Oz Tots

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The nursery provides a caring, safe, stimulating and fun environment, which children thrive in.

Staff provide many different activities. These keep children interested, while also allowing them the freedom to explore the resources they choose. Children are encouraged to become inquisitive, curious learners, full of confidence and independence.

Children form close bonds to both staff and their peers. Older children regularly seek out staff interaction and engage in imaginary play, such as mud kitchen restaurants. Babies smile as they hold their arms up for cuddles and nuzzle their faces into their key person for comfort....

They show that they feel safe to explore their surroundings and ask for help when needed. Leaders have adopted a curriculum that is ambitious for all. Children's interests and well-being are at the heart of their learning experiences.

Staff provide activities that build on what children already know. Younger children enjoy exploring natural resources, such as feathers and pine cones. They have many opportunities to join in with singing favourite nursery rhymes and playing along with instruments.

Older children explore mathematical concepts using weighing scales. They talk about the 'heaviest' and explore what happens with different materials. Children make good progress and are well prepared to move on to school, showing a love of learning and a positive attitude.

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

Staff provide a curriculum that supports children to make good progress. It is well planned and structured, enabling older children to focus on what they need to learn next. Activities for younger children are engaging and interesting.

However, sometimes, they are less well planned around what they want children to learn. This means that children are not always benefitting from focused learning that targets their developmental needs.Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well by staff.

Staff know them as individuals and are good at including them in learning opportunities. Progress is reviewed regularly, and small, achievable targets are put in place. Funding is spent well, such as on sensory resources to help children feel settled and more able to regulate their behaviour.

Children demonstrate highly positive attitudes to learning. Staff provide activities that provoke good levels of curiosity and concentration from children. Younger children enjoy taking turns to mix bird food.

Older children focus when using different tools to pour and manipulate oats and play dough. Pre-school children thoroughly enjoy exploring the idea of being a baker, using spices and oats.Staff support children to build strong, caring friendships with their peers.

Children demonstrate that they are kind and thoughtful in their play. Two boys happily play together, making each other 'ice creams' with sand. They are careful to find out their friend's favourite flavour first.

They then praise each other highly on their sandcastle making skills. This supports them well to understand other's feelings and emotions and how to maintain positive friendships.Staff support children to explore risks, both indoors and outdoors.

They regularly go for walks in the local woodland area. Children confidently navigate space using ride-on toys. They even problem solve together, working out how to clear a safe path in the garden for their bikes.

This promotes their confidence and independence, as well as developing their physical health.The established key-person system works well to support children in forming secure attachments. Relationships with babies are playful and responsive.

For example, when staff sing 'round and round the garden', children smile and squirm in delight as they anticipate being tickled with a feather. Older children giggle as they wait for staff to find them hiding under a parachute tunnel.Leaders are evaluative of both their own and their staff's practice.

They identify and address any training needs through regular observations and supervisions. Sometimes, this is not thoroughly explored afterwards with leaders, which can leave staff unsure about how to embed their training into practice effectively.Leaders and staff maintain positive and effective partnerships with parents.

This enables children to have a good continuity of learning and care. Parents have only positive praise for the nursery. One mother states that her child 'goes skipping in happy and comes home beaming.'



Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of child protection issues and their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding all children. Staff are clear about how to identify the signs and symptoms of possible abuse and the procedures to adopt if they are worried about a child's welfare.

Staff know what to do if an allegation is made against a member of staff. Leaders carry out robust recruitment procedures to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. They check staff's ongoing suitability.

This helps to keep children safe. Staff complete daily checks of the environment to ensure that the premises are safe and secure.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: plan the curriculum more effectively for younger children, to make sure that group activities are always linked more closely to what children need to learn next further improve teaching by offering staff more support from leaders following training, to embed the new skills they have learned.