Yesodey Hatorah Primary Girls School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have very close and caring relationships with children in this warm and nurturing nursery. They create a family atmosphere where staff know and value each child highly. Staff take time to ensue that babies settle well by adhering to their care routines from home, such as sleeping patterns. They have high expectations of children and manage children's behaviour in positive ways. Children behave well.

Staff work well together to create a suitably challenging curriculum that offers children stimulating experiences. All children make good progress. Staff support children to gain good creative skills. Children enjoy scooping and pouring beans into tubs. They explore different textures and materials, such as tissue paper and pom-poms, which they use to decorate boxes.

Staff help children to gain good mathematical skills. They count beans with children as they play, and use words such as 'empty' and 'full' to compare volume. They sing number songs and rhymes to support children's counting skills. Staff support children's physical development well. Babies and toddlers enjoy pulling themselves up and climbing onto low platforms. They crawl through tunnels and develop good physical skills.

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

• Staff sing lots of action rhymes and songs in Yiddish and English and teach children new words in dual languages. They talk and listen to children well. Staff plan activities that link children's physical and early writing skills well. For example, they encourage children to use large arm movements to draw on paper on the floor.
• Children gain good independence skills. Children under two years of age learn to select toys for themselves from a wide range of accessible resources. Staff teach children how to feed themselves. They support children to learn to share and to take turns, for example, when playing with resources in the pretend play home corner.
• Staff have good partnerships with parents and ensure that parents have daily updates about their children's activities and progress. Parents describe staff as 'very caring' and state that they are pleased with children's progress. Staff work well with parents to support children's development in areas such as behaviour management.
• Leaders monitor and support staff effectively. They spend time in group rooms observing staff and provide helpful advice to improve their practice, where required. Leaders have regular meetings with staff to discuss and support their work. They are committed to staff development and ensure that staff have regular training opportunities. For instance, staff received training on how to support children's oral hygiene awareness, which has led to better outcomes for children.
• Leaders review all areas of the provision and set clear goals to build ongoing improvements. For instance, they plan to continue to enrich activities to promote best outcomes for children.
• Children develop a good understanding of the world. Staff take children out on walks to observe seasonal changes. They gather leaves with children in autumn and talk about changes in nature. Staff teach children the names of animals and the sounds they make.
• Staff prioritise children's safety. They ensure that all areas of the nursery are kept clean and hygienic for children's use. Staff carry out safety checks indoors and outdoors to reduce the risk of hazards. Leaders teach children how to use tools, such as scissors, with care and caution.
• The nursery provides healthy, nutritious meals and snacks for children. Staff ensure that children have fresh air and physical challenges each day.
• Staff generally provide a wide range of interesting books for children's use. However, they have not fully considered how to promote children's engagement with stories to support their language and literacy skills further, for example by making the book area more inviting to children.
• Staff have started to teach children about feelings. For example, they sometimes refer to children feeling 'happy'. However, staff have not fully developed this to reflect a wider range of emotions to help children to understand themselves and others.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to enhance children's engagement with books to support their communication, language and literacy skills further
• develop children's understanding of feelings further to support their understanding of themselves and others.