Dream Catchers Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children thrive at the nursery. All aspects of their development are carefully nurtured, overall.

The rooms and outdoor areas are thoughtfully planned to stimulate children's curiosity and imagination and challenge their learning. Children show good levels of confidence and independence as they move around the nursery and lead their own play. Staff have high expectations for what all children, including the youngest, can do for themselves.

Children behave well and staff provide support for younger children who are learning to manage their behaviour. They are friendly and courteous in response to the very good examples ...staff set for them. Children feel safe and secure during their time at the nursery.

They are excited to come to the nursery to see their friends and soon become absorbed in their play. Children enjoy simple daily routines and confidently talk to other children, staff and visitors. The manager is passionate and has a clear vision for the nursery.

She is ambitious to provide high-quality education. Her high expectations are shared by all involved in the nursery, despite a recent period of changes to staff and their roles. Parents strongly recommend the nursery.

Staff establish excellent relationships with children and their families. This forms the basis for children's continued success.

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

Partnerships with parents are extremely effective.

Staff use a wide range of ways to engage parents in children's learning at nursery. They regularly gather detailed information from parents about what children are doing at home. Parents are well informed about their child's progress and the variety of activities happening in the nursery.

Children are thrilled to take their work home to share with their families.The manager provides strong leadership. She is well supported by her deputy and senior staff.

Staff are given time and opportunity to access training opportunities and share their learning. This contributes to the development of a rich curriculum. Staff work closely with other settings children attend, including the schools they move on to.

Resources are carefully selected and thoughtfully presented to help children build and refine skills over time. Children are enticed to experiment with real-life tools and everyday objects. For example, they create a make-believe world when rearranging dinosaur models in a jungle of pine cones, twigs and other natural resources.

Children's independence is a key focus across all aspects of the nursery. Children register their own names at the start of the day and find their places at lunchtime. They put on hats, coats and scarves with the minimum of help.

Staff help children to learn to solve problems. The attractive furniture in the baby room, for instance, is carefully placed. It is at just the right height to let babies reach out and steady themselves as they learn to walk.

Children are very well behaved. They develop positive attitudes towards learning. Staff plan activities to help children persist and concentrate.

However, occasionally, interruptions such as messages between staff interrupt the flow of children's learning.Staff strongly support children's developing communication and speaking skills. They repeat babies' early exclamations back to them and help them form words.

They constantly sing songs and rhymes to help children develop their listening and vocal skills. Older children build complex sentences to describe to staff what toys they are planning to play with. They give instructions to staff about their games and share ideas with their friends.

Staff extend children's language skills through thoughtful questions and purposeful praise.A wide range of books and nursery rhymes are at the heart of much of children's learning. For example, children enjoy pretending they are going on a bear hunt around the well-planned outdoor area.

They love making swishing noises as they make their way through the imaginary long grass. Children's counting and ordering skills are enhanced as they play 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?', with enthusiastic staff leading them.Children have several well-planned opportunities for developing mark-making skills, such as writing letters to Santa or making patterns in sand.

However, staff occasionally miss the chance to embed these skills further. For example, they do not consistently encourage children to write their names on creative work or link mark making to role play.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff and leaders have a good understanding of how to keep children safe. They know how to recognise the signs that a child might be at risk of harm. There are clear procedures in place to record any concerns staff have about children's welfare and the manager carefully monitors these.

Leaders understand how to recruit staff safely and make sure they are suitable to work with children. They know how to respond if an allegation is made against a member of staff.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: build on opportunities to reinforce further children's developing mark-making skills review the nursery organisation to minimise interruptions to children's play and learning.