YMCA Woolston Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this large, very clean, airy nursery, alongside staff who support their needs well. They enjoy rich play and language experiences and show high levels of motivation and curiosity. Staff create an extremely vibrant and inviting environment to stimulate children. Children show great excitement and joy in their learning and development, particularly in the younger age groups. They are highly enthusiastic and active learners who quickly learn new skills and develop their knowledge. The leadership team has a clear understanding of the curriculum and high expectations of the staff and children. For example, two-year-olds listen animatedly to stories because staff have good teaching skills. They capture children's interest through excellent use of pause, pitch and tone in their voice. They offer children varied questions and give clear explanations. Babies in particular feel extremely safe and happy. Staff tune into their individual needs effectively and have a good understanding of child development. Children across the nursery show excellent behaviour and very positive attitudes to learning. Older children show strong relationships and respect for their friends. For example, when one of their friends has an accident and is receiving first aid, they look on with great concern.

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

• Members of the new leadership team strive for excellence in everything they do and have high aspirations for their staff and children. They work extremely cohesively together and develop a culture of continuous reflection and improvement. Staff recruitment and retention are very good. There is high focus on staff well-being and personal development which includes a lot of coaching and training opportunities.
• An excellent monitoring system is in place to develop the quality of education across the nursery. Leaders recognise that although the curriculum intent in the pre-school room is good, the teaching practice is not of high quality, in particular for children starting school. They have short-term plans in place to address this.
• Staff expertly support babies' care and learning needs. They know each unique child extremely well and offer great support for them to master key skills in talking and walking. For example, staff create a mini beach theme, after identifying that babies lack this experience. Babies have huge fun and show great excitement discovering the sand, water, toys and underwater creatures. Staff are highly enthusiastic. They role model words clearly to babies, introduce simple counting and share a book about going to the seaside on a train.
• The focus on high-quality key-person relationships is evident. Children show very strong bonds to one another and the staff. Staff have an excellent understanding of children's emotional well-being and actively promote this. For example, when a young child becomes attached to a nursery sun hat, they take it home and wear it consistently indoors and outside.
• Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff have very high expectations of children from a young age. For example, at lunchtime, children aged 'just two' help to give out food to their friends and then help to tidy up supervised by the staff. Young children are very proud of their achievements and smile broadly.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Overall, parents report good communication with the staff and the benefits of their child attending nursery. However, there is not enough emphasis on helping parents carry on children's learning at home, particularly due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic restrictions of the past year.
• Children demonstrate high levels of confidence. They take responsibility for themselves, showing excellent self-help skills. For example, after getting wet in water play, they make the decision to change their clothes. Children independently go to the bathroom, undress, and skilfully put on dry clothes, without any adult help.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to develop the quality of education, with emphasis on the quality of teaching practice with older children
• strengthen the partnership with parents to enable them to continue their children's learning at home.