Westwood Smarties

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children have a lovely experience at this home-from-home nursery. They arrive eager to play and confidently separate from parents. Staff are nurturing and get to know children well. They have a good understanding of children's likes and routines, particularly those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff recognise that some children benefit from time in the sensory room before they enter the classroom and adapt their routine accordingly. This promotes children's emotional well-being and helps them to feel happy at nursery.

Children access an ambitious curriculum that helps them to develop a positive attitude to learning. Younger children concentrate intently as they break open blocks of ice to find sea animals. They use their problem-solving skills to work out that hitting the ice with pebbles breaks it up more quickly than waiting for it to melt. Staff introduce a range of vocabulary, such as 'hard', 'dripping', and 'shiny' to help children describe what they see and feel. Older children are keen to take part in dough activities. They skilfully create structures and are resilient when learning how to form small dough balls in the palms of their hands. Children are motivated learners who are well prepared for the next stage of learning.

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

• Overall, leaders provide children with a broad and inclusive curriculum tailored to their needs and interests. They understand how to sequence the curriculum effectively to support children's age and stage of development. However, the curriculum for literacy development is not promoted as well as the other areas of learning, particularly in the outdoor area. This does not help some children to develop their literacy skills in the environment that they learn best.
• Robust procedures for monitoring children's development help staff to identify gaps in learning at the earliest opportunity. Staff implement targeted planning for children who have fallen behind, and leaders make timely referrals to outside agencies. Children with SEND benefit from individual plans to prevent gaps widening while they wait for outside input. They are very well settled at the nursery and make good progress from their starting points.
• Staff promote children's communication and language development well. They talk to children a lot and engage them in back-and-forth conversations. Older children are confident communicators. They chat about their home life offering intricate details, such as the colour of their sofa and how many toys they have. For children who do not communicate verbally, staff use lots of gestures and at times, objects to help them understand. This helps all children to make good progress in their learning.
• Promoting children's independence is a strength across the nursery. Younger children swap their shoes for slippers and work hard to put on their own socks. Older children serve their own food using tongues, pour their own drinks and wash their hands. Children demonstrate a great deal of confidence and are eager to do things for themselves.
• Staff help children to understand about positive behaviour. They provide lots of opportunities for children to learn about sharing and taking turns. Staff model good manners, which children then copy. Children follow staff instructions well, particularly at tidy-up time. They know what is expected of them at nursery and behave well.
• Mathematical development is well promoted. Staff provide opportunities for children to recognise and match different colours. Younger children skilfully count from one to 10 with one-for-one correspondence. Staff introduce mathematical language, such as 'more', 'less', 'long' and 'short' when playing with dough. This broadens children's vocabulary and increases their confidence with number.
• Staff teach children about some of the things that help them to stay safe. They remind children that the warm weather can make them dehydrated and that they need to drink lots of water. Staff talk to children about sun safety and the purpose of sun cream. This develops children's understanding of good health and promotes their well-being.
• Parents are happy with the quality of care provided. They are kept up to date with information about children's development and ideas of how learning can be extended at home. Leaders accompany parents to children's outside professional appointments to offer support and reassurance. This provides consistency between home and nursery.
• The staff team are happy and feel supported in their roles. Leaders observe staff practice and offer feedback. However, there are some gaps in staff's understanding of how they can build on their own skills and not all of them have targets for improvement. As such, there are inconsistencies in the quality of interactions across the team.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the curriculum for literacy development, particularly in the outdoor area, to further support those children who prefer to learn outdoors
• strengthen the procedures for professional development to help staff improve their skills and provide more consistency in the quality of interactions.