Woodside Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and content at this welcoming nursery. They enjoy playing with their friends and choosing from a range of interesting activities, both inside and outside. Babies confidently explore their surroundings in the relaxed and peaceful baby room. They strengthen their fingers and hands in readiness for their next stages in learning. For example, they play with resources to pull, push, turn and make other movements. They grin as their actions turn on lights and make sounds. Toddlers engage in activities that support their early literacy skills, making marks on large blackboards with chalk. They make big vertical movements with their arms as they draw 'spiders', excitedly counting the legs they have drawn.

Children are developing good communication and language skills. They have opportunities to develop a love of books. Children in the toddler room listen to favourite stories and join in familiar phrases, such as 'under it and over it'. Babies hear new words through songs and rhymes. This helps to extend their vocabulary. Older children begin to develop their mathematical skills. For example, they explore the properties of giant dice, kindly rolling them to each other and counting each spot to discover the correct number. Children enjoy their learning and are developing their levels of concentration.

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

• The management team has recently welcomed support and guidance from its local authority adviser on the importance of an inspiring continuous provision. As a result, its members have made significant changes to their curriculum and the way they plan for children's learning. Staff focus on helping children to learn about their emotions and build on their personal, social and emotional development. They provide effective support when children first start and when they transition to a new room. However, managers understand that they need more time to embed their new curriculum across the seven areas of learning throughout the nursery.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents trust the staff with their children's care and are happy with the progress they make. The nursery use various forms of communication to share children's progress and effectively share next steps with parents.
• Children show increasing independence in lots of ways, such as by putting on their own coats, managing their own personal care needs and confidently selecting their own resources to use. Babies learn to feed themselves, while young children enjoy pouring their own drinks at snack time.
• Leaders and managers have correctly identified some priorities for improvement through their self-evaluation. They undertake regular supervision and observation of staff. However, they recognise there is still scope for professional development opportunities to focus more precisely on raising the quality of teaching to the highest level.
• Staff provide a range of outdoor activities, such as shadow painting and exploring mud. Older children practise their balance and coordination skills as they ride bikes on the playground. Babies spend time in their own dedicated garden where they climb on slides and dig in sand. Children enjoy filling jugs and containers from the outside tap. They pour the water onto the ground to make puddles and show great delight at the splashes they make while jumping up and down. All these experiences help develop their physical skills as well as their curiosity.
• Children are keen learners and make choices about what they do. They have opportunities to practise their new-found skills, such as cutting with scissors. They have a go at holding scissors correctly so that they can cut sticky tape and boxes as they make models of their choice. Children gain the skills they need to prepare them for their next stages in learning and the eventual move on to school.
• Managers ensure that there are clear rules and boundaries in place. These include displays and reminders for children to use 'listening ears', 'indoor voices' and 'kind hands'. However, not all staff reinforce these consistently. This is not fully effective in helping children to understand the nursery expectations, especially during lunchtimes and small-group activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to embed the new curriculum across the nursery to help all children make the best possible progress
• refine the professional development programme for staff to improve the quality of teaching to the highest level
• support all staff to be consistent in reinforcing rules and boundaries so that children understand what is expected of them.