Munchkins Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are curious, engaged and eager to learn. Pre-school children move confidently around the learning spaces, chatting with their friends and playing games. They develop their creative and imaginative skills as they pretend to bathe toy babies and rock them to sleep in a toy cot.

They take turns, share the toys and explain how they will help each other. Staff build strong bonds with children, focusing on their social and emotional well-being to help them feel safe and secure in the nursery. They recognise the positive impact this has on children's learning and development.

Leaders have created an ambitious curricu...lum, and all children make good progress in their learning and development.Staff guide children as they develop their creative skills by exploring with paint. Toddlers choose the colours they want and express their ideas, such as painting a large yellow banana.

They mix cornflour with water, exploring the mixture, and staff guide them to extend their vocabulary by discussing how it feels, such as 'slimy'.The nursery has a curriculum that guides children in developing their independence skills. For example, at snack times, toddlers wash their hands and then pour their own drinks.

Children are supported to put on their rain clothes independently.

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

Children of all ages are kind to one another and have a positive attitude towards learning. They are curious and focused during play.

Children are well prepared for their next stage of learning. Staff help pre-school children become used to sitting in a group. Children listen to each other's opinions and know how to take turns.

They understand how their behaviour affects others. For example, when they return from outside play, they walk carefully to avoid slipping and move quietly so as not to disturb other children who are playing calmly indoors.Staff in the pre-school support children in developing good communication skills.

They engage children in rich conversations that build their knowledge and vocabulary. They encourage children to recall what they already know, developing their ability to remember things. At lunchtime, staff discuss with children how the carrots they are eating have grown in the ground.

They extend the discussion to explore where other fruits and vegetables grow. They guide children to recall an earlier discussion about where rain comes from and extend this to explore where the water from the taps comes from and how it is prepared in water-cleaning plants. However, at lunchtimes in the baby and toddler rooms, although staff verbally remind children to eat their food, they generally do not extend interactions to build children's communication skills further.

The curriculum has a good focus on supporting children's physical development. Babies are encouraged to spend plenty of time playing outdoors, and they enjoy exploring in the sandpit. Toddlers and pre-school children build their core strength and balance by jumping over obstacles on an obstacle course.

In a dance class led by an outside professional, toddlers develop their rhythm and coordination. They beam with happiness as they dance and run to the music. The leaders recognise the importance of guiding children to develop healthy attitudes towards exercise and physical exertion.

Staff build children's numeracy skills throughout the day. When babies climb the stairs to their room, staff count the steps with them. With staff's support, toddlers develop confidence in patterns and sequences as they complete jigsaw puzzles.

In the pre-school, staff guide children as they explore quantity and size, discussing the size of the pretend cakes they make out of dough. As they build shape magnets together, they develop knowledge of shapes.Staff guide children to develop a love of stories.

They encourage parents to extend this experience by loaning parents nursery books to read to their children at home. Staff read to children of all ages in interesting and engaging voices. Children join in with the parts they know.

Staff ask toddlers if they can remember what happens in the story and who is hiding behind the door. However, during story times in the toddler room, staff do not provide more experiences to engage children. As a result, children's motivation, engagement and learning do not develop as much as possible at this time.

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: nextend opportunities to develop children's communication skills even more in the baby and toddler room develop strategies in the toddler room to offer more experiences to children, consistently motivating and engaging them.