Littlebrook Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are welcomed into the nursery by friendly staff who are very responsive to their emotional needs.

For example, babies crawl to staff for cuddles and reassurance, and older children eagerly invite staff to join their play. These warm and nurturing interactions from staff help to support children to feel safe and secure. Children behave well.

They are supported to resolve conflicts and demonstrate respect for one another. Staff are caring and kind. They support children effectively to manage their emotions.

Staff engage in children's imaginative play, helping them to extend their ideas. For example, old...er children talk about their heart beating fast as they pretend to be a nurse. They learn about their lungs and how to keep healthy.

Children happily go to staff as they know they will receive a positive response. Children become confident, independent learners in preparation for the eventual move on to school. Overall, staff identify children's interests and plan learning experiences based on these to further their next steps of development.

Toddlers like to be independent. They put on dressing-up clothes themselves without asking for help and proudly tell staff, 'I did it!' Staff encourage and praise babies as they build their core strength for learning to walk.

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

The new manager has a clear and ambitious vision of what she expects for children and families who attend the nursery.

The manager reviews and evaluates what is working well and identifies future developments. She observes staff practice, and supervision meetings take place. Staff attend meetings, share ideas and access regular training.

This helps to develop their knowledge further and contributes to children making good progress in their learning.Staff know the importance of promoting healthy lifestyles. Children are provided with nutritious, home-cooked meals and snacks.

They enjoy daily fresh air and exercise in the large garden area at the nursery. Children scream with delight as they use scooters and kick the ball. This supports children to move in different ways to strengthen their muscles and build their coordination skills, which contributes to their overall well-being.

Older children enjoy finding letters and sounding them out with staff, then linking sounds to other words. Children have access to a wide range of mark-making materials that help them to develop early writing skills, including magnets and whiteboards. Children are provided with a variety of tools to use with the whiteboards, to help build on their fine motor control.

Partnership with parents is positive. Parents explain how they can see recent positive improvements to the nursery. For example, they are now pleased with the communication they receive, which includes updates on an online childcare application and verbal feedback.

They are appreciative of the care and attention their children receive from staff.Overall, staff have a good understanding of what they want children to learn. They follow children's interests and plan activities that children are eager to be involved in.

However, occasionally, staff do not successfully carry out what they have identified they want children to learn next. This means that some children do not always benefit from being able to learn as much as possible.Most staff members are good role models.

They model language and new vocabulary and expose the children to mathematical concepts. For example, as children play, some staff provide a running commentary, counting the number of bricks or discussing which one is 'big' and which one is 'little'. However, some staff do not promote speaking and listening as well as they could.

They are less conversational in their approach and do not always engage with all children in the group. Therefore, they do not always maximise opportunities to promote children's communication and language skills.The manager and staff team have a good understanding of the reporting procedures if they have any concerns regarding the well-being of a child or the behaviour of staff members.

Staff keep children safe throughout the day through ongoing risk assessments. Additionally, the manager follows robust recruitment processes to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. The premises are safe and secure.

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 strengthen the implementation of the curriculum, to reflect the identified learning intention for the children taking part and to further support their next steps in learning review and improve staff's awareness of how to further extend children's communication and language skills.