Amazing Acorns Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and settled in the nursery. They approach visitors with confidence and invite them into their play. Children are put at ease as the staff have a kind and caring approach to help them feel safe and secure.

They are keen to join in and enjoy a range of appealing activities. Staff plan carefully, overall, to help children build on what they already know and can do. Children make good achievements as the staff have high expectations for them.

Babies and very young children enjoy being immersed in sensory play. For example, they crawl into a tray of pasta, to feel and explore the different texture with th...eir bodies. Older children gather around staff to listen to stories, and demonstrate a passion for books.

Children learn to listen and begin to hear new and exciting words, helping to support their growing vocabulary. Effective strategies for managing behaviour help children to understand and manage their feelings. They are polite, respectful and form early friendships.

For example, children greet each other as they arrive. Children engage well in their play and show positive attitudes towards their learning. Outside, children climb on apparatus to build large-muscle skills.

Younger children concentrate well as they post pasta pieces into small containers. This also helps with their hand-to-eye coordination.

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

There are effective procedures in place to help children to settle in at the nursery.

Staff obtain important information about children and work with parents to establish their starting points. This helps them to plan initial learning opportunities. The manager and staff team closely monitor and track children's development, to promptly identify potential gaps.

Staff understand how young children learn. They observe children at play and accurately assess their skills against typical expectations for their age. Generally, they use their findings well to help children to learn more.

Occasionally, during some activities, staff do not challenge children to make even better achievements.Staff promote children's language well, and the older children have daily phonic sessions. Staff model language carefully and encourage children to talk and communicate.

Children very much enjoy stories. Staff read with enthusiasm, which helps to ignite children's interest in books. Children ask questions about the story and predict what might happen next.

Babies are happy and snuggle with staff. Staff give them opportunities to explore their surroundings. For example, babies have great fun as they put items in tubes and watch as they go down.

The babies and younger toddlers get very excited as they play with a foil blanket. They listen to the noise as they stamp on it, and giggle and laugh as they play.Partnerships with parents support children's care needs well.

Parents speak highly of the staff team and their children's enjoyment in attending. They receive information about children's learning and details of any accidents or incidents that may occur. However, this partnership working does not fully support children's learning at home, to allow for greater consistency in children's continued good progress.

Children benefit from the healthy snacks and meals that are provided. They use their personal skills well and follow good hygiene procedures as they wash their hands before eating. Children enjoy playing outside in the well-organised area.

Children are confident and behave well. They learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others, and are well prepared for life in modern Britain. For example, children learn about different festivals and visit places of interest and people in the local community.

This also widens their personal experiences. Older children are encouraged to manage their own needs, for example when taking off their coats and serving their own food at snack time.Staff are supported to develop professionally through effective supervision sessions.

Management undertakes observations of staff to help them to identify development points and set targets. Staff have access to training that helps them to remain professionally up to date.The staff are ambitious and highly reflective of the provision they provide.

They speak very highly of the support that they receive from the manager. She implements systems to ensure that staff's workload is managed effectively, and their well-being is consistently supported. This means that staff feel valued and enjoy their roles.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff understand their responsibility to safeguard children. They have a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse.

Staff know the procedure to follow should they have concerns about a child or if an allegation is made against a member of staff. They regularly update their training to support their safeguarding knowledge, which includes training around wider safeguarding concerns. This helps to promote children's safety and well-being.

The manager follows safer recruitment procedures to ensure the suitability of staff and takes steps to assess this on an ongoing basis. The premises are safe and secure.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: make the most of staff interactions during children's chosen activities to offer further challenge and extend children's learning to the highest possible level nextend partnerships with parents to provide more opportunities for them to be involved in supporting their children's learning and development at home.