Woodroyd Nursery and Children Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make excellent progress in this exceptionally inclusive and community-focused nursery. Staff and leaders have very high ambitions for all children. Parents are welcomed into the nursery to help settle their children when they first attend. Key persons work closely with parents to get to know them and their children. This helps children to feel safe and secure.

Children become independent learners. They access a variety of resources that help them to develop their skills. For example, children create pictures using glue and art supplies. They carefully spread the glue and use their small-muscle skills to sprinkle glitter or place snowflakes onto the paper. Children show good hand-to-eye coordination and control when using paintbrushes to paint pictures. They use a range of tools to squash and shape play dough as they pretend to make biscuits. These experiences help children to become ready to learn how to hold a pencil and write when they move on to school.

Children enjoy spending time in the large, well-resourced outdoor areas. They learn to navigate space as they push themselves along on ride-on toys. Children practise climbing and balancing on the play equipment. Staff encourage them to play outside in all weathers. This increases children's physical activity and builds their resilience and stamina.

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

• The nursery is a valued part of the community. Leaders and staff provide support for families beyond childcare. They give support to parents and carers on a personal, emotional and practical level. Staff run weekly stay-and-play sessions for parents and children. They regularly speak with parents to explain exactly how they can continue to support their children's development at home.
• Staff find out about children's interests. They discuss these with their co-workers during weekly planning meetings. Staff then decide precisely how they will support children to work towards their next steps in learning. Staff respond in the moment to children's ever-changing interests and ideas. For instance, when children show an interest in aeroplanes, staff make paper planes for them to fly in the wind. Children excitedly throw their planes and watch how far they fly. This approach to learning helps them to stay highly engaged in their play.
• Staff introduce new stories to children each week. They think about how to extend children's vocabulary through activities linked to each story. Staff have carried out detailed assessments of children's speech and language development. This helps them to plan targeted support for children. As a result, children make even further progress with their communication skills.
• Children are kind and respectful to each other. Staff act as role models for children. For example, they teach children how to take turns as they patiently wait for their go on the swing. Children develop their abilities to solve problems as they figure out how to use a pulley system. They think about how to pull the ropes in the right direction to make the pulley go up and down. This supports children to build their thinking skills.
• Children wash their own hands before snack time. They serve their own portions of fruit and pour their own drinks. Children in the pre-school room fill up their own water bottles as part of their routine on arrival. This builds children's confidence in their own abilities.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make rapid progress. The nursery is extremely inclusive. Staff go above and beyond to make sure that all children have the same opportunities. They work with a wide range of outside agencies to provide children with targeted education and care plans. Leaders communicate well with local schools. This ensures that support for children with SEND continues when they move on to the next stage in their education.
• Leaders identify how they can further enhance the skills and knowledge of the highly motivated staff team. Some staff members recently took part in forest school training. Staff have shared their learning with the rest of their teams and introduced new ideas into the nursery. This in turn has enhanced the resources available for children and broadened their experiences. Leaders are providing access to higher qualifications for staff. This will continue to raise the already high levels of teaching and learning.