Vantage Park Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff ensure that every child receives a genuinely warm, caring and nurturing greeting on arrival. Children arrive happy and leave their parents comfortably. Younger children put their arms out readily to the receiving member of staff. These actions demonstrate that children feel emotionally settled, safe and secure in the care of staff at this nursery.

Senior leaders have a clear ethos and commitment to providing children with high-quality, respectful care and education. They have devised a broad curriculum that includes the skills and knowledge they want children to achieve, although, at times, this is too ambitious for the very youngest children.

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They provide very effective support to help children to manage their behaviour and emotions, for example, by using praise, redirection and acknowledgement. Children patiently wait their turn to hand drill a hole in the large pumpkin or to take part in a woodwork activity. Staff empower children to make their own decisions and in doing so, help children learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, when a structure they are building outside becomes too high and 'wobbles', children decide that it may not be wise to try and sit on it in case they fall.

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

• The indoor and outdoor learning environments provide children with choice and access to a wide range of excellent quality resources and natural materials to enhance their play. Outside, children embrace nature and the seasonal changes. For example, they learn the name for trees that never lose their leaves.
• The planning of the curriculum focuses on continuous provision, core activities and daily structured activities underpinned by a common theme across the nursery. While there is clear and effective implementation of the intended curriculum in the older children's rooms, the curriculum for children aged under two years is, at times, too ambitious. This means that the learning intentions of planned activities are sometimes beyond the level of understanding of most of the babies in the room. For example, babies are expected to know what an elephant looks like and what noise it makes. Staff communicate a lot of information to babies during these activities, while babies are more interested and heavily engrossed in exploring and investigating.
• All children make at least good progress in their learning and development. Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language is very effective. Sensitive and considered approaches enable all children to fulfil their potential and feel fully included in nursery life.
• Staff help older children to successfully build on what they already know and can do over time. For example, children are introduced to woodworking activities and firstly learn the basic safety rules. To begin, they use two hands to operate the hammer, but as their fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination develop over time, they learn to use one hand to steady the nail and the other to operate the hammer.
• Staff are mindful to let older children lead their learning, and they ask well-timed questions to extend children's thinking and problem-solving skills. For example, when children demonstrate they know that a pumpkin seed will need water and light to grow, staff extend their knowledge by explaining the purpose of drainage holes in the bottom of the flowerpot.
• Feedback from parents is extremely positive. They appreciate staff's investment in their children's development and the excellent communications they receive. Parents report that they trust staff implicitly, in particular where their children have specific needs.
• Children thoroughly enjoy balanced and nutritious meals and snacks that are well presented to them. Children have good appetites, and as a result, there is little food waste.
• Stringent recruitment and induction procedures ensure only those staff who share a similar ethos and high standards work with children. Regular supervisions and staff meetings support staff in being the best they can be.
• Staff's well-being and continuous professional development are of the utmost importance to the provider and senior leaders. Staff report being extremely happy in their work and acknowledge the excellent role models they have in senior leaders. Children are cared for by staff who genuinely enjoy all that they do for the children and their families.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• precisely focus the planning of the curriculum and structured activities for the very youngest children so that they are more appropriate for their level of understanding and capabilities.