Blueberry Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enjoy their time at this home-from-home nursery setting. Staff know children and their individual characters very well. Children form close relationships with their key person, who listens intently as children animatedly share their news.

Children learn to be kind and considerate. They develop an awareness of the feelings of others, for example noticing when a child does not have a paintbrush, before sharing their own. Children demonstrate that they feel safe, secure and valued.

Children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language..., learn to be effective communicators. Staff place great importance on developing children's early communication skills and create ambitious activities that promote children's oracy and extend their vocabulary. For instance, pre-school children learn new language, such as 'air', 'oxygen' and 'carbon dioxide', as they explore what living things need to survive.

Children are curious and spend lots of time engaged in activities they find interesting. This helps them develop their concentration skills. Children learn to follow instructions.

Even babies demonstrate their listening skills as they put items in the bag when it is time to tidy up. Toddlers learn to take care of their environment, carefully sweeping sand from the table and making sure to collect every grain in their dustpan. This helps children develop positive attitudes towards their learning.

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

The manager uses supervision sessions effectively to identify staff's strengths and training needs. Staff have regular opportunities to update their skills and extend their knowledge. For example, some staff attend external appointments with children.

They use this as an opportunity to learn new skills from parents and other professionals, as well as providing a consistent approach for children's learning. Staff care deeply about the children in their care and want them to do well.Children develop a love of stories and rhymes, which staff use to deliver their curriculum.

Staff skilfully use reference books alongside activities to broaden children's knowledge. For instance, children look through books and study the patterns and colours of butterfly wings before creating their own interpretations. Babies use objects of reference to communicate the songs they want to sing.

They copy the actions and make sounds as staff sing familiar rhymes. This helps children develop the early skills they will need to support future literacy.Staff provide children with an abundance of opportunities to learn about the world around them.

This helps children make deep connections in their learning. For instance, pre-school children point out seeds in their oranges during snack time. Staff encourage children to recall a recent activity where children planted their own seeds.

Children demonstrate that they remember what they have learned as they identify that seeds need lots of water and sunshine to grow.Children develop a sense of what makes them unique as they learn about cultures, customs and celebrations. For instance, children learn about Eid al-Fitr and how families and friends gather to feast, pray and exchange gifts.

During Eid al-Fitr, parents visit the nursery and read stories to children about their own celebrations, being thankful and helping those who are less fortunate. This helps children develop a sense of self, as well as respect for those who are different to themselves.Staff provide children with lots of opportunities to develop their independence skills, preparing them well for next steps in learning, including their eventual move to school.

For instance, toddlers concentrate intently as they learn to manipulate fasteners on clothing as they dress dolls. This helps them learn the skills they will need for future dressing. Older children help prepare their own snack, taking care as they pour drinks and spread toppings on their crackers.

Overall, children receive good-quality interactions that promote their learning. However, this can vary in consistency at times. This is due to how some activities are organised.

For instance, during mealtimes, babies sit unoccupied while staff prepare their meals. The lack of engagement during this time means that babies become restless and pour their drinks on the table and floor.Staff work in partnership with parents.

Parents have daily opportunities to meet with their child's key person, creating a two-way flow of information that promotes children's learning and welfare. Parents report that their children have made 'leaps and bounds' in their progress since attending nursery. Parents know who their child's key person is and what their children will be learning next.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the organisation of activities, including mealtimes, to ensure all children receive consistently high-quality interactions.