Little Acres Day Nursery and Pre-school

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children settle extremely well and enjoy their time at this welcoming nursery.

Staff are very kind and nurturing. They warmly greet children and escort them to their rooms. Staff know children and their families well, and use this knowledge to ensure that children feel safe and secure.

Children form good attachments with their key person. They look for their key person to play with, and for comfort and reassurance. Staff provide meaningful learning experiences across the nursery that captivate children's interests and motivate them to learn.

Children happily explore the wide range of activities provided. Staff... build on younger children's curiosities. For example, they encourage children to feel different textures and use containers to scoop, transfer and pour water.

This helps to build children's small-muscle skills and coordination. Staff successfully build on what children already know. For example, during activities, older children participate in discussion about sea pollution.

Staff skilfully add new vocabulary into children's play, such as 'sewage' and 'contamination', which helps to enhance their language development. Children relish spending time outdoors. They build their balance and coordination as they ride bikes and explore on climbing apparatus.

Younger children enjoy pulling themselves up onto low-level equipment, which helps to support their large-muscle skills. Staff have high expectations for behaviour. They support children well to help them learn what is expected of them.

Children are friendly and show consideration towards each other. For example, they share equipment, take turns and learn to say 'please' and 'thank you'.

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

The manager is extremely passionate and ambitious, with a clear vision for the nursery.

The manager and staff work effectively as a team. They have regular meetings to discuss the curriculum and what they can improve, and they have a clear action plan to continually develop the nursery. The manager makes good use of training to help develop staff's knowledge and skills.

Staff comment that they feel well supported in their role and feel that their well-being is a priority.Staff ensure that children are ready and well prepared for the next stage in their learning. Children benefit from a gradual settling-in process, which is adapted to support their care needs.

Furthermore, children benefit from well-planned transitions as they move from one room to the next within the nursery. Staff work closely with local schools and share important information about the children to help promote a smooth transition for children.Staff provide children with valuable experiences to encourage them to learn about their community and the wider world.

For example, children learn about a variety of festivals and celebrations throughout the year. Furthermore, they invite local people to come in and share their experiences. They have recently had firefighters visit the nursery to help broaden children's understanding of people who help us.

Overall, children have a positive attitude to learning and are motivated to join in with exciting activities. They benefit from lots of interaction with staff and are beginning to recall what they already know, particularly during adult-led activities. However, at times, staff do not always recognise when children who are less confident need more support to join in with the activity.

Staff support children to learn to love books, stories, and rhymes. Staff read with an enthusiasm that engages children. Younger children excitedly point to pictures, and older children predict what happens next in the story.

This helps to promote children's early literacy skills.Staff support children to do things for themselves. For example, children confidently use cutlery to feed themselves.

They learn to put on their own shoes, pour drinks and serve food at mealtimes. These opportunities help children to develop their independence skills. However, during routine times, such as mealtimes, children wait for longer than necessary.

As a result, children become restless and unsettled.The passionate special educational needs coordinator knows the needs of children well. She works closely with children's key person, parents, and external professionals.

This helps her to plan precise support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Consequently, children with SEND achieve well and make good progress in relation to their capabilities.Parents speak highly of the care and support their children receive.

Staff work in close partnership with parents and share daily communications with them about their children's progress. Furthermore, staff regularly invite parents into the nursery to celebrate events. This helps to build bonds between home and 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: support staff to enhance their skills, so they understand how to adapt their teaching to further extend children's learning, in particular, when children feel less confident review the organisation of daily routines to ensure that children are not waiting for long periods of time.