Well Place Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and confident. They explore their surroundings with ease and make choices throughout the day. Staff support the youngest children to settle when they become upset by giving them cuddles and reassurance. This helps children to calm down quickly, showing they have established secure bonds with the staff.

Children are well behaved. They show a secure understanding of the routine. Staff have high expectations for children and place a strong emphasis on children being respectful to each other and their environment. Older children display strong social skills as they play happily together. For example, they work together as they independently initiate a game of balancing blocks. Children show high levels of perseverance as they gently remove one block at a time. Staff support children, providing encouragement and praise. Children display high levels of respect for the rules as they work out whose turn it is next.

Staff actively support older children to develop their problem-solving skills. They pose questions to children, such as 'what do you think will happen?', and give them time to think and respond. As a result, children spend time working out what they want to do next. This helps children to develop their self-confidence and gives them a sense of responsibility.

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

• Staff are highly knowledgeable and skilled in engaging children in different learning opportunities. They use children's interests as they arise to extend their learning. The manager has been supporting staff to increase the variety of adult-led teaching. Staff have implemented this change effectively and talk positively about how they can extend children's interest even further. This supports children to make good progress in their learning.
• Staff provide opportunities for older children to develop their coordination. Children have fun engaging in a play dough activity, where they practise rolling, squeezing and stretching the dough. Staff encourage children to manipulate the dough in different ways, using words such as 'chop' and 'pull'. This helps children to develop their fine motor skills in preparation for early writing.
• Staff help children to develop a sense of responsibility. The setting has pet guinea pegs that the children enjoy feeding and caring for. Older children actively take part in planning the daily activities. This allows children to follow their interests. As a result, children are becoming active, independent learners.
• Staff are aware of the importance of supporting children's emotional well-being. For example, they ensure that mealtimes are a sociable experience where children and staff all sit together. These experiences allow children to engage in conversations and develop their language skills. However, during the inspection, the youngest children were extremely tired before lunch and become slightly distressed while waiting for staff to serve their food. This means that the timing of mealtimes for the youngest children is not always as effective as possible.
• The manager works closely with staff to identify any potential gaps in children's learning. She liaises with parents effectively and makes referrals in a timely manner to ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive the support they need. Children with SEND display positive attitudes towards their learning. For example, they enjoy looking at books and listening to stories.
• Parents are highly complimentary about the setting and staff. They comment on the 'caring, attentive and reassuring' team. Parents feel well supported and talk about the excellent communication they have when discussing children's learning and development. Overall, the setting has strong partnerships with parents.
• Staff support children to develop their understanding of the world. They use their own backgrounds to develop children's awareness of different cultures. For example, the youngest children are learning to count in Chinese. However, staff are not consistent in providing these same experiences for the oldest children. This means that older children do not have the same opportunities to build on their knowledge of diversity beyond their own community.
• The manager has highlighted effectively an area within staff practice that requires some additional training. For example, she has recently attended a Makaton course to provide further support for children with speech and language delays. This training is intended to help staff to understand better ways to support children in communicating their wants and needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to revise the organisation of mealtimes, ensuring the needs of the youngest children are considered and the length of time children spend waiting is reduced
• extend opportunities for all children to build on their understanding of diversity outside their own community.