Little Ducklings Nursery Devon Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children of all ages are settled and calm, showing how secure they feel with the caring staff. They enjoy a rich learning environment which is planned around their developmental needs and emerging skills. Staff provide interesting activities which engage children and capture their imaginations.

For example, children take off their shoes and socks and enthusiastically walk through water, mud and foliage as they recreate a bear hunt. In addition to exploring different textures with their feet, children remember and join in with the familiar story. Children show great respect for others, and those that are older carefully guide yo...unger ones.

Children quickly learn to regulate their emotions and have excellent relationships with one another. Children benefit from the sensitive way in which staff handle transitions within the nursery. Staff use what they know about each child to assess when they are ready to move to the next stage of their learning.

They share comprehensive information about the child with their new key person to ease the move to their new room. Staff are committed to giving each child the opportunity to succeed, whatever their starting points. They support all children to make good progress.

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

Staff know the children well. They make time to get to know them when they first start. For example, staff provide lots of one-to-one interaction to get to know babies and help them to feel safe and secure.

Staff are knowledgeable about the children and confidently describe the progress they have made since starting and what they need to do next. They understand what each child needs to learn and adapt the curriculum to meet their needs. Where children are in receipt of additional funding, managers and staff give careful consideration to how to spend it, in order to have the most impact on the children's learning.

Children, including those who need extra help and those who are learning English as an additional language, make good progress from their starting points. Children are confident communicators who chat to each other and to adults. Staff use effective strategies to support children who need extra help.

This includes one-to-one activities with their key person and the use of visual cues and sign language. Staff are pro-active about using children's home languages in the setting. This helps those children who do not speak English at home to settle and develop their overall communication skills.

Staff work closely with parents to meet children's needs and support the family as a whole. Numerous parents report how well staff share information with them about their child's progress and comment on staff's care, insightfulness, understanding, empathy and adaptation to each child and their needs.Children are exceptionally well behaved and are skilled at sharing and taking turns.

For example, they patiently wait for their turn on the obstacle course.Older children relish being part of a group and joining in with activities together. For example, they enthusiastically crowd round to make rubbings of leaves and cannot wait to go outside together to take part in a carefully planned 'bear hunt' activity.

When they have to go back inside temporarily, they understand the need for this and follow staff's instructions promptly.Staff promote healthy lifestyles. Children follow thorough hygiene routines and have daily opportunities to exercise in the outdoor area.

Staff work with parents to ensure that children have nutritious packed lunches, and those children who have lunch provided by the nursery have a balanced meal.Managers have handled the rapid expansion of the nursery well and have successfully maintained their ethos of providing a home-from-home environment. They monitor staff practice and offer opportunities for professional development to develop staff's knowledge and skills.

However, this is not yet fully embedded and staff do not consistently seize opportunities to extend children's learning to the highest level.Staff support children to get ready for school by ensuring they have the independent skills they will need. However, managers have not yet built highly effective links with all local schools to help children's move to school to be as seamless as possible.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff complete relevant training when they start working at the nursery. Managers use quizzes to test staff's knowledge.

If they identify any gaps, they ensure that these areas are focused on promptly to improve staff's understanding. Staff confidently explain the possible signs that a child may be at risk of harm. They have a clear understanding of what to do if they are worried about a child and know how to escalate their concerns if managers do not take appropriate action.

They are confident about the nursery's whistle-blowing policy and state that they would not hesitate to report concerns about colleagues. Staff carefully supervise children to ensure their safety.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop the monitoring and coaching of staff to enable them to seize every opportunity to extend children's learning to the highest level nenhance partnerships with schools to ease children's move from the nursery to their next stage of learning.