Wings Nursery Norton

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this exceptionally warm and welcoming nursery with enthusiasm. The staff treat them and their parents like their own family and have the same high expectations for them. Children have an excellent balance of adult- and child-led activities throughout the day. Group times provide opportunities to gain experience of phonics, numbers, songs and stories. Children relish exploring orchards and seeing farm animals and birds of prey.

Inside, children experience the difference between where they live and other places. They explore what it is like in a big city and compare the differences. The carefully thought-out resources and activities bring together the things that the children are finding out about through their own experiences. For example, children listen to a book about London and point out a red double-decker bus. The children recall going on a real London bus themselves, which was an unusual and special occasion. They go into their 'tourist centre', write postcards from London and practise using money to buy things.

Children continuously receive excellent support from the staff. They inspire them by asking open questions, such as, 'Where are you going?', 'How will you get there?' and 'What would you like to write?' There are exciting opportunities to make links across the curriculum. Monet prints of London scenes offer inspiration for children in the painting area. The impact of the curriculum on what children know, can remember and do is highly effective. For example, they demonstrate this through being deeply engaged in discovering and comparing lives that are different to their own.

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

• Children's experiences over time are consistently and coherently planned to build knowledge and skills for their future learning. Younger children get support with a small group session of 'What's in the box?' Children identify the shape and colour. The adult then describes the key properties of the item. Children sing a song and learn to take turns. Older children learn numerals and their corresponding value. They count to 30 and above. This process is highly effective in helping children to build on and retain information.
• Staff make wonderful use of story time as an opportunity to develop children's memory skills. They talk about the past and describe what a telephone box is. A child makes a link from a London Zoo photograph to their own experience. They then discuss the joy they experienced when visiting a local zoo.
• Children's behaviour is exemplary. They share and take turns exceptionally well and without any prompting. If a child wants a toy, they hand it over without a fuss. Children follow instructions, tidy up and happily go to their groups or story time the first time that the staff ask them to do so. This helps children rapidly learn the skills that will make them ready for the next stage of their education.
• There are continuous and consistent support systems in place for children to become independent. They go to the toilet by themselves, wash their hands and enjoy singing the hand washing song. Staff swiftly identify children who may need emotional support by using the resource a 'Box of Feelings'. For example, children can relate their emotions to the faces in the box then describe how they are feeling. This helps staff build children's character extremely effectively and is another important aspect of becoming school ready.
• Support for children with a special educational needs and/or disabilities is exceptional. This is due to the outstanding work of the special educational needs coordinator(SENCo) and the teamwork of the senior leadership staff. The SENCo works tirelessly to ensure that children's needs are met immediately. She supports parents in any way she can. She ensures that children's targets are in place. This means that the children she looks after have the reasonable adjustments that they need so that they can thrive.
• Leaders scrutinise their nursery regularly to ensure that all aspects of the provision are highly effective. They successfully identify areas for improvement and implement appropriate changes. For example, they noticed that some children who speak English as an additional language and those who are affected by COVID-19, need extra language and socialisation support. They ensure that staff attend focused, highly effective training to provide boosters to children who need it. This supports them so that they are not at a disadvantage and can thrive. All children are then able to access all aspects of the curriculum. Moreover, it supports them to reach their full potential with the purpose of being school ready.
• Parents are very complimentary about the nursery. They come many miles for their child to attend. They say that it reassures them that their children are learning, safe and having fun. They call it a family and home from home. They report that communication is excellent. They find out about their child's progress in a variety of ways, including through social media, face-to-face chats at the door and phone calls. They report that their children have made fantastic progress since being at the nursery. Parents say that this nursery is 'perfect', 'amazing' and 'life changing.'
• All staff report that the levels of support that the leaders give them for their well-being go beyond their expectations. When staff relay incidents, leaders listen and respond with empathy. They offer practical advice and solutions to staff issues. This results in an extremely low turnover of staff. Children benefit from this because it provides ideal conditions to build solid attachments to their key person. This helps to reduce anxiety and supports children to thrive.