Little Petals Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are supported to understand and manage their emotions.

For instance, if children arrive upset or feel sad, they can go into a cosy area where staff support them to understand how they are feeling and to receive any cuddles they need from staff to feel secure. Children learn how to promote their safety. For example, staff show children how to hold scissors safely when they carry them from one area to another.

Children say that they need to take turns to use larger apparatus in the garden or else they may bump heads with another child. Younger children learn how to share with their peers. For example, staff ask ...them to take turns to use a spoon to stir ingredients together to make dough.

When children voluntarily pass bowls of mixture to their peers, they receive praise from staff for sharing. This helps to raise children's self-esteem and rewards their positive behaviour. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well by staff.

Staff implement individual targets to help meet their immediate needs. Staff work with health visitors and other professionals to support children's development. Additional funding that some children receive is used effectively.

For example, staff purchase and help children to use new equipment to promote their balance and coordination. Some funding is spent to provide children with one-to-one support from staff to meet their individual needs.

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

The management team and staff implement a curriculum to meet the needs of the children attending.

This includes focusing on supporting children's speaking skills to help close any gaps in this aspect of learning. For example, staff introduce words for children to copy to help build on their vocabulary, such as describing words. Older children hold conversations with staff, who value their thoughts and respond appropriately.

Staff attend training courses that help to develop their knowledge of how to support children's development. This includes understanding of how to weave mathematics into children's play. For example, when children play outdoors on apparatus, staff count how long it will take them to get from one side to another.

This contributes to children's understanding of time and numbers.Staff implement rules and boundaries to help children understand what is expected of them and to promote positive behaviours. This includes reminding children to use their 'walking feet' indoors.

Children understand these rules and tell visitors that they are not to take toys from others.Staff read the same book to children over a period of a week. This provides children with repetition to learn and embed their understanding of the story.

Children show an understanding of stories, repeating familiar phrases in stories from memory.The management team works closely with teachers to help children to be emotionally prepared for the changes they will face when they move on to school. For example, teachers are invited into the nursery to read stories to children.

This contributes to children becoming familiar with the person who will be caring for them.Children are keen to join activities staff plan for them. However, sometimes, during planned activities, staff do not support children to build on their listening and attention skills.

This results in children losing focus and not fully benefiting from the learning experiences offered.Staff work closely with parents to provide a united approach to supporting children's development. For example, staff share photos of activities the children enjoy and how they are supporting children's learning.

Staff offer parents ideas about how they can continue their children's learning at home, such as to manage their behaviour and with children's toileting needs.Overall, staff support children's independence well. For example, older children learn ways of putting on their coats and show a sense of achievement when the fasten zips.

However, sometimes, when younger children struggle to complete tasks by themselves, staff take over and complete this for them, instead of allowing them to solve problems and work out solutions themselves.Staff help children to learn about similarities and differences. For example, staff talk to children about different characteristics of toy people figures and what makes them unique.

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 build on older children's listening and attention skills during planned activities help staff to support younger children to solve problems and work out solutions in their play.