Little Stars Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and staff have worked hard to address the issues from the last inspection. They have created exciting play spaces with accessible natural resources for children to explore and enhance their learning. They encourage parents to help in the setting and provide information for them about activities they can do with children at home to support learning further.

Indoors, children can join in games, dance and music activities together in a large hall. Outdoors, they have various outdoor spaces where they can explore the 'forest' with its log circle, firepit and bamboo house and use tools to create and build with natural ma...terials. Other spaces allow them to manage risks, for instance when they work out how to hold on to the rope swing or negotiate steps down to the mud kitchen.

Babies have fun experimenting with different brushes, feeling the texture on their hands or pushing the brushes down to make circles. Toddlers know they need to wash their hands after playing outdoors in the mud to get rid of dirt and germs. Pre-school children play well together as they make up stories with the wooden dolls in the dolls' house.

They share well and explain that they will move away if others annoy them, so they need to take turns. Staff support children well overall, rewarding them with praise for trying, good sharing and turn taking.

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

Staff have high expectations for children.

They know children well and support them effectively to make good progress, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff quickly recognise when children need help and put in place support to close gaps and help children to learn and develop.Overall, managers have good processes for monitoring staff to help them to develop their skills and knowledge.

They have accessed online training for staff to continue their professional development as well as encouraging staff to observe each other's teaching. Staff comment that they see different ways of teaching and can adapt their practice to better support the children. Children benefit from consistent approaches and develop well.

Pre-school children eagerly recall what they have learnt. They are supported well by staff who ask them questions, pose challenges and encourage them to solve problems. For example, staff use coloured cards for children to recall which colours made green.

Children hold up blue and yellow to show they remembered.Communication and language are a key focus for staff. They provide plenty of chances for children to talk, share stories and express themselves.

Pre-school children eagerly recount the tale of the monster, the animals he meets and where the animals live. They use the phrases from the book and remember the order of the story.Staff working with the babies help them to choose rhymes by selecting a toy from a bag and matching it with a favourite song.

However, staff sometimes miss opportunities to extend or enhance learning when children hold out other toys for staff to play with them.Children's behaviour is good. Staff use consistent strategies to help children understand how to share and take turns.

They show them how to share and praise children's efforts for trying new skills. Pre-school children show they have understood how to play fairly as they play with the cars on the car mat. They stop and wait for their turn to push the cars along the road and give them back to their friends when asked.

Toddlers show curiosity and work together to solve problems. For instance, they work out how to carry and fit the wooden blocks together to fill the doorway to the playhouse.Staff working with the pre-school children provide a variety of activities for children.

However, they sometimes do not let children explore activities in different ways. For example, during an activity to mix paints, children could only use handprints and did not get to explore other ways of mixing the paints.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Managers and staff keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. They have recently completed training for safeguarding and managers set quizzes for staff at meetings to recap on what they know. Staff know possible signs and symptoms that may indicate that a child is at risk of harm and they know how to report any concerns.

Managers have ensured the nursery is safe and has appropriate alarm systems for emergency evacuations. They make sure staff and children practise evacuating the building regularly, so everyone knows what to do in an emergency.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff working with the babies to recognise and respond to children more quickly to enhance their learning and development provide pre-school children with chances to adapt activities led by adults to allow them to explore and extend learning in ways that suit their needs and interests better.