Young Ones Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are warm and nurturing as they welcome children into the nursery. Children seek out familiar staff when they are feeling unsure. Staff provide children with a soothing approach by giving them reassuring cuddles to help them settle. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff plan experiences for children to develop their imagination and understanding of the world around them. Children eagerly explore what is available to them and build positive friendships with their peers. They style each other's hair in the mirror as they pretend to be hairdressers. This helps to develop their awareness and understanding of other people in their community and their roles.

Children demonstrate a positive attitude to their learning. Staff encourage children to try things for themselves. As children concentrate on building towers, staff ask them how many they have and how many more they might need to reach a particular number. This helps to develop their understanding of mathematical concepts. Children behave well and are polite to staff and their peers. For instance, when children need help and ask staff for a drink they say 'please' and 'thank you'. Staff respond politely back to children to reinforce the use of manners.

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

• Staff have thorough inductions when they start at the setting to ensure they understand the expectations of their roles and responsibilities. Leaders and staff attend regular supervisions. They discuss ongoing improvements and support they may need to help them in their role. All staff attend regular training to keep their knowledge up to date. Staff say they feel valued members of the team.
• Staff observe and accurately assess children's development. They implement a curriculum that is planned around children's interests and builds on their knowledge. However, not all staff always implement the curriculum with precision to consistently support the intent of some activities. This means not all children are making the highest possible progress.
• Children explore a range of activities to promote a healthy lifestyle. Staff play games with children to help them to understand how to make good food choices. During mealtimes, staff talk to the children about the food they eat and how this affects their bodies. Children join in with these discussions, developing a deeper understanding of good choices to help keep them healthy.
• Children access different experiences to develop their fine motor skills. They use their pincer grip to pick up resources and make marks with chalks in the sensory tray. Older children enjoy riding their scooters and tricycles in the garden. However, not all staff have considered how they plan their environment indoors to consistently provide babies with opportunities to practise balancing and their coordination to further develop their physical skills.
• Children develop their communication and language skills through a range of activities and stories. They discover the different animals in the activity. Staff introduce new words, such as tusks, as they describe the features of the rhinoceros. Children confidently repeat back familiar words as they develop their vocabulary and speaking skills.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff communicate with parents throughout their children's time at the nursery. They keep parents well informed about their children's day and what they are currently working towards. Parents say they value the staff at the nursery because they know their children are safe in their care. Staff work with parents to support children who may be falling behind in their development. They implement targeted support that helps every child to reach expected development.
• Staff implement effective procedures and routines to ensure the environment is safe and clean for children. They are vigilant with their routines for teaching children about self-care. Children wash their hands before mealtimes and staff remind them to wipe their noses. This helps children to understand the importance of keeping themselves healthy and well.
• Children are creative when they use different coloured paints to create their pictures. They chose from different tools available to them to make marks on the paper. Children have a sense of pride as they talk to staff about what they have created with their paintings. This helps to develop children's confidence and self-esteem.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways to further enhance learning environments for babies to focus more closely on their physical skills
• develop staff confidence in delivering the curriculum to more precisely understand the intentions of activities and what they want children to learn next.