YMCA Redland Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are well behaved, content and settle well. They arrive happy and are keen to start their day. Staff form strong relationships with children and work closely with parents to tailor settling-in procedures to best suit the needs of the children. When children first start, staff gather information about what the children enjoy and what they can already do, and they find out about children's lives outside of the nursery. Staff use this information effectively to help identify children's starting points and to plan experiences for them that they will enjoy. The curriculum is geared to the children's interests and staff use their assessments skilfully to identify and plan for what children need to learn next.

Staff work in partnership with parents to help them extend their children's learning at home. For example, they share ideas for simple play activities that can be done at home to enhance children's development, such as exploring flowers in ice cubes to learn about the effects of frozen water and how it defrosts. Staff know the local community well and tailor the family support they offer to best meet the needs of the children and families that attend.

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

• Staff incorporate many opportunities to enhance children's personal, social and emotional development, and children make particularly good progress in this area of their learning. Staff provide stimulating and interesting activities. For example, children explore 'emotion pebbles' and use them to articulate how they are feeling.
• Staff recognise the impact that national lockdowns, due to COVID-19, have had on some children's routines, so they work closely with parents to aid children's return to nursery. For example, staff supply families with hot chocolate and marshmallows and share virtual bedtime stories with children to help them get back into good bedtime routines. Many families have now made these routines more of a focus at home and comment how children are less tired.
• Staff communicate effectively with children, helping to extend their ever-growing vocabulary, including those children who are learning to speak English as an additional language. For example, staff ask open-ended questions in a way that encourages children to explain and talk more about their ideas. Staff introduce new descriptive words to babies as opportunities arise, such as 'crunchy' when they eat breadsticks.
• Staff support children's learning well and all children, including those in receipt of early years pupil premium funding, make good progress during their time at the setting.
• Children benefit from daily outdoor play and physical activities that enhance their large-muscle skills. Children have time to be active, which contributes well to their health. However, in the pre-school outdoor play area, activities do not always meet all children's interests, particularly those who are more reluctant to spend time outdoors.
• Staff respond well to children and set consistent and clear boundaries for them. Staff successfully help children learn to take turns, share and play well together.
• Staff promote children's independence very well in everyday activities, helping children to manage their own self care. Children gain a strong sense of pride in being able to do things for themselves. This, in turn, boosts their self-esteem and prepares children well for the next stage in learning and their eventual move to school.
• Staff provide a range of learning environments and, throughout the day, offer a wide range of stimulating learning experiences for children. Younger children enjoy opportunities to be curious and imaginative with real objects, and creative during art activities. Older children enjoy practising listening during group games. Occasionally, in the pre-school room, during changeovers in routine, staff do not always provide activities to engage the children. During this time, children lose focus as they wait to move on to the next activity.
• Staff benefit from good support and supervision from leaders. They have access to regular training and opportunities to enhance their professional development. For example, leaders support staff to gain higher level qualifications to help develop their practice to benefit children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance opportunities for pre-school children to develop their interests outdoors
• organise changeover times in the pre-school room more effectively, so that children remain interested and focused.