Wishing Well Pre-School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy. They feel safe and secure in this warm and welcoming nursery. Staff present an inviting environment that encourages children to explore. Leaders and staff provide a curriculum that is tailored to meet the needs of each individual child to ensure that all children can reach their full potential. Staff get to know their key children well and thoroughly understand their learning needs. They form close relationships with children that help children to feel confident and settled.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress in their learning. Staff are patient and nurturing. They support children who speak English as an additional language well. Transitions through the nursery are smooth and children adjust to their new environments quickly. The nursery is compact and children get to know all the staff and are able to see other children playing and learning in their rooms.

Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They set clear boundaries that help children to behave well. Staff work closely with parents to ensure that any issues with behaviour are identified and managed well. Children play and learn together in a relaxed atmosphere that helps them to develop their concentration skills. They have positive attitudes to learning and make continuous good progress.

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

• Leaders and staff develop strong partnerships with parents. They keep in regular contact with parents, who are very happy with the care and education their children receive. Staff work together with parents and health visitors to assess children's development between the ages of two and three years. This supports staff to ensure that children develop to the best of their ability and to secure other professional intervention if necessary.
• Staff are experienced and work closely together to embed their curriculum. They assess individual children's abilities from information obtained from their parents and their own observations and assessments. Staff make good use of individual children's additional funding to provide resources that reflect their interests and learning needs. The exciting resources encourage children to engage with their learning and supports their development favourably.
• Children play and learn together well. Staff teach children to share and take turns and they manage any disagreements with patience and kindness. They talk to children about their strong emotions and help them to understand how they are feeling. Staff use a variety of child-friendly resources to teach children to name their emotions and learn how to control their behaviour.
• Children access books freely, inside and outdoors, and staff read to them throughout the day. Babies and toddlers choose from a generous basket of board books designed to attract their attention. Children are enthralled as they listen to stories and staff make them interesting by allowing them to join in with a chorus. However, on occasions, some staff do not check that all children can see the material they are reading properly, or encourage them to respond. On these occasions, some children do not benefit fully from the reading activities.
• Staff encourage children to challenge their physical development. For example, children draw the inspector's attention to their skill when balancing on beams. They count as they throw balls into a net. Staff help children to count and use numbers in their games. Children race around a road track on pedal tricycles and try out their skills at climbing.
• Staff engage children in friendly chatter as they make their choices of activities outside. They encourage children to speak and use new words as they describe what they are making. Staff ask questions and speak clearly to help children to form their words correctly and develop their vocabulary. Children make marks in sand and draw large circles on paper, developing their hand control in preparation for early writing.
• Staff support children to become independent. For example, they zip up their coats before going out to play. They wash their hands before eating. The cook provides children with a hot meal at lunchtime and a choice of fruit is available for snacks. However, staff do not teach children enough about the importance of making healthy food choices and the reasons why some foods are not always good for their health.
• Staff training is a high priority in the nursery and many staff are working towards gaining higher qualifications. The provider and manager carry out regular supervision meetings with staff. There is a high ratio of staff to the number of children and this enables staff to take breaks. Staff are happy at work and say they are supported very well with their training.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on the use of books and stories to further enthuse children and bring the quality of this teaching to the highest level
• develop further opportunities to promote messages about healthy eating.