Tweenies Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled and happy attending this nursery. They have positive relationships with staff and benefit from warm interactions. Staff find out about and follow children's personal care routines. Staff are really tuned in to and attentive to children's care needs. This means all children are well cared for throughout the day. Children are confident to play and explore. They develop independence to select what they want to do and are very self-motivated as they are continually busy. Staff have good behaviour expectations that children are reminded of in a gentle way. Children are polite, kind and caring. They learn to share and play well with others.

Children benefit from the broad range of activities staff provide based on their interests. For example, babies enjoy sensory exploration and early imaginative play. They touch and feel pom-poms and use them to fill and empty different-sized cups. They also play with baby dolls based on their experiences. Toddlers enjoy music and movement. For example, they experiment with playing a range of instruments and moving in varied ways to familiar songs. Pre-school children enjoy highly imaginative role play and construction. For example, they pretend they are going on a journey or making chocolates in a factory. They also work in small groups to make large structures with bricks outside. All children have fun and progress well in learning.

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

• Managers have a good oversight of the quality of the provision and aim to provide a nurturing service through which children thrive. However, there is scope to enhance reflective practice across the nursery team to help achieve the highest standards. This is because not all staff are familiar with the current nursery aims and targets for future improvement.
• Managers support the staff team effectively. Staff benefit from supervision and time with the management team. They comment that they feel well supported and are a close team. Staff have access to ongoing professional development, and managers encourage them to conduct research, attend meetings and access training to help them keep updated.
• Overall, the curriculum is good. Staff know their key children well, including what they know and can do and need to learn next. However, there is room for the manager to further support staff to fully embed the newer curriculum approach. On occasion, staff try to cover too broadly all seven areas of learning in one activity, rather than prioritising certain aspects related closely to children's age and stage of development. This means some adult-led activities are not as sharply focused as possible.
• The nursery's two special educational needs coordinators are knowledgeable.
• The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Additional funding is used in a purposeful and beneficial way. These children are identified early and offered targeted support, which helps to close any gaps in their learning and supports them to achieve their full potential.
• Communication and language learning is rich within the environment. Staff provide children with lots of opportunity for speaking, listening and developing their understanding. Staff interact with babies at their level, and they narrate their play and introduce single key words through activities. Toddlers enjoy 'rhyme time' sessions and plenty of singing during their daily routine. Pre-school children love reading a well-known story about a bear, with staff using props to recreate the sounds within the book.
• Children enjoy fresh air and outdoor play daily. Staff promote children's physical skills in a variety of ways. Children of all ages enjoy refining their fine motor control and manipulation using cause-and-effect toys, nature-themed sorting activities and puzzles. Toddlers and pre-school children also practise their gross motor skills, balance and coordination through dancing and using the climbing wall in the garden.
• Healthy lifestyles are promoted. The nursery cook provides a broad and nutritious menu of snacks and meals. Staff encourage children to independently drink water using age-appropriate cups throughout the day. Staff keep children clean and dry, and hygiene is a priority. Oral hygiene is included in the curriculum, and staff proactively explore the importance of this with children using related resources, activities and books.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents comment that they are extremely happy with the nursery and the quality of the service provided. Staff keep parents well informed about their child's time at nursery. There is a two-way flow of information about children's care and learning. This fosters continuity between the setting and home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further embed the curriculum approach to sharpen the focus of the intent behind planned provision, including resources and activities, to extend what children get out of them
• enhance reflective practice across the nursery team to help all staff become more familiar with nursery aims and targets so these can be fully realised to achieve the highest standards.