Little Explorers Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy in this warm and friendly nursery. Children enjoy imaginary play, such as making ice cream with ice and offering this to staff. They take part in sports activities to build on their physical development.

For instance, children take part in an egg-and-spoon race and take great pleasure in cheering each other on.Staff successfully support even very young children to make choices and communicate these. For instance, they offer children two toys to choose from while clearly saying the object's name.

Children take the one they want, and staff acknowledge children's choices by saying the object's name agai...n and confirming their decision. Staff support children's early communication and language development well.Overall, children learn well about taking responsibility and being considerate to one another.

For instance, pre-school children help keep the door open as their friends leave the room to wash their hands, while others help to set the table. Children concentrate well as they participate in group attention sessions. This helps to develop children's listening and attention skills as they prepare to go to school.

The nursery's special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) successfully works in partnership with the staff team and parents to ensure that children receive early help. The SENCo is proactive in recognising concerns at the earliest stage and initiates processes for external support when required.

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

Staff comment positively on the support they receive from their leadership and management team.

Subsequently, staff are happy working at the nursery and feel supported in their professional development. In the recent parent survey, parents expressed that they are happy with the level of care they receive from the nursery. Many parents have been using their services for all their children over the course of a few years.

Children gain good physical skills. The outdoor area is spacious and provides a range of experiences for children to develop balancing and jumping skills. Staff organise challenging games for their upcoming sports day, such as a 'sack race' to develop children's physical coordination skills.

The management team supports staff's professional development well, such as through e-learning and regular supervision meetings, to help maintain good-quality education for children. The manager identifies the strengths and areas of development of the nursery through regular discussions with the deputy managers. He sets goals for improvement, such as developing the sensory room to ensure this is fully accessible and beneficial for children of all ages.

The nursery uses termly topics to shape its planning. For instance, through the topic 'people who help us', children are learning about the different roles in society that help the community, such as doctors, firefighters and dentists. Staff know their key children well and what they want them to learn and why, to help children develop the skills they need for their future learning.

Children enjoy listening to stories and are able to join in with storytelling. For instance, they remember what will happen next in the 'Gruffalo' story as the member of staff pauses the story for the children to recall the next phrase. However, at times, some staff do not use their interactions consistently well to help extend children's learning opportunities further.

Children behave well. Staff successfully share their behavioural expectations with children to help them know how to behave appropriately. Children learn to do some things for themselves, such as wiping their own nose and washing their hands.

However, there is scope for staff to provide further opportunities for children to do things for themselves to further enhance their independence and self-esteem levels.Staff support children's move to their next room well. They share information about children's care and development with their new key person and adapt some aspects of the day to prepare children.

For instance, in the 'rising twos' room, staff increase the amount of time that children join in with adult-led teaching sessions to help them become ready for the new routines in the pre-school room.Staff provide children with good opportunities to develop their fine motor skills. For instance, babies enjoy brushing shaving foam onto pictures of teeth as they begin to learn about healthy teeth.

Children develop their hand-eye coordination well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff attend mandatory safeguarding training as part of their induction and continuous development processes.

They understand the procedure to follow if they have concerns about a colleague's behaviour with children. This helps to keep children safe. The management team supports staff's ongoing safeguarding knowledge by ensuring there are regular training opportunities.

Staff are aware of the procedures to follow if they have concerns that a child is at risk of harm and the outside agencies they should report concerns to if required. They understand this must be done in a timely manner.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop a consistent approach across the staff team to extending children's learning during group activities nextend opportunities for children to learn to do things for themselves to help enhance their self-esteem and independence even further.