Fleur de Lys Nursery and Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children show their secure attachments with staff as they leave their caregiver at the door and happily enter the nursery.

Babies start playing with resources of interest, such as toy ducks. They copy the language that staff model as they say 'quack, quack'. Babies later demonstrate their learning while they independently turn the pages of a book.

They spot a duck, point to it and exclaim, 'Quack, Quack'. Younger children engage in meaningful learning, but this is not always the case for older children. There are inconsistencies in the quality of education provided by staff throughout the nursery, and as a result, childre...n's experiences are variable.

Older children's behaviour deteriorates over time because they do not remain engaged and involved in learning. The activities that staff provide are not always stimulating enough to hold children's attention. Not all staff are clear about what they want children to learn and how they can extend learning.

As a result, older children lose interest and start to display unwanted behaviours. When this happens, staff's response does not always support their personal, social and emotional development in the best ways.

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

The manager is new in post.

She has joined a management team that is committed to securing positive outcomes for children. The manager has spent time building relationships with staff, children and parents. She has identified some staff that require additional support to raise the quality of their practice.

However, she has not yet embedded effective methods of ensuring consistently good teaching. Some weaknesses in staff's delivery of the curriculum and their organisation of some activities, such as snack and group times, have not yet been addressed.Systems to share information about children's individual learning and development, overall, are weak.

Staff aim to follow children's interests during their play, attempting to support children's learning and teaching them new knowledge and skills. However, staff have not got a clear enough understanding of what each child needs to learn next. As a result, some play interactions lack purpose.

The exception is for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). In these cases, information sharing in the setting and with external support agencies is effective. This means that children with SEND are developing well and making progress in their learning.

At times, staff's delivery of the curriculum is not well thought through. This is more noticeable for older children. Staff do not always extend children's learning.

They play alongside children without a clear idea of what they want children to learn. Some activities lack excitement and do not capture children's interest or attention. As a result, some children's behaviour starts to deteriorate.

Older children are at the stage where they need to secure skills to make friends and get along well with others, such as sharing and turn-taking. Staff recognise this; however, they do not pay close enough attention to supporting children's personal, social and emotional development. For example, staff provide children with a sand timer to help them take turns, but do not support or model how this should be used.

Therefore, this strategy is ineffective, and children continue to struggle with turn-taking and sharing during their independent play.Occurrences of poor behaviour are displayed too frequently by older children because they do not remain interested in their activity or are engaged deeply enough in learning. Staff attempt to intervene and support, but there is an inconsistent approach throughout the staff team.

Some staff do not give children a clear explanation about what is expected from them and how their behaviour is impacting others.Parents speak highly of the care that their children receive. They comment that their children enter and leave the setting with smiles on their faces.

Parents give examples of how children show and use their learning at home. Staff share information with parents through daily conversations, newsletters, emails and a daily diary. Parents say they feel well informed about what their child does while at nursery.

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: nembed methods of reviewing and evaluating staff's practice to continually drive improvements in the quality of education provided nimplement effective systems for staff to share information about children's learning and development so that play interactions are purposeful and support children's individual next steps nimprove the delivery of the curriculum throughout all activities for older children, including group times and routine activities, to sustain children's engagement and maximise their focus on learning develop more effective ways to support older children's personal, social and emotional development to help shape their good behaviour make sure staff use consistent ways to encourage children's good behaviour that include giving children clear messages about expectations and the impact of their behaviour on others.