YMCA Green Shoots Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have warm relationships with children, who settle well into the nursery and, as a result, feel safe and secure. Staff encourage children to explore resources and talk about their play. For example, when young children are exploring paint, they talk about what their painting looks like. They explore the glitter in the paint and excitedly discover the colours they make when they mix them, stating, 'look, purple'. Staff share books with children across all areas of the nursery, talking with them about the pictures and stories.

Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour and participation. They support children to resolve any minor conflicts quickly and consistently. As a result, children manage their feelings and emotions well. Children have lively conversations with staff and each other during snack time. They are happy and talk confidently to their friends. Staff develop children's independence. For example, they offer them choices at snack time and encourage them to pour their own drinks.

Children have access to a wide range of resources to support their learning, both indoors and outdoors. They form strong relationships with staff and enjoy involving them in their play. For example, a member of staff talks with children as they play with cars and a garage, asking, 'Did you go on holiday? Where to?' She then finds a ramp for children to roll their cars down, saying, 'that was fast, wasn't it?'

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

• Staff know children well and respond promptly to their needs. Children's key persons quickly put strategies in place to support them. Staff use different communication strategies for individual children. For example, some staff use objects of reference for children. Most staff use sign language to support children's communication skills, although this is not yet consistent across the nursery.
• Teaching is good. Staff talk to children as they play, describing what they are doing and asking them questions to extend their thinking. For example, one member of staff playing in the sandpit with children asks, 'Shall we measure our footprints? Look, I've got big feet'. Children develop their mathematical skills through play, supported by staff. For example, when playing with ten green bottles, a member of staff asks, 'How do you know where it goes?'
• Staff plan the curriculum to build on what children know and can do. For example, in the two-year-old room, the focus of the curriculum is personal, social and emotional development. This is because the staff have noticed that children starting this year have not had the same socialisation opportunities due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Staff have put a longer transition period in place to support children and their families with separation issues.
• The manager knows her staff well, including their strengths and areas for development. She has a good overview of the quality of provision and what needs to happen next. For example, she correctly identifies staff skills in supporting communication and language as a priority for the nursery. There is a robust system for monitoring children's progress over time.
• Parents speak highly of the setting. They value the communication between their child's key person, and parents describe 'happy, warm and welcoming staff.' Parents look forward to updates about their children through an online communication system and describe this as a 'window into nursery life'.
• The manager is proactive in responding to families' needs. For example, she has introduced a book-share library for children and families, having noticed that younger children are more likely to be using electronic devices at home. The nursery also organises a clothes swap for parents to help with the current cost of living crisis.
• The manager and staff work in close partnership with the local school and other agencies, which supports children into school well. The manager works closely with the school's early years lead and, together, they identify areas of strength and areas for development. Children enjoy trips to the school grounds, physical education in the school hall for the term before they start in school and reading and sharing books with older children.
• Staff engage well with children, offering choices to develop independence. As a result, children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning through high levels of concentration and enjoyment. For example, during group time, all children listened to nursery rhymes and took turns to identify the matching picture.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop consistent use of existing strategies, including sign language and visual prompts, to support children's developing communication and language skills.