Burley Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and thoroughly enjoy their time at this nurturing setting. Staff greet children, parents and visitors with a warm welcome. Children take part in the interesting and well-planned activities and resources available.

Younger children delight as they join in with staff's singing, and enjoy watching the actions that accompany the songs. Babies confidently explore making marks in sand as they pat, rub and sweep their hands across the play space.Older children show a high level of self-assurance and a can-do attitude, as they carry out a number of tasks independently.

Staff have high expectations of childre...n, only intervening when necessary. Children behave very well. They show care and consideration for their peers, sharing resources and inviting them to join in with their play ideas.

Staff offer excellent age-appropriate explanations to aid children's understanding of positive behaviour. This helps children to make constructive and productive choices and greatly promotes their social skills. Children are happy, settled and show they feel safe and secure.

Older children wave and quickly go to greet the inspector. Younger children smile and enjoy sharing their musical instruments.Children are physically active and enjoy energetic play outdoors daily, regardless of the weather.

Children develop their climbing skills, and take safe and controlled risks as they strengthen their balance and coordination, on the balancing beam and obstacle course. Young children giggle as they hop, skip and jump in response to their friends' instructions.

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

Staff plan activities that reflect children's interests and span all areas of learning.

Teaching is effective as staff enthusiastically play alongside children. This helps children to become excited and motivated to learn. Staff seek information from parents about their child's care routines, likes and dislikes.

They successfully use this information to support children to settle quickly into nursery life.Staff place a strong emphasis on helping children to develop their confidence and well-being. They carefully plan children's moves to new rooms and their eventual move to school.

They share information about children's backgrounds and their learning and development. However, on occasions, staff do not successfully support children in moving between activities and in routines. This means that children sometimes become restless and disengaged as they wait for the next activity or routine to begin.

Children make progress with their mathematical understanding and literacy skills. Older children correctly identify the sounds they can hear at the start of words, and make simple calculations. Staff provide younger children with good mathematical models as they play.

Younger children eagerly experiment with making marks. They enjoy handling books and listening to stories.Overall, gaps in children's learning are identified and children make good progress.

Careful consideration is given to how additional funding is spent, to ensure it has the biggest impact on children's learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities also make good progress, through effective interventions. However, children's individuality and heritage are not reflected as well throughout the curriculum to help children reflect on their differences and understand what makes them unique.

Children are provided with healthy food, and staff follow consistent hygiene practices to promote children's good health. Older children learn to be independent. They are keen to put on their own coats and serve their own food.

However, younger children are not consistently supported to be independent. For example, staff complete tasks in which younger children could be more involved. Examples include selecting a piece of fruit at snack time or wiping their own nose.

Leaders support staff through regular supervision sessions where they identify any training needs. Leaders work with staff to put in place new ideas and identify future developments. This helps to ensure continuous improvements and a high-quality service for children and families.

Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents comment positively on the care and attention that staff give to their children. They share how their children enjoy attending and are proud of the progress that their children have made.

Staff ensure that parents are kept well informed about their children's learning and development. They chat with parents at arrival and collection times, and share a wealth of photos and information via a dedicated app.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff are well trained in safeguarding matters. Leaders and staff have a good understanding of how to protect children from harm. They understand the procedures to follow if they identify any concerns about a child's welfare.

Staff know what to do should they have concerns about the conduct of a colleague. Leaders follow robust recruitment procedures to ensure the suitability of all staff. Staff are vigilant about children's safety and supervise them well.

Staff follow the correct procedures relating to administering medication to children. Leaders have effective systems in place to ensure that unauthorised people cannot enter the premises.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend opportunities for children to reflect on their differences and understand what makes them unique, helping all children to develop a positive attitude to their individuality noffer younger children further opportunities to develop their independence by consistently allowing them to carry out more tasks for themselves help staff to consider how they can support children effectively to move on in their daily activities and routines, so that they do not become restless and disengaged.