Caldecote Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy, settled and calm at the setting. This is due to the warm relationships staff develop with them. Staff establish consistent routines and expectations.

For example, they encourage children to sit nicely at story time and to use good manners at lunchtime. As a result, children are polite, behave well and are ready to learn. Staff follow children's interests to deliver the curriculum that they carefully devise together.

They aim for the setting to be part of the community. They plan frequent visits to the local library, market, bus station, pet shop and park. This develops children's knowledge and under...standing of their local area and gives them a sense of belonging to the community.

The well-organised environment supports children to learn and develop. For example, children hang up their own apron after use and relocate incorrectly placed resources. This supports children to develop organisational skills that allow them to successfully complete tasks.

Staff provide engaging activities that support children to develop the knowledge and skills they need. For example, children use their senses when they engage in lime-and-lemon-infused water play, build and create with wooden blocks and act out their experiences in the home corner using authentic resources. These experiences engage children's senses and stimulate exploration.

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

Supporting children's personal, social and emotional development is a priority for staff. They engage children in short meditations and yoga sessions. Staff choose stories that encourage children to learn about and recognise their emotions.

Staff conduct regular well-being checks with each child and make changes depending on their views. This empowers children to be able to talk about their feelings and helps them to feel valued and safe at the setting.Developing children's language and communication skills is a focus at the setting.

Staff talk to children to find out what they think and why they think that. However, on occasion, staff ask too many questions and do not allow time for the child to process their thoughts and respond. This means that some interactions do not develop children's communication and language skills as well as they could.

Staff encourage children to develop a love of reading through continuous access to high-quality books and daily story times. However, staff do not always explore the book in sufficient depth or encourage all children to engage with the story. This sometimes makes story times less effective than they could be.

Staff promote children's physical development well. There is a climbing frame in every room for children to develop their large motor skills. All ages of children use tools to manipulate play dough.

For example, babies cut play dough with a tool, toddlers use cutters to make shapes and pre-school children make their own creations and add other materials. This supports children's physical development, as they develop muscle control and coordination.Staff encourage children to manage their own self-care needs.

For example, babies feed themselves using cutlery, toddlers put on their own shoes and pre-school children serve their own lunches. This means that children become increasingly independent and are ready for their next stage in learning.Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good.

There is a team of trained staff who work together to ensure that those who require additional support receive it. The setting works well with external agencies, including the local authority, to ensure children receive specialist input. This means that all children get the support they need.

Parents are very happy with what they describe as a 'lovely' setting. They feel that their children thrive at the setting due to the excellent relationships staff establish with their children. They feel that they are kept well informed of their children's learning and development and that their children are making good progress at the setting.

Parents do and would recommend the setting to others.The setting is led and managed well. Leaders strive to continuously improve the quality of provision.

They assess the setting's strengths and prioritise areas for development effectively. Leaders prioritise staff's well-being and aim to reduce their workload. Staff feel well supported by the leadership team.

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: support staff to consider the questioning techniques that they use, and provide children with enough time to process their thoughts and respond help staff to recognise how to involve children even more in story time to further develop their engagement.