Little Owls Nursery Kentmere

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children develop close bonds with the caring practitioners. They show that they feel happy and secure in the nursery through their play. Practitioners no longer make home visits as they would have done before the pandemic.

Instead, they talk to parents in the nursery to find out about children as they start. Practitioners use this information to plan activities that children enjoy and that support their good progress. For example, children play with their key person and familiar toys when they arrive.

This helps them settle quickly and feel secure. Children learn to manage risk, with the support of the practitioner, as... they balance along an obstacle course. This helps them to understand how to keep safe as they play outside.

Children behave well at the nursery. They learn about their emotions from the caring, sensitive practitioners, who help them to play together and share. Practitioners have high expectations of children's behaviour.

Children learn to use polite manners, such as saying 'excuse me,' as they listen to practitioners and follow their lead.

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

Practitioners plan activities to help children develop new ideas about the world around them. Children are curious as they investigate a range of interesting objects.

For example, babies and younger children explore wooden objects and shiny materials. They maintain focus as they enjoy spending time in the sensory room. Older children confidently experiment with colours and texture as they select materials to make pictures.

They use their senses as they roll rosemary dough to make models. Children enjoy learning outside. They delight as they run, dig and build.

These activities help children to build small and large muscles as they play.Practitioner's careful planning helps children learn to care for themselves, become independent and make healthy choices. For example, young children follow picture instructions to use a mirror and equipment, and they learn to wipe their own noses.

Practitioners provide healthy food and drinks for all children, including those with allergies. Older children learn about healthy portion sizes as they serve their own food. Practitioners help children to count five pieces of fruit as they select their snack.

They talk to children about the healthy foods on offer.Leaders monitor assessments of children's learning to ensure that any potential gaps are identified and planned for. They work effectively with others to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have appropriate support.

Leaders use additional funding well to support children's learning. A recent example is a visit to a puppet theatre, which enabled children to learn about stories and develop their confidence and speaking skills. These approaches help children to make good progress and be ready for their next stage.

Practitioners comment that their well-being and professional development are valued by leaders. Regular supervision sessions help them reflect on their work. Practitioners put into practice new training.

For example, they teach children more complex words, such as 'dehydrated', after attending training, which helps to develop children's speech.Practitioners read books enthusiastically to small groups of children. Children snuggle closely to practitioners as they listen with interest and talk about what they have heard.

This helps children to develop their listening skills, learn new words and develop their early literacy skills. Leaders encourage families to borrow books from the nursery's new lending library. This supports children to continue to learn at home.

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents are happy with the care their children receive and the progress they make. They enjoy daily updates of what children do at the nursery and share information about activities at home.

For example, parents share information about cultural and religious celebrations enjoyed at home. However, these opportunities are not always explored as much as they could be in the nursery. Therefore, children do not always learn what about makes them unique and about different people.

Leaders have high expectations and a clear view of what they want children to learn. They have developed a curriculum based on children's interests and what they need to learn next. Practitioners plan activities from observations of children's play.

However, they do not always develop children's thinking and learning fully. This means that, sometimes, children do not make as much progress as they could.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and practitioners have a good understanding of their duties to keep children safe and to protect children. They are aware of possible indicators of abuse and neglect. They understand the local safeguarding procedures for reporting concerns about children's welfare.

Leaders and practitioners know what to do should an allegation be made against a member of staff. They keep their child protection knowledge up to date through training courses, staff meetings and further reading. Practitioners make daily risk assessments to ensure the rooms and garden are safe and secure for children.

Leaders monitor accidents and make changes, where necessary, to prevent further accidents. This helps to keep all children safe at the nursery.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend the skills of practitioners to enable them to develop children's thinking and learning even further promote children's understanding of diversity by celebrating and learning about their own cultures and faiths and those of different people.