Wood Street Nursery and Forest Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children show high levels of emotional well-being. They happily engage in play and 'check in' with staff for emotional reassurance when needed. Effective care practices ensure that all children feel safe and secure within the warm and welcoming nursery. Relationships between staff and children are warm and caring. Staff have a good understanding of the individual children and what makes them unique. This enables them to target children's care and learning to their individual needs. Children behave well and demonstrate a positive attitude to learning. Staff provide interesting experiences to encourage them to find out new things and predict what might happen next. For instance, children add vinegar and lemon juice to bicarbonate of soda to create a volcano effect. Children accurately predict that, when the ingredients are mixed together, the volcano will explode.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), have made significant progress from their starting points. Leaders are aware of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on children's development, especially in communication and language and personal and social development. They have built a curriculum designed to give children the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage in their learning. For instance, they have implemented small-group interventions to help support children's listening and attention skills and encourage them to take turns and share.

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

• Leaders and staff are committed to providing high-quality, inclusive care for all children and their families. They work closely with parents and other professionals involved in children's care to ensure continuity. Staff use additional funding effectively to close any gaps and to improve the children's experiences and learning. For instance, they enhance staffing so that children who need additional assistance benefit from one-to-one support.
• Children benefit from learning experiences that help them to develop across all areas of the curriculum. Overall, staff understand how children learn and provide a good range of activities to help them make progress. However, staff do not always help children to develop their critical-thinking skills fully. For instance, occasionally, they intervene too quickly when children are faced with challenges and do not allow them time to solve problems independently.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents report that the nursery staff set clear rules and boundaries to help children develop good social skills. They keep them well informed about their children's learning and development. Parents comment that their children are making good progress and enjoy the time they spend at the nursery.
• Children develop a good understanding of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. For instance, they follow good hygiene practices and make healthy food choices. During hot weather, staff gently remind them to drink plenty of water to keep themselves hydrated.
• Children are offered many experiences to support all areas of learning, including sessions at forest school. Staff use these experiences to extend children's understanding of the wider world. For example, during woodland walks, children look for different types of flowers and insects. When children see bees on flowers, staff explain that the bees use the pollen from the flowers to make honey. Children compare the different sizes of the flowers and comment that some are very tiny. Staff use these opportunities to explain that these are very delicate and, therefore, they need to handle them carefully.
• The leadership team is strong and has a clear vision and processes in place to support the staff team. Leaders are aware of the strengths and areas for improvement in teaching. For instance, they recognise that some less experienced staff need ongoing support to help improve teaching to an even higher level. As such, they focus highly on staff's professional development and supervise them well. Staff have regular discussions about their key children and about their roles and responsibilities.
• Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's communication skills. For example, they have implemented specialist small-group activities effectively, enabling children to practise and develop their language and concentration skills.
• Overall, children of all ages develop good physical skills. They confidently climb and use balance bikes. However, staff working with the younger children do not always ensure that toys are frequently tidied away after play. This means that the room becomes cluttered and limits the opportunities for children to move around, explore and investigate.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• allow children more time to solve problems independently to help to develop their critical-thinking skills even further
• ensure the learning environment for younger children is appropriately organised to give them ample space to move around freely, explore and investigate independently.