Tots Rye Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the start of their day. Staff greet children warmly, which helps them separate from their parents and carers. Staff are friendly and join in with children's play. Children form good relationships with staff and want to tell them about their activities. Children confidently choose their own play. They demonstrate a true sense of belonging. Staff embed consistent routines for children. Older children are happy to sit and listen to staff read a story before lunch. They know when it is time to eat, rest and play. Staff support children's developing concentration well. They engage children in discussions as they remain immersed in sand play and pretend to cook. Staff remind children of the expectations for their behaviour. Children listen to staff and overall, behave well.

Leaders are committed to providing a good variety of activities and learning opportunities for children. The curriculum in place is well thought out and appropriate for the current needs and abilities of children. Children have plenty of opportunities for sensory exploration. They develop their imaginations and role-play skills through dressing-up activities. Leaders swiftly identify children who require additional help or children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and make referrals for support, with parental consent.

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

• Staff are caring. They follow individual children's care plans and seek their permission before changing them. This helps children, including those with SEND, to feel at home and build their early understanding of transitions in the daily routine.
• Overall, children develop their communication skills. They listen attentively when staff read to them and learn to confidently respond to questions about the book. Staff model clear language as they comment on children's actions as they play. Older children learn to respond to open-ended questions. Nevertheless, staff do not gain as much information as possible about individual children's home languages. Therefore, not all children, particularly those who speak English as an additional language, build their understanding and speech to the best of their abilities.
• Staff promote children's imaginations and creativity. Children enjoy dressing up and immerse themselves in pretending to be their favourite superheroes and characters. During these times, staff remain close to offer support to children to decide what they want to be. They help children to extend the storylines of their simple play ideas.
• Staff provide some opportunities for children to develop aspects of their independence. They carefully position resources so that children can access them freely. Staff encourage children to use the bathroom and wash their hands independently. However, staff are quick to complete simple tasks for children that they could try for themselves. For example, they habitually pour children's drinks, undo children's coat fastenings and wipe their noses. This does not consistently support children's ability to learn to manage self-help tasks themselves.
• Staff use focus activities to help children to build good concentration. Children spend time making marks and drawing. Staff challenge children with games that help reinforce their understanding of numbers, counting and good pencil control.
• Support for children with SEND is good. Leaders have made links with the local authority's early years advisers and SEND support team. They target additional funding effectively and have plans to create a sensory room. Leaders follow professionals' guidance to implement intervention strategies and devise individual learning plans. Staff engage children in one-to-one activities to help them learn to focus as they play. This helps children to make progress towards their targets.
• Parents speak well of the setting. They feel comforted by how engaging and friendly staff are. Parents know what activities their children have been doing. Staff update parents during daily face-to-face handovers.
• Staff feel valued and supported in their roles. They explain that all leaders fully support their well-being. Staff understand their roles and access mandatory training, such as safeguarding and first-aid. Staff work well together and are deployed so children remain fully supervised.
• Leaders know staff well because they work closely alongside them. Team discussions and supervision sessions are in the early stages of development. Leaders have plans to implement formal supervision for the new staff team. However, the coaching and monitoring of staff has not been fully embedded to raise the quality of practice further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently support children with their emerging independence and self-help skills during everyday routines
• gather more information about children's home languages, to support individual children's understanding and speech development further
• strengthen and fully embed coaching and monitoring of staff to raise their practice further.