Dolphins Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children feel safe and secure. They arrive confidently and take their belongings to their pegs.

Staff greet them warmly and children talk about exciting activities they have been doing at the weekend. Babies and young children settle quickly. Staff comfort them as they wave goodbye to their parents.

Children build close relationships with staff and have cuddles to reassure them.Leaders have developed a clear curriculum that covers most areas of learning well. However, this is not fully embedded throughout the nursery.

Staff do not consistently understand the curriculum and it is not always implemented successfull...y. When activities are set up, staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn from them, and so the learning aims are not met. For example, children do not have the opportunity to think or make predictions for themselves during a colour-mixing activity, as intended.

Overall, children behave well. They begin to learn to use their communication skills to manage disagreements with their friends. However, staff do not support children consistently.

For example, leaders intend for staff to use timers to support children in sharing equipment and resources. However, this is not often used by staff or children. As a result, children do not receive consistent information about sharing and taking turns.

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

Children show a keen interest in books and printed material. Staff use opportunities to sit and read with young children and babies. Older children recall previous learning from stories such as 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

They talk about the 'big bad wolf' and pretend to hide. Children develop appropriate early literacy skills.Staff share information with parents about what children have been doing each day.

They provide updates and pictures of children's activities. However, parents do not consistently receive information to help them support children's learning further at home and ensure children experience a shared approach.Staff support children to develop their physical skills.

For instance, they provide them with bikes and scooters to use in the garden. Staff show children how to pedal when they ask for help. Younger children learn how to climb small steps.

Staff offer them support and plenty of praise for their accomplishments.Staff provide children with healthy and nutritious foods at snack and lunch time. However, staff do not consistently have good practices in place to build on children's knowledge of health and help them manage risks.

For example, on occasion they do not reinforce their expectations about safe behaviours. This means children do not gain the information they need to make healthy choices and keep themselves safe.Leaders plan for children to learn about numbers through play.

However, staff do not put this into practice. For example, when children show a keen interest in number recognition, staff do not extend children's knowledge or build on what they know. Furthermore, staff do not recognise opportunities to count with children or explore equipment such as weighing scales when children show an interest.

Children are not consistently supported in developing early mathematics skills.Attitudes to learning vary. Children show an interest in some activities that have been set up.

However, staff do not give them enough support in learning and building knowledge. For example, when children begin exploring an activity, staff do not respond to them and build on what they're doing. Children lose interest and do not gain valuable information or skills.

Leaders engage effectively with professionals such as speech and language therapists. Where children have special educational needs and/or disabilities, they ensure that channels of communication are utilised. This supports all children to gain access to their early education entitlement.

Staff discuss recent training that has enhanced their understanding of how young children learn. They speak passionately about knowledge they have gained, for example, the benefits of playing outside. However, systems in place to raise teaching standards are not always consistent or effective.

Although staff receive informal feedback about how they can improve their practice, this is not always reviewed or monitored. This means that teaching standards are not consistently raised to ensure children gain valuable learning from interactions and experiences.Staff encourage young children and babies to build their communication.

They use their knowledge of what children can do and encourage them to use new words such as 'ball' and 'roll'. Staff model the language and actions to build on children's understanding. This helps young children develop their vocabulary.

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: nimprove arrangements for sharing information with parents to help them support their child's learning at home build on staff's skills in promoting children's understanding of health and how to keep themselves safe strengthen the curriculum for mathematics, to ensure staff understand how to build on children's early knowledge and skills develop the arrangements for the support and supervision of all staff, to raise teaching standards and provide all children with meaningful learning experiences.