Ninas Nursery Cale Green

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are greeted warmly on arrival by the friendly and approachable staff team. The changes to the drop-off and collection arrangements due to the COVID-19 pandemic have not fazed children.

In fact, they arrive eager and happy to start their day, separating from their main carers with ease and confidence.Staff are acutely aware of the potential impact of the pandemic. As such, recent teaching has focused on children's personal, social and emotional development.

As a result, children demonstrate increasing confidence in social situations. They conversed with the inspector and happily engaged her in their play. Child...ren are resilient, have high levels of self-esteem and are highly motivated to learn.

Staff have high expectations of children, especially regarding their behaviour. Children behave appropriately for their age and are learning how to share and take turns. They quickly respond to the clear and consistent strategies implemented by staff.

For example, they help to tidy away resources and relish the responsibility of assisting staff with tasks. Pre-school children are keen to help clear their plates and cutlery and wipe the tables after lunch. Children receive continuous praise for their efforts and achievements.

This has a positive impact on their engagement levels and willingness to learn and try new things.

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

Children thoroughly enjoy fresh air and physical, energetic play. They develop skills such as climbing and balancing in the forest school area and skilfully operate wheeled toys.

Children learn to use tools and understand how to keep themselves safe. They discuss the safe distance that they must maintain between themselves and their friends when using hand drills and saws. Overall, staff diligently assess potential risks and swiftly take action, particularly in the indoor environment.

That said, at times, the arrangements for risk assessment outdoors are not applied as rigorously. Occasionally, potential risks are not managed as quickly.Overall, children benefit from an interesting and balanced curriculum.

Staff confidently articulate what they want children to learn during their time at nursery. However, not all staff fully understand the importance of sequential learning and how to build coherently on children's existing knowledge and skills. For example, sometimes activities are too challenging for children and are not always matched appropriately to children's developmental stages.

Staff working with older children ask thought-provoking questions and continually encourage children to talk about what they are doing. They introduce new words, such as 'impeccable', which helps to ensure that children hear a rich variety of vocabulary as they play. Staff working with babies and toddlers model single words and use repetition to reinforce understanding.

They mimic babies' babbling and engage in back and forth interactions. However, staff have not fully considered the impact that dummies can have on young children's emerging communication skills. Furthermore, on occasions, staff do not model the correct pronunciation of words.

Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is strong. Well-qualified and experienced staff use their observations and knowledge of children to quickly secure any additional support that they may need. They work closely with a range of professionals to help ensure that children are able to make good progress from their starting points.

Young children thoroughly enjoy exploring and investigating. They play with sand, rice and dough and experiment with sounds as they bang objects together. Older children delight in blowing and catching bubbles.

They add water to the sand and notice how the texture changes. Children concentrate intently on their chosen activities and persevere in tasks that first appear challenging. As a result, children have a positive can-do attitude.

Staff are passionate and dedicated practitioners. They are led by enthusiastic and knowledgeable leaders who are relentless in their drive and determination to provide high-quality experiences for children. Staff feel well supported.

They benefit from purposeful supervision meetings, observations of their practice and plentiful training opportunities. This helps them to reflect and continually improve.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have a secure understanding of safeguarding procedures. They understand the action to take if they are worried about a child's welfare. Staff confidently describe the procedures to follow should they have concerns about the practice or conduct of a colleague.

They frequently refresh their knowledge and understanding through regular online training. Furthermore, leaders check staff's level of awareness through discussions at staff meetings and through daily questioning. This helps leaders to quickly address any gaps in understanding.

Leaders implement stringent recruitment and vetting arrangements to help ensure that all staff are safe and suitable to carry out their roles.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date ensure staff receive the appropriate training and support they need to fully understand and consistently implement the nursery's risk assessment arrangements.25/04/2022 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to strengthen their understanding of sequential learning and how to build successfully on children's existing skills and abilities help staff to understand how to support and extend children's growing vocabulary and communication skills.

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