Natures Nursery (Ascot)

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children separate from their parents and settle quickly to play in the welcoming environment.

They show that they are happy at the nursery. Children are confident in selecting their own activities and busy themselves with their peers. Staff remind them to share as they play with coloured bricks.

This helps children of all ages play well together. Children learn to manage their feelings and regulate their behaviour, with effective support from staff. They listen intently to staff and follow instructions.

Children are engaged in purposeful play and show they are developing good levels of attention. Children have... daily opportunities to spend time in the woodland area. Staff support them to learn about self-care as they get dressed in appropriate clothing to keep them cool in the sun.

Children have lots of opportunities to be physically active. For example, older children delight in yoga sessions as they practice poses they have learned. They learn about healthy lifestyles as they talk about exercise and how it helps oxygen get into their lungs.

Younger children concentrate for sustained periods when they explore play dough. They are curious about the texture and try to pick it up carefully with their fingers. All children make good progress from their starting points.

This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children's individual needs are supported through well-planned strategies, to help ensure that all children can access all aspects of the curriculum.

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

There has been a change of management since the last inspection.

The current managers are reflective and have worked hard to implement the changes required. They have embraced the support offered by the local authority. Managers have sourced appropriate training opportunities for the staff team to help staff develop their practice.

The whole team is motivated and continues to reflect on the service the nursery provides.Children make good progress in their learning. They benefit from a planned curriculum of activities and experiences, indoors and outdoors, that is adapted well to suit their individual needs and abilities.

The curriculum builds on what children already know and can do and considers their interests and what they need to learn next.Staff follow children's interests when planning new activities. This ensures that children are interested and motivated to learn.

For example, after listening to the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt', children are delighted to go on a pretend bear hunt in the outside area. This helps to build on their early literacy skills.Staff support children's emerging communication and language skills well.

They provide a narrative as children play and work hard to help ensure that children have opportunities to hear new vocabulary. Staff make effective use of visual cues when communicating with children. They ask questions to help extend children's learning.

However, staff do not always give children enough time to think and respond to questions to allow them to share their knowledge and understanding.Parents speak very highly of the nursery. Staff include parents in their children's learning and care, including sharing information about what their child enjoys doing at the nursery and school transitions.

Parents feel well informed about their children's progress and how to support them at home.Children are cared for in a safe and secure environment. The managers and staff complete regular risk assessments of all areas of the setting.

However, children are not consistently supported to identify risks in their own play. They do not fully understand the potential hazards in their actions and the effects these could have on themselves and others.Children enjoy taking care of the plants at the setting, and staff support them to develop their knowledge and understanding of the natural world.

Staff benefit from regular supervision, and there are effective systems in place for providing them with feedback on the quality of teaching and learning. This supports the continuous improvement of standards of education and care in the setting.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Managers and staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities to safeguard children. Recent child protection training helps to ensure that they have a clear understanding of the signs and symptoms which may indicate that a child is at risk of harm. Managers have developed information cards for all staff so that key safeguarding information is always available to them, including relevant phone numbers.

Staff know the whistle-blowing procedure and the procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child in their care. Robust recruitment and vetting procedures are in place to ensure that all staff are suitable to work with children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review support for staff to develop their questioning techniques to further help and encourage children's communication and language skills support children's knowledge of their personal safety by consistently encouraging them to explore why certain actions and behaviours can be hazardous to themselves and others.