Little Acorns of Rushbury

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children have excellent attitudes to learning and make outstanding progress. They develop detailed knowledge and superb skills across the seven areas of learning, which prepares them exceptionally well for the next stage of their education and school. They are inquisitive and highly motivated to explore and learn.

Their learning remains of a high quality during their own initiated play with and without an adult. For example, children have clear plans as they use construction equipment to build three-dimensional objects, such as a fishing net and an umbrella. The carefully designed learning environments, indoors and outdo...ors, inspire children's natural curiosity.

Children confidently explore and investigate. They develop excellent critical-thinking and problem-solving skills. They display high levels of awareness of others, empathy and have exemplary social skills.

Children offer to help their friends carry a heavy box and explain how this is 'good teamwork'. They give their friends and staff encouragement and compliments, check to see if a friend is okay and play together harmoniously. Children learn to regulate their behaviour and successfully manage conflict.

They develop excellent levels of independence. They learn about keeping themselves and others safe, and about looking after the environment. For example, they pick up rubbish without being prompted.

Children talk about being safe around fire during their role play with friends, after they build a campfire and pretend to cook on it.

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

The manager uses her extensive early years knowledge and skills to evaluate the provision and deliver the best possible outcomes for all children. She provides the committed and highly skilled staff team with precise guidance and coaching, to ensure that high standards of care and education are maintained throughout.

Recent training has focused on extending the excellent range of strategies staff use to help children to become confident communicators. This includes exploring storytelling techniques and developing specifically targeted interventions, to help children to swiftly catch up in their language development. Children enjoy opportunities to create their own imaginative stories and tell these to their families and staff.

The partnerships with parents and other settings are excellent. Staff and parents share information regularly. Staff have a comprehensive knowledge about each child's care needs and about what they know and can do.

Parents value the exciting resource packs that staff provide to help to support children's continued learning at home.The manager and staff use their expert knowledge of how young children learn, to observe and assess children's achievements. They involve children in their own assessment to help them to reflect on their own learning and ensure that they consistently provide highly challenging activities for all children.

Staff question skilfully and make excellent use of spontaneous learning opportunities to extend children's thinking and speaking skills. For example, children explain how they need '50,000 litres of petrol' because they are driving to Africa and then to Antarctica. They consider how their bike and trailer have jackknifed, and work out how to resolve this.

The manager and the provider have made innovative adaptations to ensure that younger children and those with mobility difficulties can access all areas of the nursery safely and independently. For example, children who find it difficult to descend a set up steps have the option to use a well-positioned slide.Children benefit from excellent opportunities to meet other children and members of the local community.

Staff provide children with exciting opportunities that enrich their life experiences. Children plan activities they can take when they visit elderly residents of the community. They enjoy ordering their food and exploring new tastes when they visit a Chinese restaurant.

Staff provide children with high levels of mathematical challenge. Children pretend to buy their fruit at snack time, explore fractions, simple calculations, use number lines to work out the next number in a sequence and learn how time is communicated. Staff provide children with a wide range of activities to support their small-muscle skills in preparation for writing.

Children enjoy using exciting writing tools to practise their mark making, such as painting and writing with feathers and quills.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The provider has an exceptionally high regard for children's safety and welfare.

She ensures that the manager and staff keep their knowledge of safeguarding matters and reporting procedures up to date. They know the signs of abuse and neglect, and the referral procedures to follow if they have a concern. This includes reporting concerns about staff conduct.

Staff are aware of their responsibilities to prevent children from being drawn into situations that may put them at risk. Procedures for recruitment and selection are extremely robust in ensuring the suitability of staff. The manager and staff complete rigorous risk assessment to minimise and eliminate risks to children at the setting and on outings.

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