Top of the Class Nursery and Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settle quickly when they arrive at the nursery. This is because they have established warm and trusting relationships with the staff. This helps children to feel safe and self-assured. Children respond well to staff's high expectations for their learning and behaviour. Young children develop important skills, such as sharing and taking turns. Older children show maturity when speaking and listening to adults. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive additional support to help meet their needs. They benefit greatly from hearing correct pronunciations of words and speech sounds, which help to develop their language skills.

Children access a wide range of activities, inside and outside, which motivates them to play. For example, young children delight in playing with toy animals and cars. They are encouraged to count, which helps to promote their early mathematical skills. In the garden, children have opportunities to practise their strength, dexterity, balance and coordination. They enjoy exploring sensory resources, such as shaving foam, which inspires them to smell, touch and feel it with their hands. Children show positive attitudes to learning.

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

• The manager is a passionate and dedicated professional. She works well with her deputy manager to maintain the good quality of education in the nursery since the last inspection. Together, they offer children and families, particularly those who are disadvantaged, additional support, which has a positive impact on their lives.
• Staff enjoy working at the nursery. They talk about the support and opportunities to help them perform their roles with confidence. For example, after completing training, staff increased their knowledge of how to plan and deliver the curriculum more effectively. This results in children, including those with SEND, making rapid progress in their learning.
• Staff are very good at working with parents and other professionals. They share their accurate observations and assessments of children's learning to keep parents fully informed. Parents agree and provide positive feedback about the nursery. They describe staff as 'warm, welcoming and nurturing', who support their children's emotional well-being particularly well. Parents whose children are starting school find that they are well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• During group activities, staff encourage children to talk about their day and sing songs to help extend their vocabulary. However, on some occasions, they do not ensure that they engage the quiet and less confident children as effectively as possible. Although children's behaviour is generally good. When this happens, they can become disengaged and restless.
• The manager evaluates the quality of the provision effectively. She recognises that children can benefit further by having wider learning experiences outside of the nursery. In this respect, the manager wishes to re-introduce more outings to teach children about people and communities that are different to their own.
• Staff teach children how to use equipment safely, such as when climbing down the hill or using ride-on toys in the garden. They promote children's understanding of safety further by talking to them about the need to protect their skin in hot weather. This contributes to children's good health.
• Children enjoy home-cooked and healthy meals. They are learning some practical skills, such as serving themselves at mealtimes. However, at times, staff are quick to intervene and carry out tasks that children are able to do for themselves. This means staff do not promote children's self-care and independence skills as consistently as possible.
• Children follow good hygiene routines. For example, they are encouraged to wash their hands before handling food. This helps to minimise the risk of cross contamination and it promotes children's physical health.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the organisation of group activities to fully engage all children, particularly those who are quiet and less confident, in order to give them better learning experiences
• follow a more consistent approach to promoting children's self-care and independence skills.