Wise Owls Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are excited to arrive at this friendly nursery. Staff warmly greet them and demonstrate a strong commitment to supporting their emotional well-being. For example, staff offer bespoke settling-in sessions that are tailored to each family's needs. Staff work hard to ensure that they build up strong bonds with children and babies. Parents appreciate home visits and staff finding out more about children's lives before they start at the nursery. This helps children to feel comfort when away from a parent for the first time. Older children quickly learn the names of the staff, and babies reach out for a cuddle from their familiar key person.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make strong progress from their starting points. Leaders work tirelessly to ensure that outside agencies provide targeted support for children who need it the most. Staff provide books and learn key phrases in children's home languages. This helps children to feel valued and fosters a sense of belonging.

Staff are kind and gentle, and they are excellent role models for children and babies. They show respect at all times, which positively influences the way children treat each other and the resources. Children are polite, kind and very well behaved.

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

• A key strength of the nursery is the leaders' positive approach to supporting the staff team. Leaders demonstrate an ongoing commitment to making sure that staff are not overburdened and that the workplace is a welcoming work environment. Staff comment that the nursery is a 'fantastic' place to work and that they have many opportunities to further train in areas that interest them. They feel a sense of privilege to work in such a supportive team, where they feel valued and listened to.
• The highly-skilled staff, which includes five qualified teachers, create an exciting environment based on children's interests and learning needs. For example, staff play alongside children as they perform and chant familiar phrases from favourite stories. Babies are given space to practise their physical skills, such as crawling and climbing. Staff strongly encourage children of all ages to engage in sensory play. They use these opportunities to gather children's thoughts and introduce new descriptive language, such as 'shiny' and 'gloopy'.
• There are effective arrangements in place to promote children's confidence and self-esteem. With the support of staff, children become confident in communicating with adults and requesting help when needed. Staff strongly encourage children to ask questions and be inquisitive in their learning, and they regularly ask children to contribute their opinions and listen carefully to what they have to say. Children show high levels of curiosity and independence across all ages in the nursery.
• The highly-qualified staff team is skilled and is aware of how children learn. Staff have an excellent knowledge of children's ages and stages of development. This helps them to plan and to challenge children during activities. For example, children show delight searching for, and recognising, numbers during a parachute game. Staff adapt games such as this for each child's capabilities. Consequently, all children achieve and become excited. Their laughter echoes throughout the nursery.
• Staff know children extremely well. They play alongside them and support them to take turns and work together. At these times, children forge meaningful friendships and build on their social skills. However, during free play, staff do not always recognise when some children lack the confidence to join in and would benefit from adult encouragement. This does not provide all children with fully consistent support to explore their own ideas and build their confidence.
• Staff work hard to close gaps in children's learning. They provide children with rich and broad experiences, such as the annual beach outings. Children enjoy visitors to the nursery, such as the 'Dinosaur man'. Staff use celebrations to teach children about other faiths and cultures. Children regularly eat foods from 'around the world'. These experiences help children to develop an understanding of the diverse community in which they live.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when to provide individual children with the support they need to engage in play and activities.