Darfield Family Centre Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children are very happy and highly engaged throughout their time at the nursery. They are gripped by the many exciting opportunities to investigate the world around them and extend their knowledge and understanding. For example, they love working together to create huge, multi-coloured, glittering mud pies.

They blend large buckets of paint to develop their desired colour. Staff introduce new words and phrases such as 'sloppy', 'slippery' and 'big slimy soup'. Children enjoy using these to describe their creations.

Children behave extremely well. Staff are very skilled at forming strong relationships with the ch...ildren in their care from the time they first join the nursery. They successfully encourage children to develop friendships and play together with all age groups.

Children have very positive attitudes. For example, they persist at increasingly complex tasks, such as making simple electric circuits or writing their name. Children are safe and very well cared for.

Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to build children's confidence and self-awareness, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The manager and her staff have extremely high expectations for all children to reach their full potential. This means children are well prepared and eager to start the next stage of their education.

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

The manager is highly aspirational about providing the best quality learning for all children. She has an extremely clear vision for the future development of the nursery. The views of staff, parents and children strongly influence this process.

There are exceedingly rigorous procedures to develop staff performance. These are based on a thorough analysis of the quality of teaching and its impact on children's achievement. The manager, working closely with the local authority, ensures that staff have access to frequent training opportunities.

They are given the space and time to implement new ideas. This has a positive impact on children's learning. For example, staff are able to be more precise in identifying and addressing gaps in children's speaking skills.

Staff are excellent role models. Children are tolerant, kind and understanding towards others. Staff are patient, consistent and systematic in helping children with emotional concerns to improve their own behaviour.

They follow the children's lead in establishing daily routines that they feel secure with. Staff then use these routines as a basis for broadening the children's experiences and sense of security.The quality of teaching is consistently high.

Staff precisely assess children's achievement and plan extremely engaging activities to promote the next steps in their learning. They undertake initial visits to the child's home before they start nursery. This enables them to develop a clear picture of children's needs, interests and understanding.

For example, children make their own play dough and add their favourite scents and colours.Children have excellent opportunities to develop their mathematical skills during play. For example, they count toy animals and group them together.

They learn simple addition as they work out how many more they need to make 10. Furthermore, children learn about shapes through play. For example, staff talk to them about the shape of the segments of grapefruit during a sensory activity.

At the centre of much of children's learning is the development of rich cultural and language experiences. The 'Forever Book' scheme introduces them to deep experiences of children's literature. The books are woven into all areas of learning and group activities, and shared with parents at home.

As a result, children relish saying phrases such as 'a squash and a squeeze'. They excitedly manipulate the pages and flaps in anticipation of what animal they will find hidden in the 'Dear Zoo' book.Children are very physically active through, for instance, daily dance routines or building their own obstacle courses.

They assess the risks when they tour the playground with a clipboard and chart and tell staff that the 'slide is too slippery today'.Parents are extremely proud of the nursery. They appreciate the high level of guidance and support staff give.

They welcome initiatives, such as the 'Training Pants Pack' they receive when children start toilet training or the '50 Things to do with Kids in Darfield' programme. This helps them to enrich children's experiences.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have a very thorough knowledge of how to keep children safe and secure. They take full advantage of training opportunities to deepen and develop their skills in child protection. This includes the potential influences of extremist attitudes.

Staff keep detailed records of any concerns and know precisely how and when to report them. The nursery works very closely with many professionals, such as family support workers. This makes sure children and their families have access to good advice to keep them safe and healthy.

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