Wise Owls Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy at this warm and nurturing setting. They leave their parents with ease, often running straight in to join their friends. Staff are committed to ensuring that children settle quickly and develop a real sense of belonging. Children establish strong and positive relationships with staff, who are supportive and caring. All children are learning to do things for themselves with the support and guidance of staff. Younger children enjoy showing off what they have been taught. They confidently demonstrate how to put their coats on ready for their trip into the local community. Pre-school children take turns serving themselves lunch and are keen to help staff put away resources.

Staff focus on developing the children's confidence in new environments. They teach children about the world around them through regular trips into the local area. Children delight in their time outdoors and benefit from lots of time exploring nature. Older children excitedly recall their recent visits to nearby parks and businesses with staff. Younger children develop their core strength and agility outdoors as they run up and down hills and jump in muddy puddles. Babies develop their core muscles as they excitedly pull themselves up to investigate different sensory activities. All children are making good progress in their learning and development from their starting points.

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

• The strong leadership and management team has worked hard since the previous inspection to make significant changes to improve the quality of the nursery. The team has an accurate view of the nursery's strengths and a clear development plan. Staff speak highly of the manager and feel supported through ongoing supervision and daily communication. They benefit from regular staff meetings and professional development opportunities, which are highly relevant to the needs of the children attending.
• Overall, the manager and staff implement an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum. Children are encouraged to be independent and curious. However, at times, staff do not identify opportunities in children's play when they can take their learning to an even higher level. For instance, staff do not always extend children's learning to build on what they know and can already do. At times, children are not consistently provided with the highest levels of challenge.
• Mathematics is firmly embedded into daily routines and activities. Babies and toddlers are exposed to mathematical language during play, such as simple counting and words to describe size and weight. Older children count confidently. They use positional language, such as 'top', 'middle' and 'bottom', to describe where their individual drawers are located to store their pictures to take home.
• Children behave well. They receive an abundance of encouragement and praise from staff. This helps to support children's emotional well-being and to gain confidence in their own abilities. Children show a good understanding of how their behaviour can affect others. For example, children talk about how sharing can make them feel happy.
• Children's communication skills and emotional well-being are well supported. Staff respond warmly to babies' babbles. They give children time to speak, listening carefully to what they say. Older children accurately use and recall new vocabulary, such as 'petal', 'seeds' and 'stem', when describing the different parts of a poppy as part of their Remembrance Day discussions. During group circle times, staff ask children to think and talk about how they feel. Children develop the confidence to say they feel happy or sad, identifying the reason why and sharing this with others.
• Children develop a love of songs, books and stories. They independently select books to enjoy, both alone and with staff. Babies engage in stories as they lift flaps to reveal what is hidden underneath. Older children recall and re-enact stories with great enthusiasm as they sit together in a group. Staff read animatedly and encourage children to describe the different parts of the story.
• Parents praise the manager and the staff team. They report that they are fully informed of their children's development and next steps in learning through an online app, regular newsletters and daily verbal feedback. Parents say their children are progressing well and show high levels of confidence and self-esteem.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's understanding of the curriculum intent so that they consistently make the most of all opportunities to challenge, build and extend on children's learning.