Toddlerz Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and staff share very positive relationships and this helps children to feel safe. Staff offer a cheery welcome to parents and children, quickly engaging children in a range of activities. Staff know that since the COVID-19 pandemic, some children need more support when they start nursery. They adapt settling-in sessions to suit the needs of children, which helps them to settle quickly. Staff have high expectations of children and, consequently, children's behaviour is good. Children are encouraged to be independent and manage their own self-care. They regularly wash and sanitise their own hands and blow their own nose.

Staff and children communicate clearly with each other. Staff know the children well. They understand where children are in their learning and plan purposeful activities for them. Children learn quickly that they can move freely between play areas and different activities. Children of all ages and capabilities are supported to make choices about what they want to play with. Children seek staff out to share books with them and confidently ask for help when they need it. For example, when they struggle with the lid of the glitter pot, they are confident that staff will help them.

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

• The manager spends time working alongside staff and carrying out observations of their practice. Her feedback helps them to enhance their practice. Staff attend weekly online training which helps them to continually develop their skills and knowledge. Staff comment that they feel supported by the manager and others around them.
• Parents speak very positively about their experiences at the nursery. They comment that staff are very effective at settling their children in. Parents like the regular communication they receive about their child's development. They attribute their children's learning to attending the nursery, specifically their child's social skills and their competence with using English language.
• Staff understand what children already know and can do, and plan a vibrant curriculum to further develop their skills and engage their curiosity. For example, children talk to staff about their recent visit to the beach. Staff use this as an opportunity to create a beach indoors. Children are excited to be able to take their socks and shoes off before they walk and sit in the sand. They learn about how arm bands and rubber rings can keep them safe in the swimming pool or in the sea.
• Staff ably use familiar experiences to support children to communicate, develop their vocabulary and practise mathematics skills. For example, children use play dough to make ice creams in the 'ice-cream parlour'. They estimate and compare the size of their ice cream and discuss their favourite flavours.
• Children develop a range of physical skills as they play. They learn how to make a trail of glue using a squeeze bottle and are encouraged to try hard when they find the bottle difficult to manage. They practise using tools such as scissors, glue spreaders, paintbrushes and tweezers.
• Children are encouraged to be physically active; they run and climb and take turns to race around the road track. Staff create opportunities for children to care for plants and grow vegetables in the nursery garden, which they can harvest for snack or lunch.
• Children have free access to their own water bottles and choose between water and milk at snack time. They cut their own fruit, spread their own crackers and pour their own drinks. However, staff do not consistently support children to make healthy choices. For example, at lunchtime, they do not encourage children to choose and eat vegetables.
• Staff plan specific activities to support children to work together. Children are encouraged to share and take turns as they play games, complete puzzles and create their own art. Sometimes, older and more-confident children can dominate play, and this may mean that not all children have an opportunity to participate.
• Staff value children as individuals and understand that they have different home experiences. Staff know that some children live in flats and may not have access to outside space, so they plan for outside play every day.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• ensure staff consistently support children to make healthy choices and develop healthy lifestyles
• ensure that staff understand how to differentiate group activities so that children of all ages can take part.