Wind In The Willows

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and settle quickly in this small and friendly nursery. They have close relationships with staff, which helps them to feel safe. Staff's interaction with children is warm, caring, and nurturing. On arrival, children quickly recognise their names and put them in the post box to register their attendance. Children engage well in their play and show a positive attitude towards their learning. They make good progress in readiness for their next steps of learning, including school.

Young children settle well into routines that meet their individual needs and match those at home. They seek comfort and reassurance and enjoy regular cuddles with familiar adults. Older children are confident, well behaved, and kind and considerate to each other. They remind each other of the rules they have developed in the nursery, such as 'kind hands' and 'walking feet inside'. At group time, they make an orderly circle and sit down. They show sustained levels of concentration as they review the days of the week and the weather.

All children enjoy time outdoors. They develop their physical skills in the secure play area. Children construct a house using crates, sheets of plastic, drain pipes, and tyres. They extend this into a popular children's tale as they pretend to blow it down and chase each other round the garden, carefully negotiating the space.

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

• Staff swiftly identify any gaps in children's learning and plan activities to help to close them. This demonstrates their knowledge of the curriculum and children's next steps. Children are very 'chatty' and they engage in interesting conversations throughout the day. Staff enhance children's knowledge with new vocabulary when discussing animal habitats. Occasionally, staff do not challenge children to think for themselves and to express their thoughts and ideas when they ask children questions.
• Staff create a calm and relaxing space for babies to explore and engage with sensory resources. Babies curiously explore items found in the home, such as spoons, containers, bottles filled with pasta, and a mixture of sponges and materials. They display good hand-to-eye coordination as they turn objects and feel them using their finger tips. Staff move furniture and add equipment to the environment to encourage babies to confidently take their first steps.
• Many staff have been employed at the nursery for a number of years and are highly experienced. They speak positively about the provider and the support they receive. The provider conducts regular staff supervision meetings and makes observations of the teaching practice. Staff attend regular training and have meetings to share good practice, which enhances their teaching further.
• Staff introduce new words to children through stories and rhymes to broaden their vocabulary. For instance, they know that the 'illustrator' draws the pictures and the 'author' writes the story. Story times are a delight. Toddlers and older children sit together to share a story and join in with repeated phrases and parts that they know well. There is lots of laughter as the animated staff read the stories.
• Parent partnerships are good and parents report they are very pleased with the nursery. They say staff are 'like family'. New routines that have been put in place due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic mean that parents no longer come into the nursery itself. Despite this, children are confident to leave their parents at the door.
• Staff spend time playing with the children. For example, children enjoy designing and creating their own 'bug hotel' and work together to find the biggest boxes. They explore how the boxes fit inside one another and how they can stick them together. Staff support children's learning well with the activities on offer. However, activities are tidied away between snack, lunch, and outdoor play, and replaced with new activities. This means opportunities are, sometimes, limited for children to practise the new skills that they have learned.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve opportunities for children to practise the skills they are learning
• support staff to help children develop their critical thinking and express their thoughts and ideas.