Little Gems Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children are extremely well cared for by the knowledgeable and well-qualified staff. They provide highly stimulating environments indoors and outdoors for children to explore. Consequently, children are very motivated, and their behaviour is exceptional.

Staff have high expectations for every child throughout the nursery. They organise a wealth of carefully planned activities to enhance children's experiences. For instance, older children are fascinated when they discover how to make a volcano for their dinosaur world.

Skilful staff extend children's vocabulary and introduce new words, such as 'lava' and 'explos...ion'. Staff skilfully engage children in a wide variety of sensory experiences. For example, babies delight in watching bubbles float around them.

They show that they feel settled and secure as they snuggle up to the attentive staff and bounce up and down when they hear their favourite nursery rhymes being sung. This contributes to building strong relationships and helps to support children's emerging vocabulary. Staff caring for older toddlers provide interesting and varied activities to help ensure that they are excited to learn.

For instance, the children delight in taking on the role of a shopkeeper and they use their imaginations very well. Staff skilfully tune in to their interests and adapt the activity accordingly to build on children's learning. They incorporate mathematics and literacy in the daily routine to help extend children's understanding in these areas.

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

The experienced management team is dedicated to providing a high-quality service to children and their families. Managers continually evaluate all areas of the nursery and value parents' and children's views, which are taken on board and immediately acted upon. Improvements made as a result of this have enhanced children's physical development and their understanding of how to take risks in their play.

Children are extremely happy. They confidently access resources independently, such as storybooks, puppets and visual props. They persevere with tasks and eagerly join in with the activities provided.

For instance, older children have great fun when staff organise a magic game to help them learn about the sounds that letters represent. This helps children to develop an early interest in literacy.The management team highly values the staff.

Sharply focused professional development opportunities are available to all staff to increase their knowledge and skills. Staff successfully implement ideas gained from training. This has a positive impact on staff's practice and enhances children's learning even more.

In addition, staff are regularly rewarded for their achievements, which contributes to their welfare and high morale.Staff have high expectations for all children. They adapt activities to help ensure children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are fully included.

Staff strive to support children in achieving as much as possible given their abilities and starting points. They work extremely closely with parents and other professionals involved in their lives. This contributes to ensuring that there is continuity of care and learning for children.

Children join in rich and meaningful activities that they may not experience elsewhere. For instance, they learn about nature and wildlife when they help to care for the nursery's owl and guinea pigs. Children also access the local environment, which helps them to learn about the wider world.

They feed horses and visit woodland to take part in games related to popular story characters, such as 'The Gruffalo' and 'The Grinch'.Staff have a deep understanding about how to support children's emotional well-being. They use additional funding precisely, to enhance children's welfare and learning.

For instance, specific resources purchased have a positive impact on helping children to build on their own identity. Staff help children to understand their emotions. As a result, children behave well and respect the differences between each other.

The home visits and the excellent partnerships with parents contribute to staff having a comprehensive knowledge about every child. Staff throughout the nursery observe children and focus their planning on each child's individual needs. They provide high-quality teaching to help children acquire skills for further learning.

Parents are extremely complimentary about the nursery. They say that they feel very involved in their children's leaning and love how the staff follow their children's interests. They also say that they cannot recommend the nursery highly enough.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Children's welfare is given a high priority. The knowledgeable staff receive regular comprehensive training in safeguarding and child protection.

Staff have a secure knowledge about the signs and symptoms of abuse. They know the procedures to follow if they are worried about a child or adults caring for them. Staff are extremely aware of indicators of when children and families may be in need.

They act quickly to provide the support they may need. The management team follows robust recruitment and induction procedures. The suitability of staff is continually monitored through supervision meetings, discussions and observations of their work with children.