Little Learners

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children receive a warm and positive welcome from staff as they arrive at Little Learners. Staff greet children with a smile and hold conversations with them.

Children, including those who have recently started, separate confidently from their parents and carers. Once settled, they take part in various activities and play happily. For example, children of all ages show their excitement as they sing and move to popular nursery songs.

Support for older children is particularly good. For example, outdoors, children concentrated well as they identified, sorted and matched various wooden shapes. Staff's high expectations of... what children can achieve help them to make good progress in relation to their starting points.

There are secure relationships between children and their key person. Children enjoy cuddles and reassurance from kind, caring staff. This has a positive effect on children's emotional well-being.

Children's good behaviour shows that they feel safe and secure in the nursery. They learn about clear boundaries and staff give gentle reminders of what is expected of them. For example, while using the slide in the garden, staff reminded children to wait for their turn.

Children listened and responded positively to this.

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

The provider has revised the nursery's policies and procedures in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. For example, she has introduced staggered drop-off and collection times to protect adults' and children's health and well-being.

This is working well for parents, staff and children.The provider supports her staff well to enable them to understand their role and responsibilities. Staff say they enjoy working in the nursery.

This effective partnership has a positive impact on children's attitudes to learning.Staff have high aspirations for all children, including those who speak English as an additional language. They make effective use of their observations and assessments to help plan a broad and balanced curriculum to support children's learning well.

For example, staff planned an activity to build on children's interest in numbers and transport. Children enjoyed counting and matching different types of toy vehicles.Staff provide opportunities for children to develop their language and early literacy skills.

Some staff are less confident than their colleagues in using a broader selection of questions to extend children's vocabulary.There are strong partnerships between parents and staff which benefit children well. Parents speak positively about the nursery.

For example, they expressed high levels of satisfaction, particularly about how well staff communicate with them. Parents say staff are 'very caring' and 'nurturing'.Children benefit from having regular access to the outdoor space.

They engage in a variety of age-appropriate activities that aid their physical skills. Children practise their climbing and balancing abilities with increasing confidence. Others develop their early mark-making skills, such as painting pictures at an easel.

Staff follow consistent hygiene routines to protect children's health and well-being. For example, they regularly check children in nappies and ask them to wash their hands before snack.Children enjoy the free-flow access from indoors to outdoors as part of their daily routines.

However, at times, staff do not make full use of the daily routines to further challenge and extend children's independence.Staff engage children in messy play activities, helping to support their growing sense of creativity and imagination. For example, they motivate children to explore water, sand and cornflour.

Children benefit from visitors invited to the nursery, such as the local fire brigade and mobile zoos. Parent volunteers also visit the nursery to read books or share their expertise with children. These learning opportunities foster children's understanding of the world around them.

Staff attend regular training to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. For example, they completed training recently which raised their understanding on how to support children's behaviour more effectively. This is helping staff to manage children's behaviour well.

There is an ongoing self-evaluation process. The provider encourages staff to reflect on their practice to continually improve the learning experiences for the children. For example, changes to the way staff share information with parents have enhanced communication with them.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The provider ensures that appropriate vetting and recruitment processes are undertaken on staff to check their suitability to work with children. The provider gives staff regular supervision.

Staff complete regular safeguarding training to keep their knowledge up to date. They are confident in how to identify and report any concerns related to children's safety and well-being. There are effective procedures for dealing with accidents, which staff share with parents.

Staff deployment is good. This enables staff to supervise children's play well across the nursery.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nincrease some staff's knowledge to enable them to question children effectively to extend their language skills review daily routines to enhance children's independence skills.

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