UCL Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have close, very nurturing relationships with children. They take great care to find out as much as possible about children's interests, home routines, likes and dislikes. Staff make excellent use of this information to provide familiar routines and activities that help children to settle very well. It is clear that children are happy and feel safe. They are very keenly motivated to learn and highly confident. Children have excellent attitudes to learning and their behaviour is outstanding.

Children take part in a range of creative and interesting activities. For example, they enjoy exploring the effect of roller painting brightly coloured paint onto a plastic screen. This supports their creative skills well. They also enjoy a wide range of stimulating activities in a dedicated sensory room. Staff place high priority on children's physical development. There is a dedicated gym room where young children balance over hump bridges, climb across frames, crawl through tunnels and learn to pull themselves up. There are further challenges in the well-designed outdoor area. Children have a very good understanding of their feelings and the feelings of others. Staff help them to see their reflections in the mirror and talk about their expressions. They teach children the names of different emotions. Children learn to share and to take turns exceptionally well. For instance, they offer to share toys and resources with others, without any prompting from adults. They are extremely well mannered and say please and thank you. Staff have high expectations of children.

The curriculum is broad and enriching. Children learn good skills in preparation for school.

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

• Staff provide a wide range of stimulating activities based securely on areas of learning. They assess children regularly and make good use of this information to give children appropriate challenges. Activities build on children's learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.
• Staff teach children good communication and literacy skills. For instance, they read a wide range of popular children's books to children in lively tones. They extend children's development well by linking different activities to the book to promote different areas of learning. Staff sing action rhymes and songs with children where they learn new words.
• Staff teach children good early mathematical skills. For example, they sing number songs and rhymes where children practise their counting skills. Staff point out different shapes in the environment and use mathematical language to describe size and weight.
• Staff manage children's behaviour very successfully. Group rules are so well embedded that older children remind younger ones of acceptable ways to behave. They are highly motivated and have excellent attitudes to learning. Children persevere with challenging tasks and staff support children effectively, where needed.
• Staff work successfully with parents. They give them regular updates on their children's progress in a range of flexible ways, such as through secure access to electronic children's journals and regular parents' evenings. Staff provide good ways for parents to support children's progress, such as through ideas for home activities to support learning.
• The manager supports staff effectively. She spends time with each member of staff to discuss workloads and well-being and offers support, where required. The manager discusses staff training needs and they have attended a range of courses. This included a course on behaviour management which led to improved outcomes for children.
• The nursery provides children with very healthy meals and snacks. Staff provide a relaxed, ambient atmosphere at mealtimes, for example, by sitting and eating with children. Staff are very good role models to children. Staff talk to children about the value of eating healthily. They promote good oral hygiene for children very effectively.
• Children play together very well. For instance, they enjoy working together using straw and sticks to create homes linked to the story of the 'Three Little Pigs'. Staff support children by asking questions. However, at times, staff ask a lot of questions but do not give children sufficient time to think and respond.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children more time to think and respond to questions to support their thinking and language development further.