Towneley Park Children's Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages clearly enjoy playing and learning with the staff and each other. They happily busy themselves with the wide range of interesting activities on offer. Children greatly benefit from staff who understand the importance of talking, singing, and reading stories with children, particularly due to the impact of COVID- 19. Children hear and practise lots of new words and phrases which supports their communication and language development. The high number of children attending who require a range of additional support have their needs met exceptionally well. This is because staff make sure they all know exactly what each child needs to keep them calm, safe, and engaged in learning. All children are making good progress and are well prepared for their next stage in learning.

Babies have lots of space and opportunities to safely climb, crawl and practise walking to support their physical development. Toddlers and older children show increasing confidence as they challenge themselves to climb and balance on outdoor equipment. Young children are becoming increasingly independent and learning to do things for themselves. They listen to adults and are beginning to follow instructions. Older children are learning to listen to one another, share their ideas, write their name, and understand letters and their sounds, ready for school. They behave well and are learning to consider the feelings of others.

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

• Leaders and staff regularly monitor and evaluate the quality of care and education they provide. They moderate each other's practice, use staff meetings to share ideas, and seek the views of children and parents. Staff reflect on their professional development and training needs and leaders address these. This had led to the quality of care and education improving to a good standard.
• Leaders have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn and support staff to implement this effectively. They regularly check what children know and can do and identify gaps in their learning and development. For example, they noticed many children had fallen behind in their communication and language, physical, and personal, social, and emotional development due to COVID-19. Leaders and staff adapt the curriculum to make sure children catch up and make good progress.
• Staff take time to get to know their key children. They work with parents, carers, and other professionals, to understand children's interests, what they know and can do, their needs and their life at home. Staff also carefully consider how best to spend any additional funding, such as purchasing specialist resources or training. Staff plan activities that build on children's learning and support their good progress. However, they do not consider how to challenge children to the highest level, particularly the most able, so they make exceptional progress.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is excellent. The special educational needs coordinators are extremely knowledgeable and experienced in identifying additional needs and swiftly securing appropriate interventions. They make sure staff understand how to effectively use a range of strategies to sensitively meet the needs of the children. This enables all children to fully take part in nursery life.
• Staff interact well with children, so they become deeply engaged as they explore and investigate the exciting activities. However, when it is time to tidy up or to go inside for story time, children are not given time to prepare for this change in routine, or finish what they are doing. As a result, children become frustrated.
• Staff provide children with lots of praise and encouragement, so they learn to be confident and independent. Children are reminded of the rules and expectations of nursery and staff teach children how to identify and manage their feelings and behaviours. Children learn about what makes them unique through real-life experiences. For example, wearing ear defenders, examining hearing aids and learning sign language, to understand what it is like to be deaf.
• During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff worked hard to keep in touch with parents and support children's learning. Now restrictions have eased, parents are coming into the setting again and staff are working hard to re-establish relationships. Parents report that they are kept informed of their child's progress and how to support their child's learning at home. Parents are happy with the progress their children are making and say staff go above and beyond to help them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to provide children with opportunities that stretch and challenge their learning to the highest level
• review how transitions between daily routines and activities are managed so children have time to finish what they are doing and prepare for these changes.