Wollaton House Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have built positive relationships with children and their families. These relationships form firm foundations for children's successful learning and development. Children's emotional development is promoted well. Children arrive happy to nursery as they are greeted by the friendly management team. Younger children are supported by staff to independently manage the stairs up to their room. They are strengthening their muscles and learning how to coordinate their body movements. Children settle well into their learning with the support of their key person.

Managers and staff have worked together to design a curriculum which is ambitious for all children. Children happily work together to build a house from bricks. Staff model how to build the structure, starting with the sides. They challenge children to think how they can build up the sides and make a roof. This is developing the children's problem-solving skills. Staff are skilful at developing their teaching to meet the children's individual needs. They have created an environment where children's imaginations flourish.

Staff read stories with enthusiasm. Children quickly become deeply engaged in the story. They show good listening and attention skills. Staff challenge children's thinking and promote their use of language by them asking questions about the story. Staff extend children's learning further and support their counting skills. Once the story has finished, staff hide number cards around the garden. Children are excited to search the garden. When they find the number cards, they can tell the adults what number they have found. Staff then model placing the number cards in order.

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

• Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They show commitment and consider more effective ways to support and shape children's behaviour. Children respond well to the positive behaviour management strategies that staff use. Children are calmed when relaxing classical music is played. Staff recognise when children behave well and offer meaningful individual praise.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with parents and other professionals to enable children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to make good progress in their learning. The manager supports the SENCo to target her work with the children who would benefit most. The SENCo uses her experience and knowledge to act quickly and puts appropriate support in place.
• Staff understand the setting's literacy curriculum and successfully deliver this throughout the setting. Children are introduced to a book of the month. Staff repeat the story to ensure the learning is embedded and plan exciting activities for the children to continue their learning. Through this, children develop a fondness of special and meaningful stories. Toddlers enjoy making marks with wax crayons, using single words to explain their marks. Staff speak clearly in sentences to enhance their vocabulary.
• Staff are attentive to children's care needs. They promote children's health care through teaching handwashing and offering healthy meal options. Overall, children are developing their self-care skills. However, during some mealtimes, staff do not offer the children a choice of cutlery. This limits children's opportunity to fully develop their coordination skills when feeding themselves.
• Parents are extremely happy with the service provided. They say they particularly like the use of daily information, termly assessments and parents' evenings. Parents receive a wide range of support and guidance from the management team, which helps them to support their child with, for example, oral health, early reading and minor behavioural issues.
• In the most part, children are securing the skills and knowledge they need to confidently progress in their education and beyond. That said, there are gaps where younger children have less opportunity to develop their early communication and back-and-forth interaction skills, specifically at mealtimes. For example, on occasions, some staff stand above babies in their highchairs while feeding them. This means the babies cannot clearly see the mouth movements and facial expressions of the staff to enhance the development of their communication skills.
• The passionate management team recognises the importance of staff well-being and their continuous professional development. They provide opportunities for staff to develop their knowledge and skills continuously. They provide regular staff meetings in a relaxed social environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• organise the arrangements at mealtimes for babies to see the facial expression of staff, so that teaching interactions are maximised
• extend opportunities for children to use tools to develop their coordination skills, particularly at mealtimes.