong emphasis on providing opportunities that children may not have experienced before. These real-life experiences help to broaden children's knowledge of the wider world. For example, children plant seeds and tend to a range of vegetables, fruits and flowers. They use their senses to explore the properties of different home-grown herbs, such as the smell and taste of mint when they add this to water.
• The manager and staff design and implement an ambitious and sequenced curriculum for all children. This helps children to achieve, consolidate their learning and move successfully on to their next stage in education. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive targeted teaching, which is suitably adapted to meet their individual needs. This helps to ensure that all children make good progress.
• The company's senior leaders work closely with the manager to evaluate the overall quality of the nursery. This helps them to understand the strengths and areas for development at the setting. Staff feel supported and benefit from regular meetings and updates on early years education. However, the manager is not yet identifying areas of improvement precisely enough to enhance the teaching skills of individual staff members to a consistently higher level.
• Staff know children well. They plan activities that match their interests and abilities. For example, older children build a structure with wooden blocks and call it a beehive. Staff actively engage with this group and share key facts about bees, such as that they dance to communicate. However, sometimes, staff give more attention to louder and more confident children. At these times, quieter and less confident children do not benefit from staff's interactions to extend their play. Consequently, these children move on from activities, with less staff engagement.
• The manager, staff and parents form trusted bonds. Parents talk fondly about staff and how attentive they are towards their children. Parents say that their children talk enthusiastically about their day at nursery, their friends and staff. They appreciate the good communication and ideas to support their children's development at home, such as borrowing books from the lending library to promote children's love of reading.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus more on staff's professional development opportunities to provide them with clear targets to improve the quality of education to the highest level
• support staff to recognise and respond to opportunities to enhance and extend quieter children's play.