Wing Wildlings Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed as they arrive at this inviting setting. Staff are on hand to greet families and exchange important information about children's care at the start of the day. This helps children to settle quickly and feel secure. Children make choices about their play and learning and quickly engage with the stimulating activities on offer. Staff have a flexible approach to daily routines so children can freely explore and become engrossed in their selected activities. For example, when children indicate they want to finish their play dough creations before joining the daily circle-time activity, staff swiftly reassure them. This enables children to know they have time to immerse themselves in their play. Children feel valued as their needs and requests are acknowledged and respected.

Leaders and staff implement an ambitious curriculum for all children. Staff plan exciting and enriching experiences to prepare children for later learning and life. For example, there is a strong focus on helping children to develop essential skills in all areas of learning through outdoor experiences. This enables children to develop a deep appreciation of the natural world and foster respect for living things. Overall, children behave well. Staff sensitively support children to be kind and helpful to others.

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

• Leaders and managers share a passion to provide children with a strong start in their educational journey. Staff guide children to build positive relationships with others and inspire them to try different experiences and master new skills. For example, when using scissors to cut sticking tape, children persevere and are motivated to keep trying until they succeed. They proudly announce, 'I've done it' and are keen to share their achievements with others.
• Children significantly benefit from a wide range of high-quality outdoor learning experiences. They delight in freely exploring the environment and using their senses to investigate different materials. They develop good coordination skills as they use resources to scoop, pour and dig. Their understanding of mathematical concepts is enhanced as they measure and compare amounts, recognising when containers are 'full' and 'empty'.
• Parents are appreciative of the work staff do in helping children to make progress. They recognise children's increase in confidence since coming to the setting and value the rich outdoor experiences that staff provide. Parents receive regular communication about children's progress and are given suggestions on how they can support children's learning at home.
• Overall, teaching is of a high quality. Staff respond effectively to children's emerging interests, which promotes children's positive attitudes to learning. However, staff do not always consider children's individual needs and abilities during group activities, such as circle time. Therefore, some children lose interest and do not benefit as much as possible from the learning opportunities.
• Staff ensure that snack and mealtimes provide valuable opportunities for children to extend their social, physical and communication skills. Staff engage in lively conversation with children, which encourages them to share their ideas and listen to others. Children are carefully guided to use a knife to chop up their own fruit and vegetables. This helps to extend children's independence skills and they learn how to use tools safely.
• Staff are good role models and encourage children to use polite manners. They teach children how to play cooperatively with one another and help them to share and take turns during games. Occasionally, staff lack consistency when supporting children to manage their emotions. This means that expectations for behaviour are not always clearly communicated to children.
• Staff skilfully promote children's language skills as they ask questions and narrate as they play alongside children. Children demonstrate their newly acquired vocabulary as they engage in imaginative play. For example, they delight in creating their own puppet shows and repeat words and phrases they have learned. Children foster a love of books and reading as staff introduce texts in ways that ignite children's fascination. Children talk with interest about books they enjoy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop the planning and implementation of some group activities to enable all children to gain the most from the learning experiences
• help staff to develop greater consistency when supporting children to manage their behaviour and emotions.