Winston's Place

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery eager, happy and excited to begin their day. They separate from their parents and carers with ease, enthusiastically waving goodbye to them at the door. Children have strong emotional attachments with the kind and caring staff team. They receive plenty of cuddles and reassurance, as and when needed. There are clear, well-established routines in place, which children are clearly familiar with. This helps children feel safe and secure.

Children listen well throughout the day and follow the instructions given by staff. They are engaged and motivated in their chosen activities and show a willingness to learn and try new things. For example, babies and toddlers enjoy sensory activities such as exploring foam. They are supported to feel the foam on their hands and begin to make marks. Older children concentrate intently as they use tweezers to collect 'spiders' from a special web that staff have created. They develop their fine motor skills as they squeeze the tweezers together, which prepares them well for future learning, such as writing.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic staff have supported children with their social interactions. They encourage children to play alongside one another and engage in cooperative play. Turn taking and sharing is continually encouraged.

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

• Overall, staff manage children's behaviour effectively. In the main, they are quick to intervene and diffuse situations as they arise. However, staff do not always offer clear explanations to aid children's understanding further. For example, when young children begin to climb on furniture, they do not routinely explain why this behaviour is unwanted or provide children with explanations around the consequences. That said, older children are developing an understanding of rules and expectations. For example, they know to have 'kind hands', 'inside voices' and 'walking feet'.
• Children show positive attitudes to learning and are making good progress. On occasion, staff take a prescriptive approach and do not encourage children to explore the materials independently. Staff are caring and attentive to children's needs, however, they do not continually promote children's independence skills during routines, such as snack and mealtimes.
• Children are becoming skilful and confident communicators. Staff provide children with a running commentary as they play which helps to give meaning to what children are doing. Staff use questioning techniques and model conversations. However, on occasion they miss opportunities to introduce new vocabulary. For example, staff do not always label objects and instead use words such as 'this' and 'that'. This means that children are not always able to hear a rich variety of vocabulary to support their developing communication and language skills even further.
• Staff skilfully support children's mathematical understanding. Throughout children's play, staff model counting and use mathematical language. For example, children are encouraged to count how many children are present at register time. Older children calculate how many children and how many adults there are. Toddlers enjoy building with blocks and as they do, staff count and use language such as 'tall' and 'short'.
• Staff benefit from effective support and training, which helps them to develop their practice. Leaders encourage staff to reflect and audit their provision. This means that self-evaluation is purposeful and clearly drives improvement. Staff's well-being is also considered which helps the staff team to feel valued and appreciated. This has a positive impact on their interactions with children as staff enjoy their work, are dedicated and enthusiastic in their approach.
• Parents are complimentary about the staff and the nursery. They describe how staff communicate well about all aspects of their children's learning and development through daily diary sheets, verbal exchanges and the sharing of learning journals. Parents highlight the progress that their children have made since attending and would highly recommend the nursery to other families.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to manage children's behaviour even more effectively so that children gain an understanding of unwanted behaviours and the consequences of their actions
• strengthen staff's interactions with children so that they confidently recognise opportunities to model new language and vocabulary
• provide children with the freedom to carry out tasks and engage in routines independently, so they are able to develop their skills further.