West Street Neighbourhood Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in an environment where the manager and staff work tirelessly to meet their unique needs from the start. The manager has created exceptional partnerships with parents, the local children's centre, and outside agencies. This is to secure help for the most vulnerable children at the earliest opportunity. Where help is delayed, she and the staff team take decisive action that makes a considerable difference to children's early development.

The manager plans a highly ambitious curriculum that staff understand and implement extremely well across all age groups. The impact of this is that all children make the best possible progress from their unique starting points. This includes the most disadvantaged children and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

All staff are excellent role models who encourage children to learn about positive behaviours, good manners and helping their friends. They take every opportunity to encourage children to share and take turns. They help them to understand these concepts from a very young age. Children in the pre-school room are highly confident and use these skills to negotiate roles with their friends and help them to solve problems. All children show that they feel completely happy and secure in this nursery.

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

• The long-serving manager is highly reflective. Despite current staffing difficulties, she ensures that all staff receive ongoing professional development and support. All staff, including agency staff, continually develop their knowledge and teaching skills. This results in excellent outcomes for children.
• Staff implement the curriculum aims consistently throughout the nursery. They seamlessly sequence the curriculum to help children gain the knowledge and skills they need for their future education. This is particularly evident when observing what children know and can do across the nursery. By the time children reach the pre-school room, many are confident, articulate, independent and caring individuals.
• Staff focus on encouraging children to learn good social skills and to gain independence. This is highly evident throughout the nursery. Babies try to put on their bibs and pull up their sleeves at lunchtime. Toddlers independently find tissues to wipe their noses and wash their hands afterwards. Most older children are extremely independent and sociable during their everyday experiences.
• Staff use assessment, planning and additional funding to help most children make rapid progress in their learning. They quickly identify and close any gaps in learning, including those occurring because of COVID-19. They ensure that children catch up as quickly as possible.
• Staff interactions are extremely effective. Consequently, children concentrate for prolonged periods of time, including as they listen and respond to their favourite stories and songs. They remain deeply engaged in their learning experiences.
• Staff provide children with extensive opportunities to communicate in different ways. Babies repeat words, such as 'pop' and 'bubble', as staff teach them how to blow bubbles. Toddlers hear and use new words, such as 'rainbow', 'fluffy' and 'squishy'. By the time they reach pre-school age, most children are highly confident communicators.
• Staff instinctively know when to step in to support children's learning and when to allow them to explore and play without interruption. They are particularly skilled at this when supporting children with SEND, so these children are free to explore and engage in purposeful activity.
• Staff encourage children to become highly motivated learners. For example, as children explore play foam covered in plastic film, they comment, 'Wow, can I touch it?' Staff also entice children who do not like to get messy to explore. These children become very inquisitive, and they eventually lift the film to feel the texture on their fingers and hands. All children show positive attitudes to learning.
• Staff help children to develop an extremely good understanding of themselves and others. Older children help their friends to complete tasks and consistently show respect for others. Children's behaviour is exemplary given their ages and diverse needs. They are more than ready for the next stages in their learning.
• The manager and staff continually provide parents with a wide range of information and guidance to support their children. Parents report that staff are highly supportive and have helped their children to improve their speech, independence, and confidence rapidly.