Zaytuna Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are valued and nurtured at nursery. Staff get to know the children and their families and they recognise when children may need additional support. Children quickly settle and explore the safe and stimulating nursery. Staff consistently praise and support children as they play. They offer warm cuddles and reassurance when newer children arrive needing additional support. This helps children's well-being and builds their confidence. Staff are responsive to children's interests and create areas and activities that they know children will enjoy.

Staff encourage children to keep themselves safe. They gently remind them to stay at the table while they are eating. The nursery's curriculum is designed to build on essential skills children need for the future, this includes ensuring children build their physical skills. Children are supported to take appropriate risks and develop their large muscle skills as they scramble up the climbing frame and push themselves down the slide. Children smile as they dance to music and remember the words of familiar songs, copying actions from enthusiastic staff. Staff are a good role model to children. As children play, staff remind them by saying, 'We are friends, we can share.' Children show that they understand this and they are respectful to their friends and grown-ups, remembering to say please and thank you.

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

• The committed and passionate nursery manager and her staff team have worked hard to make improvements since the last inspection. The manager has effectively addressed the action previously set. A strong key-person system ensures that children and their families are supported well. Staff know their key children well. They observe and assess children and they have clear next steps in place for children's learning. However, staff do not consistently build on providing children with new knowledge during child-initiated play to deepen children's learning.
• The manager and staff have created a curriculum that considers the interests of the children at nursery. A recent trip to a role-play centre has resulted in staff creating a focused role-play room for the children. This enables staff to support children to further deepen their social skills and develop further communication skills.
• The manager and her staff carefully consider how to plan engaging and stimulating environments for children at nursery. However, the manager has not fully considered how distractions at nursery may interrupt children's learning. For example, while children were deeply engaged in outdoor play, staff disrupted their learning by introducing an activity using loud music outdoors.
• Parents speak highly of the care and dedication that the manager and her team show for their children. They say that children build good relationships and relay what they have learned at nursery. Parents comment that they receive daily updates about their children's progress, and that they feel their children are safe and secure in the care of, 'friendly and amazing staff.'
• Children display positive behaviour at nursery. Staff are good role models. They sit and eat with the children during meal times, modelling good manners and kindness. Children understand the routines in place, and they listen and respond well to staff as they are given gentle direction.
• Staff provide lots of praise and encouragement for children as they play, consistently building on their self esteem and promoting children's well-being throughout. Children show that they are proud as they play. They comment, 'I'm really clever,' as staff congratulate children on answering a question correctly. Additional support is provided for younger children by ensuring they have familiar comforters from home to hand and that parents are given regular updates of how children are supported to settle.
• The manager and her staff have created a positive and inclusive provision. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. Children with SEND receive targeted support from their key person, who communicate with other professionals who help and advise them. This helps children make good progress in their learning, such as building on their social and communication skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to build on children's knowledge during child-initiated play
• manage distractions so that children can remain fully engaged in their learning.