Waverley School and Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from fun, engaging and interesting activities. These help children to develop their concentration and promote their learning well. For example, staff caring for babies count as they help children learn how to take off and put away their shoes. Toddlers develop their small physical skills effectively. They have fun as they thread pieces of spaghetti through holes in metal containers. This helps to develop their hand-to-eye coordination.

Children form strong bonds with staff. Staff know their key children very well and the caring, positive relationships are evident between them. Children benefit from being cared for in small groups with consistent staff. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Toddlers and babies begin to build early friendships. For example, toddlers show kindness to each other by giving toys to their friends. Children receive age-appropriate guidance and support to help them begin to understand the behaviour expected. Staff model good manners and behaviours to the children. They provide 'calming areas' to offer children a safe space when they feel overwhelmed. This helps children to learn ways to self-regulate their feelings and behaviour.

Overall, staff provide good consistent interactions and support to children. They demonstrate a secure understanding of how to promote children's learning. Staff confidently understand children's progress and development needs. This helps them to accurately understand and plan for children's next steps in learning.

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

• Staff enjoy their work with the children. They speak positively about the support they receive from managers and leaders, such as consideration for their well-being. Staff benefit from regular individual and team meetings to support their professional development, and they have good opportunities to complete relevant training. New staff follow a secure induction process to help them understand their roles and responsibilities.
• Children benefit from a well-considered environment which supports their care and learning needs effectively. They make independent choices from a range of interesting and stimulating resources and activities, which inspire their curiosity. For instance, babies explored dry rice with different tools and their hands. Children enjoy local walks in the community, helping them become aware of the world they live in. Toddlers benefit from resources that challenge their physical skills, such as learning to move themselves on balance bicycles and steer these.
• Children's needs are very well considered on entry and when they move rooms. They take part in visits to their new room, and some staff also move rooms with children. In addition, children take part in activities that help them become familiar with their new room and staff. For instance, staff in their existing rooms show them photos and talk to children about the staff less familiar to them. Staff provide sensitive responses to children, such as those settling in. This provides gentle and consistent reassurance and support to children.
• Children receive lots of praise and encouragement from staff, such as through positive words and facial expressions. This builds children's sense of self and confidence very effectively. Children gain a particularly strong sense of belonging. They are confident to approach staff and join in activities with a strong interest. However, sometimes staff do not always manage changes in the routine as well as possible. This does not always support all children to remain consistently engaged in play and learning at these times.
• Staff have a secure understanding of the curriculum and how this is organised. This results in a clear focus on what children need to learn over time. However, at times, staff do not fully extend children's learning and development during their interactions and support. For example, on occasion, not all staff model language effectively to children or extend discussions with them. In addition, although staff promote babies' developing independence very well, staff in the toddler room do not always build on this as effectively as possible.
• Parent partnerships are strong and effective. There is ongoing communication with parents through the online app and in person. This helps to promote a consistent approach to meeting children's individual needs. Parents speak highly about the nursery, compliment the 'nurturing staff' and comment on the progress their children make, saying that they are 'thriving' at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review how changes of routines are managed by staff and support them to engage children in more consistently purposeful play and learning during these times
• reflect on the curriculum intent and implementation by staff, to identify areas to extend children's learning and development more effectively, to help them build further on their skills and knowledge.