Early Learners Nursery (Middlewich)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive eagerly at the nursery and are happy to be greeted by staff at the door. They confidently wave goodbye to their parents and carers and quickly become engaged in their chosen activities.

Parents are currently unable to access the nursery as they would normally due to new drop-off and collection arrangements governed by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. However, this has not had a negative impact on children or their families. Staff have focused intently on supporting children's emotional well-being and social interactions during this time.

When new children join the nursery, they offer lots of cuddles... and reassurance when needed and gather detailed information from parents to help them to settle. Subsequently, children have very close relationships with staff. Children continuously demonstrate that they feel safe and secure and are inquisitive and motivated to learn.

They play happily together and behave well.Staff have high expectations of children and skilfully build on what they already know and can do. Children independently select resources, and staff carefully follow children's individual interests.

They plan meaningful experiences for them to enjoy. For example, children have recently been talking about the tooth fairy. Staff have created a fairy garden for children to explore and use this to help deepen children's imaginative skills.

Children talk excitedly about what a fairy can do, where a fairy might live and how they have wings to help them to fly.

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

Children enjoy playing together and quickly form positive friendships as they seek each other out to join in their imaginary play. Staff model what to do and are sure to include all children in the group.

They ask children what their favourite foods are and encourage others to listen as they pretend to go to the shop to buy pizza and ice cream.Staff nurture children's confidence and willingness to have a go. For example, when getting ready for sleep time, children are encouraged to try and take their shoes off independently.

Staff continually congratulate children on their efforts. This helps children to feel valued and encourages them to try hard and attempt new things as they build on their existing skills and knowledge.Children's behaviour is good.

Staff use strategies to help children to understand right from wrong. For instance, they offer gentle reminders to share. Furthermore, they encourage children to think about how they can solve their own conflicts when using resources.

Children are keen to help tidy away toys and demonstrate their understanding of routine and the nursery rules. They are able to follow instructions well, and quickly respond as staff play the 'tidy-up song'.Overall, staff support the communication and language development of children.

They share stories and engage in purposeful discussions with children throughout the day. Staff working with babies use single words and repetition to help reinforce children's understanding. However, on occasions, staff working with the 'tweenies' do not make the best use of questioning skills.

Their eagerness means that children do not always have enough time to express their own thoughts and ideas.Children enjoy learning about the world around them. Older children participate in activities that deepen their understanding of people and communities.

For example, children learn about special celebrations and make links to their own experiences. Babies and toddlers explore familiar animals, and staff talk to them about the animals that they might see at the zoo or the farm. However, staff do not always model the correct pronunciation of words when introducing animal names to young children.

Leaders monitor the quality of the nursery well. They continually reflect on ways to improve the provision further. For example, they have recently implemented a revised planning system to help further improve outcomes for children.

Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings. They have opportunities to discuss their workload, practice and training needs.Parents speak very highly of the nursery.

They describe how much their children look forward to coming to the nursery and how they have made good progress since attending. Parents value the online system that leaders have implemented. They appreciate the daily updates from staff about sleep routines, meals and activities.

As a result, they feel that they are kept well informed and that communication is a strength of the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers and staff complete regular safeguarding training to help them to understand their role and responsibility in protecting children from harm.

They confidently describe referral procedures and who to report to should they have concerns about a colleague's practice. Leaders implement effective procedures to make sure that children are cared for in a safe and secure environment. They execute recruitment, selection and induction procedures for new staff and closely monitor staff practice.

Leaders ensure that legal ratios are maintained and that staff deploy themselves effectively so that children are closely supervised. Staff carefully follow procedures for sharing information with other agencies and ensure that documentation is completed thoroughly.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide staff with guidance to improve their knowledge on how to consistently use skilful questioning techniques to support children's developing communication skills strengthen staff's understanding of the importance of modelling language for young children and ensure that they use the correct pronunciation of words.