Railway Children Nursery Elsecar

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children happily arrive at the nursery and immediately choose from the variety of motivating resources on offer. Staff know children very well and identify the things that excite them.

They then use these interests to offer evermore stimulating and challenging experiences for children. The staff work hard to develop secure relationships with children and their families. When children are unsettled, staff offer extra support and comfort.

This helps children to feel safe and secure which supports their readiness to learn. Staff use appropriate questioning and commentary of children's play which consolidates their learnin...g further. They model language and correct pronunciation of letter sounds, which aids early literacy skills.

Leaders offer opportunities for staff to improve the ways they teach and care for children. This has a positive impact on children's learning and well-being. For example, staff have accessed training in safer sleep practices, sign language and safeguarding.

This has led to improvements in the development of communication skills, and staff awareness of how to keep children safe. Leaders and staff are reflective of practice in the nursery and use their evaluations to plan improvements. Parents say they are kept well informed about how children are progressing, for example, through daily feedback or the regular parents' evenings.

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

Staff skilfully extend children's curiosity to help them gain new knowledge. For instance, when playing outside children notice the leaves falling from the trees. Staff describe that this is what happens in autumn.

They encourage children to collect the fallen leaves to explore later.Children are aware of the safety measures in place at the nursery. They explain the fire evacuation procedures, including alternative exits and the assembly point outside the setting.

They remind one another to sit nicely on chairs to prevent falling. Staff have arranged the resources and furniture to promote safety in the nursery.Staff ably support children's speech and language development.

Children know and sing many songs and rhymes together with staff from the earliest age. They access a wide variety of books and stories which they enjoy sharing with one another. Staff embed advice from speech and language therapists to support children who have a delay in their language development.

Children are well behaved. Staff skilfully use positive reinforcement to promote good behaviour. They distract children who may otherwise demonstrate unwanted behaviour.

They remind older children to make allowances for younger children who are not yet as well versed in the expectations for behaviour, while continuing to reinforce these.Staff effectively use their assessments of children's progress to identify areas of teaching practice which need to be enhanced. Recent evaluations have highlighted that mathematics development needs further improvement.

Consequently, staff have reviewed how they teach mathematics and are accessing appropriate training.The cook prepares meals and snacks for children which are healthy, nutritious and balanced. Children who have special dietary needs are catered for effectively.

Staff teach children to recognise the changes in their bodies as a result of exercise, such as becoming hot and thirsty. Children are offered opportunities to play actively outdoors. Prescribed medications are administered safely if children need them.

These factors promote children's health and well-being.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. Staff work alongside other professionals to understand and meet the specific needs of these children.

As a result, all children are making good progress.Where staff have a role as a key person, these arrangements work well to support children and build relationships with parents. However, due to recent staffing changes, some parents are not aware who their child's key person is.

Nevertheless, they say all staff are friendly, caring and knowledgeable about their children.Very occasionally, not all staff demonstrate the same high-quality teaching practice. Leaders are supporting this by ensuring that all staff are offered regular opportunities to discuss their practice and performance.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff and leaders demonstrate a sound knowledge and understanding of safeguarding matters. They know the local arrangements for making appropriate child protection referrals if they have concerns about children.

They are equally knowledgeable about how to manage allegations made against staff. Children are taught the fundamentals about consent in a suitable way, according to their level of understanding. For example, staff explain that 'no means no'.

Staff promote children's welfare as they ask children to recall the rules which help keep everyone safe. Children know and understand these rules and are able to explain them to one another.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: further strengthen the successful aspects of the key-person system nuse the existing monitoring and coaching processes to support the consistency of good teaching practice for all staff.