White House Day Nursery Alvaston

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children appear happy at this nursery and develop a sense of belonging. Babies laugh and smile as staff play peekaboo with them. Staff sing the 'hello' song using children's names. This helps children to learn the names of their friends and feel welcome. Children have strong bonds with staff and seek out their key person for cuddles if they need reassurance. Leaders plan an ambitious curriculum for children and adapt this to enable all children to participate in activities and make progress. Children are becoming increasingly independent. For example, they learn self-help skills such as using tongs to serve their own food.

Children are kind and respect their friends. They learn this from staff, who model positive interactions and teach children to share and take turns. Children think critically and are beginning to solve problems. They demonstrate this as they suggest using a sand timer to give their friends equal amounts of time with a toy they all want to use. Staff offer lots of praise, which helps children to understand that they are making good choices. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They intervene swiftly when children use their cutlery to bang on the table. They skilfully use positive language to remind children of the behavioural expectations. As a result, children learn to behave well.

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

• Leaders focus on improving children's communication and language skills. They have achieved a 'communication friendly setting' accreditation. All staff receive ongoing training to promote children's communication and language. They have implemented a range of strategies, such as a speech and language toolkit, to enable staff to identify quickly children who may need additional support. Staff use lanyards with visual communication prompts to help children communicate. They provide a language-rich environment and narrate children's play. For example, staff use words such as 'tall' and 'squeeze' as children build a tower out of rubber bricks.
• Staff promote children's love of reading. They have a book of the month that they link to activities and trips out within the local community. For example, children visit a doctor's surgery after reading the book 'Ness the Nurse'. Leaders ensure that children have access to a range of books at home. They provide story sacks for parents to borrow. These relate to children's interests and learning, such as potty training or welcoming a new sibling.
• Leaders have high ambitions for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The provision for children with SEND is a particular strength of this nursery. The special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo) implements a range of strategies to support children, for example 'Every Child a Mover' and 'Every Child a Talker'. The SENDCo also supports parents by providing speech and language guidance to use at home. She works with external agencies and makes timely referrals for children who need them.
• Parents speak highly of the care their children receive. Staff work in partnership with parents to achieve better outcomes for children. For example, parents are involved in decisions about the next steps in learning for their children, and staff provide guidance on how to achieve them.
• Staff promote children's physical development. They give positive praise to children who are learning to walk as they take small steps. Children practise their coordination as they learn to climb steps. Older children strengthen their small-muscle skills as they participate in a musical activity with play dough. This helps to develop the skills they need for later writing.
• Staff have positive relationships with children and comfort them when they need reassurance. However, at times, children become unsettled as they are left waiting for long periods, particularly at lunchtime. Staff do not swiftly provide activities for children to engage with. This sometimes results in disruption within the room.
• Staff provide a visual timetable so that children understand what is happening next in the routine. However, staff in the pre-school room do not allow flexibility within the routine. They disrupt children's learning as they shout for children to tidy up when it is time to go outside or to have a snack. As a result, children's play is interrupted.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• refine the organisation of daily routines to minimise waiting time for children
• support staff to minimise disruption to children's learning, particularly in the pre-school room.