Ottertots Day Care Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children thrive and develop the skills they need to succeed in life. They learn to care for the world around them, such as when they look after the farm animals and explore nature in the forest school.

Children feel secure and safe, as staff are warm and caring. They make good progress especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The manager is ambitious for children to succeed.

She implements a well-sequenced and carefully designed curriculum. This means children engage and stay focused for long periods of time when learning and playing. For example, toddlers enjoy hunting for pretend sp...iders in piles of cotton wool.

Staff expertly help them count the spiders' legs. Pre-school children play cooperatively in a construction role-play area. They draw their ideas on paper and work together to create a large bridge.

Children develop self-help skills through the well-planned routine. For example, babies express their needs at snack time by choosing fruit they want. Pre-school children independently put on shoes and coats when going outside to play.

Children behave well and are polite. They follow the setting's routine and rules well. For example, pre-school children make collage pictures from natural items including sticks.

They know to keep the sticks away from people's eyes and know to break them into smaller pieces.

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

Children learn new words rapidly which supports their language development well. For, example pre-school children learn words for 'lichen' and the names of different types of oak trees, as they study items gathered on a woodland walk.

Babies learn animal sounds as they play with the farm animals. Staff expertly model and repeat sounds to the babies, encouraging them to have a turn. The babies chuckle in delight when staff praise their efforts.

Children have many rich and varied activities to choose from. Overall, staff plan activities well to meet the needs of the children. Children show a can-do attitude and persevere with challenges.

For example, toddlers enjoy making biscuits. They measure out the ingredients using different sized spoons. They enjoy mixing the dough with their hands.

Staff help them stay focused using lots of praise and open-ended questions. However, staff do not always pause after asking these questions which means children do not always have time to think and respond.Children have many opportunities to develop their physical skills.

Pre-school children build and climb when they access the forest school. They ride bicycles and scooters in the garden. Pre-school children develop their fine-motor skills.

They explore play dough and make marks on different materials. Babies practise crawling and toddling in the garden. They develop their hand-to-eye co- ordination by picking up instruments and shaking them.

They listen to the sounds. Occasionally, staff in baby room do not organise resources well. They do not ensure the indoor floor space is free from clutter.

This means babies cannot always practise their crawling and walking skills when indoors.Children are very secure and have strong attachments with staff. The manager is very nurturing towards the staff.

She ensures their well-being and home life is supported well. This means staff turnover is very low and children have continuity of care. The manager encourages staff to reflect on their practice and to attend regular training.

Staff are motivated to improve outcomes for children and to develop their skills.Staff carefully observe and assess children throughout the day. They use this information to identify children who need extra support.

When staff identify a child with SEND, they work closely with parents and the nursery's special educational needs and disabilities coordinator (SENDCo). They ensure these children have the right support and make rapid progress. The SENDCo works closely with outside agencies to meet the child's needs.

The manager and staff work hard to build strong relationships with children's parents. Staff share with the parents what children have learned and the children's next steps. This helps parents to support their child at home with their progress.

For example, staff helped children plant sunflowers. They then sent the sunflowers home with the children so they could watch them grow and care for. Staff gave parents information about how to support their child with this activity.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have robust knowledge of how to safeguard children. Staff confidently know all categories of abuse and how to identify potential signs of harm.

They are knowledgeable about how to record and report concerns safely. The manager ensures all staff attend regular training to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date. Staff know to report any allegations against colleagues to the local area's designated officer.

Staff carry out daily health and safety checks of all areas that children have access to. The manager has rigorous recruitment systems in place to ensure 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: norganise the baby room to provide clear floor spaces that allow babies to move about freely support staff to give children sufficient time to process questions, so they can share their thinking and ideas.