Play@Churwell Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children enter the nursery with high levels of confidence, independence and emotional security.

They delight in the hugs and loving welcome they receive from the warm, passionate and highly qualified staff. New babies are exceptionally well settled and flourish from nurturing care routines. They confidently crawl around, exploring, and beam with delight when their key person shares unusual sensory objects with them.

Staff maintained excellent contact with families who did not attend during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic lockdown. This supported children's emotional well-being and progress. For example, staf...f read stories to children and shared extensive information with parents through videos, their social media platform, electronic journals and activity ideas.

Staff plan and provide children with limitless, inspiring learning opportunities. Consequently, all children flourish, including those in receipt of additional funding or who have additional needs. Children aged two delight in exploring intriguing objects, such as pumpkins.

Older children show great creativity and proudly present their bracelets. They show impressive language as they talk about how they made these using leaves, a hole punch and string.Children show exceptional behaviour.

Older children meticulously follow nursery rules that they help to set up. They proudly show their lanyards, identifying them as a member of the 'Nursery Council', set up by staff to give children a voice. They show kind friendships and great collaboration and imagination while sharing play experiences.

For instance, in the exciting campsite role-play area.

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

Staff provide an exceptional curriculum, teaching and learning environment. Children gain a wealth of knowledge and skills.

Staff meticulously assess children's progress. They implement highly effective early intervention strategies, that support children with delayed development to catch up. They build excellent working partnerships with other professionals.

Staff use wide-ranging teaching techniques to help children remember learning. They provide exemplary first-hand experiences, utilise internet resources and take and display photographs. This stimulates children to discuss past events, such as a local supermarket being built, that they observed stage by stage.

Children hear rich language from staff, which fosters their communication and literacy skills. They have a wonderful love of songs, non-fiction books, poems and stories. Staffs' animated storytelling captivates children and they help children to recall favourite stories superbly.

Staff link stories through craft activities and richly resourced role-play and small world areas.Staff carefully planned for children's return to nursery following lockdown, to allay their fears and anxieties. For example, they carried out video calls with the children, provided photographs of staff and nursery rooms and arranged weekend visits to nursery.

Staff support new starters by carrying out visits in families' gardens. Parents are not yet entering the nursery, however, they continue to be extremely well updated on children's progress and inspired to support learning.Children have extensive opportunities to learn about the world.

Older children studiously carry clipboards, holding a list of the nature items to find during their autumn treasure hunt. Children use a wide array of vocabulary to describe what they see. Staff use unique memorabilia and artefacts that educate children about different cultures and important historical events, such as a war.

Children develop great physical skills, essential for early writing. Babies place wooden curtain rings onto the kitchen roll holder and toddlers scoop dried cereal and make marks in this. Children aged two use paintbrushes and water to create patterns.

Older children use tools, such as scissors, and they competently and confidently balance and jump off objects.Staff celebrate everyone's uniqueness and work tirelessly to remove any kind of bias, stereotyping and discrimination. They provide children with vast experiences to embrace difference.

This includes celebrating the diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities. Older children find out where they and others live, and their holiday destinations, on the world map.Children receive an excellent diet at the nursery, which promotes good oral and physical health.

Staff teach children about visiting the dentist and caring for their bodies through factual books, stories and role play. Staff also plan activities based around initiatives that support children's mental health.The management team consistently reflects on and improves practice.

Staff have outstanding training opportunities, including through bespoke training packages the manager designs on the nursery's own training forum. The excellent plans for the future include resuming parent workshops.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff, whose suitability is rigorously checked, have in-depth knowledge of child protection issues and reporting procedures. They access a wealth of safeguarding training and the management team regularly test their knowledge. For example, they spontaneously question staff and provide safeguarding quizzes and scenarios.

The manager utilises extensive information to keep herself updated with changes to legislation, policies, procedures and practice. Staff greatly minimise health and safety risks to children, including those related to COVID-19. Children learn how to keep themselves safe.

Older children confidently talk about road safety and the reason for wearing high-visibility vests during their outing. Furthermore, they undertake first-aid training. This helps them to become more risk aware and equips them with essential life skills.