Happy Jays

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children and parents are greeted warmly when they arrive at the start of the day.

Staff demonstrate that they clearly know all of the children and their families very well. The nursery Staff chat to children at mealtimes, which are highly sociable. This helps children to become more confident when taking part in conversations.

Children thoroughly enjoy the freshly prepared meals provided. Children are treated with kindness and respect by the caring staff team. A very strong key person system supports children's emotional well-being.

It is particularly effective as children first join the nursery or are ready t...o move up to the next room. These times of change are managed carefully, based on children's individual needs. This helps build children's confidence, so they are ready to learn and develop.

Children engage in a wide range of activities to help develop their knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Babies enjoy being taken for walks in the local community. Children also take part in forest school sessions, with the highlight being toasting marshmallows over a fire.

The nursery also makes regular visits to the residents in a local care home. Here they particularly enjoy listening to stories. They go out with staff to buy the ingredients for baking activities.

These experiences contribute to developing children's social skills.

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

Managers describe a curriculum that is based around children's interests. They have a good understanding of how to sequence learning to meet children's individual stages of development.

There is a strong focus on developing children's communication and language skills. Children of all ages develop a love of listening to stories and joining in with familiar rhymes and songs. Children are constantly learning new words.

Staff generally identify what they want children to learn from the activities they plan. They consider the knowledge and skills they want individual children to develop. Staff then adapt activities for different children, so they all gain a sense of achievement.

For example, some toddlers take turns as they roll balls covered in paint. They help each other to squeeze out the paint. Other children are encouraged to learn about colour mixing.

However, learning is less effective when staff do not identify what they want children to learn. This sometimes leads to children's play lacking purpose.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress from their starting points.

Staff benefit from regular visits from a dedicated SEND specialist, who shares her expertise with them. Parents of children with SEND also value the support their children receive at the nursery.The nursery rooms have been arranged to enable children to make independent play choices.

Resources are easily accessible. Babies giggle with delight as they explore the feeling of sand on their bare feet. Toddlers engage in imaginative play as they create meals in the home corner.

Pre-school children learn to compare the size of dinosaurs in the water tray. However, at times there are too many different activities available, meaning children become easily distracted. As a result, they wander around spending only a short time playing in a particular area.

This does not help develop their concentration.Staff identify supporting children's self-care skills to be an important part of their role. They recognise how this can help children to be ready for the next stage in their learning.

Children who are ready to move on from the baby room start to sit at the same type of table as in the dining room. Pre-school children serve their own meals. At times, children do not receive consistent messages about what they should be trying to do on their own.

For example, when children are asked to tidy up, they often stand and watch as staff do this for them. Toddlers are not asked to fetch their own drinks. Pre-school children are not always encouraged to wipe their own noses.

Children's physical development is promoted effectively. Babies are encouraged to pull themselves up so they can access resources at different heights. They become increasingly confident as they clamber into a ball pool.

They practice rolling balls to knock down plastic bottles. In the pre-school garden they negotiate different obstacles to develop their balance and coordination.Leaders and managers are highly reflective.

They continuously identify areas for development. They welcome support and advice. Staff are encouraged to attend regular training to develop their practice further.

Their emotional well-being is also an important focus for the management team. They recognise staff as being the most valuable resource within the nursery. This helps to create a strong team and contributes to children benefiting from a positive start to their learning.

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: support staff further to use information about individual children to plan and deliver learning opportunities that fully support their next steps of development develop the learning environment more to support children to engage in purposeful play throughout the day provide even more opportunities for children to do things for themselves, in order to prepare them for their next stage of learning.