Growing Places @ Merryfields

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children show that they feel comfortable at nursery. They confidently express their opinions and independently choose toys they most want to play with. Children are excited to engage in realistic role play.

They showed this when they spontaneously organised chairs and pretended to be teachers. Children encouraged friends to sit on the floor and listen to stories. They confidently asked questions about the books 'teachers' pretended to read.

Staff help children to perfect skills across the curriculum. On the day of the inspection older children worked with hard clay. Staff encouraged children to use scissors and cutters... to shape the edges of the material.

Children showed good levels of concentration as they diligently manipulated and flattened the clay. Children considered the needs of others as they happily shared resources with friends who were sitting nearby. Staff recognise the need to continue to develop challenging activities for older children, particularly in the outdoor play area.

Babies are eager to experiment from an early age. This was apparent when they engaged in water play and immersed their hands in bubbles. They expressed delight as they smoothed liquid across their skin and laughed as they stepped into bowls of water in the warm weather.

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

Staff provide good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They establish strong links with other agencies to support children in their learning. Staff seek professional guidance about how to improve children's communication skills and their good personal development.

They use consistent routines to help children know what to expect next. Children are confident and demonstrate that they feel secure in their daily routines.Staff at the nursery build secure partnerships with many parents.

For instance, they share observations of children's play. However, staff do not work as effectively with all parents of children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to share information about children's learning. This means that some parents are not fully engaged with the education process.

The manager pays good attention to staff well-being. She regularly hosts meetings with individual members of her team. They discuss a range of issues, including training, ideas to raise standards and any concerns about children's development.

Staff state that regular professional conversations help them feel more confident in their job role.Staff assess children's knowledge across the curriculum on a regular basis. Following the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, staff recognised that some children experienced less social contact and were anxious about change.

Staff continue to provide consistent emotional support to help reduce children's anxiety and to help them settle back into nursery well. Staff keep a close eye on any gaps in children's learning and development so that they are able to address them quickly.Senior staff are good role models for less experienced colleagues.

They are well qualified and quick to provide advice on how to develop the quality of teaching. Staff identified that some children prefer to play in the garden. They are building on the range of challenging activities they offer older children in the garden area.

Across the nursery, staff use consistent methods to support children's positive behaviour. Throughout the day, staff gently remind children to work together. Children cooperate well with friends and happily follow instructions.

For example, children carefully tidied away toys before getting ready for lunch.Staff introduce plenty of chances for babies and toddlers to practise saying new words. For instance, they encouraged babies to stroke the pages of soft books as they pointed to and named familiar objects.

Toddlers carefully negotiated steps on climbing equipment and talked about what they could see across the garden.Staff encourage children to engage in musical activities. For instance, they gave children instruments to play with, as others used their imagination and modified toys as instruments.

Some children practised making loud animal noises to accompany the music, others joined in as they sang along in loud voices.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are fully aware that they have a responsibility to protect children in their care.

They complete frequent learning to develop their knowledge of safeguarding, such as learning how to implement the whistleblowing policy. They are confident to report any concerns about the behaviour of colleagues, to keep children safe. The manager, who is also the designated safeguarding lead, regularly monitors accident and incident records completed by staff.

She looks for any patterns that indicate a child is at risk of harm. The manager reports any concerns about a child's welfare to the safeguarding partnership.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen partnerships with parents of children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, in order to share all information about learning and to fully engage them in the education process nenhance opportunities for challenging play, particularly for older children who prefer to learn outdoors.

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