Woodlands Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and their parents are very happy at this nursery, as staff establish strong and affectionate bonds with every child. The nursery ethos of enabling children to get messy, experience things that they may not do at home, and become ready for their next steps in life, is embedded in staff practice. Babies dig in soil, toddlers pat their hands in flour, and older children make their own play dough with lots of mess. Staff are relaxed about doing this, which enhances the children's enjoyment as they freely explore different materials and use their senses to learn about the world around them.

Children behave well. They develop friendships with their peers and enjoy each other's company. Older children clap each other's efforts as they confidently practise their nativity performance in front of the staff and visitors. All children are benefiting from the newly adopted 'in the moment planning', as staff focus on children's interests more effectively. Staff have also put a lot of thought into developing the outside area, which includes the vegetable garden and 'mini woodlands', where children can have fun hammering golf tees into pumpkins and building with real bricks. Young children become engrossed in water play, transporting water from one container to another, and they repeat this over and over again.

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

• The managers and staff have worked hard to make positive improvements since the last inspection. They work well as a team and staff comment that they feel well supported. Staff report that recent training has helped to increase their confidence to plan 'in the moment' and enhance children's learning through their own curiosities.
• Staff implement activities well overall, and confidently explain what they want children to achieve. During a play dough making activity, staff use lots of descriptive language to develop children's vocabulary. Children strengthen the muscles in their hands and arms as they pour and stir the ingredients, knead their dough and roll it out.
• Children learn the importance of good health and hygiene through activities and everyday routines. For example, staff ensure that children have clean hands before eating. Even the babies wash their hands at a tabletop sink, which helps them to prepare for handwashing in the bathroom when they move up to the next room. All children brush their teeth after lunch as part of a fun activity. The nursery staff have reviewed the menu to reduce the amount of sugar in food provided. This helps to promote children's oral hygiene.
• The effort that staff make to obtain information about children's backgrounds, cultures and experiences is not consistent across all the rooms in the nursery.
• Some staff have introduced initiatives such as 'cultural backpacks' to send home to find out more about the children they care for. However, other staff have not yet considered how to gain the fullest possible picture about each child in order to enhance their cultural capital.
• Children across the nursery demonstrate that they feel settled and secure. Babies are happy to show visitors their toys, and pre-school children invite visitors to listen to them sing. They show their growing communication and language skills as they sing Christmas songs, such as 'Little Donkey'. Staff praise them for their achievements, and it is clear that the children feel very proud.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents speak positively about the nursery and staff. They comment on the good communication, breadth of activities, and how every staff member makes an effort to know all the children. Some children attend other early years settings. However, the management team has not yet fully established an effective two-way exchange of information about children's development with these settings in order to promote consistency in children's learning.
• Children are learning how to support their community by bringing in donations for the local food bank. They are holding a toy appeal to donate toys for Christmas to a local charity, and are also collecting clothes for the air ambulance charity. This helps children to consider the needs of others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve the consistency with which staff across the nursery gather information about children's backgrounds, cultures and experiences, to enable staff to have the fullest possible picture about each child and enhance their cultural capital
• strengthen information-sharing with other settings that children attend to promote more continuity in their learning and development.