Little Angels At The Campus

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are obviously delighted when they see the familiar staff waiting to greet them. They show that they feel safe and happy as they enter the nursery.

Children are eager to see what the day has in store for them. Children of all ages are confident explorers. Older children work together to develop role play games.

They learn to listen to other people's ideas. Younger children roam busily around the spacious indoor area. This promotes their physical development and independence.

Staff watch and join in with the children's self-chosen play. They encourage children to have ideas and follow their own interest...s.Children generally behave well and demonstrate a positive attitude to learning.

At circle time, older children willingly join in with counting how many children are here today. An outcome of this daily routine is that children begin to understand the purpose of numbers and counting. During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff made effective use of an online learning journal to communicate with parents and carers.

This has continued, along with daily face-to-face sharing of information. Parents comment that they feel well informed about their children's progress and well-being. They say that staff help them to continue their children's learning at home.

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

The manager has a clear and ambitious vision for the nursery. She works hard to promote staff's and children's well-being and achievement. A current focus for curriculum development is the outdoor play space.

Some newly established water-play equipment helps children to find out about the properties of water. They have fun collecting, pouring and transporting it.The manager demonstrates a strong commitment to staff's professional development.

She works alongside the teams in the childcare rooms and offers in-the-moment coaching. Staff regularly attend online and in-person training events. However, the reasons for staff undertaking the training are sometimes not clear enough.

This makes it more difficult to measure the impact on staff's skills and children's progress.The provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength of the provision. Staff deliver individual care and learning programmes that incorporate assessment and advice from specialist professionals.

This is particularly the case for children with multiple and complex disabilities. Children with identified SEND make very good progress from their starting points.Staff make effective use of props and pictures.

Younger children learn that pulling the black sheep out of the nursery rhyme bag means that they are going to sing 'Baa Baa Black Sheep'. Older children know that when the little picture of a bed is on the 'now and next' board, it is time to put the toys to bed. The routines teach children that objects, symbols and writing convey meaning.

This prepares them well for early literacy.Overall, children know the behaviour that is expected of them. For example, they know that they are allowed to run outdoors but should walk when they are inside.

However, some rules and routines are not implemented consistently enough. Some older children leave the tidying up to others. Some younger children are confused when their play is interrupted and they are carried to group time.

This hinders children's progress towards self-regulation.Staff encourage children to develop self-help skills and independence. Babies self-feed from an early age, closely supervised by attentive staff.

Older children wipe their own faces and hands after lunch. They look at themselves in the mirror to make sure that their face is clean. The busy, happy environment fosters meaningful conversation.

Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, make good progress in learning to talk.Children's physical development is promoted effectively. Children, including those with SEND, master hand signals that help them to communicate.

This helps to promote their small-muscle development. Children bend and stretch as they chalk on the big outdoor blackboards. They confidently ascend the vertical climbing wall.

This promotes children's core strength and balance.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager checks that staff are knowledgeable and confident about safeguarding matters.

Staff understand the nursery's safeguarding policy and know what to do if they have a concern. They know where to find the local child protection procedures if they need to check anything. Staff identify and manage risks to children's safety.

They regularly check that sleeping children are safe. Older children begin to think about risks in their play. They learn that stacking the plastic crates haphazardly or too high could be dangerous when they climb on them.

Staff follow robust food safety procedures. This helps them to ensure that children with food allergies consume only the food that has been prepared for them.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: check that training events have a clear intention, so that the impact is measured and the quality of the provision continuously improves nimplement rules and routines even more consistently, in order that children learn and understand what they are expected to do.