Puffins in the City

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and well-cared for in the nursery. They benefit from strong attachments with staff to help them feel safe and secure and form friendships with other children.

Staff nurture children's well-being and personal development and have high expectations of their behaviour. Children develop self-confidence, positive attitudes and very good social skills. Older children help others kindly, take turns fairly and learn to resolve issues.

Staff working with babies provide positive role models who praise children and guide them gently to learn the principles of good behaviour. Children make good progress in their... learning. Staff provide an ambitious curriculum built around children's interests and developmental needs.

This includes a broad range of activities and outings, such as local forest school sessions. Children are eager to get involved in activities and persevere to overcome challenges. For example, older children learn how to chop their own fruit safely and effectively through staff encouragement and guidance.

Children develop good independence from a young age, such as toddlers learning to serve themselves and clear away after mealtimes. The nursery has adapted their practice to keep children and families safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, staff undertake home visits in children's gardens prior to them starting at the nursery.

This helped them to safely gain a good understanding of children's needs and to support positive working relationships with parents from the start.

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

The quality of education is good overall. Most staff adapt activities well to support children's developmental stage.

They create quieter environments for children to concentrate, listen well and join in conversations. However, on occasions, staff do not use the activities to help children to learn new words to increase their vocabulary further. For instance, staff do not help younger children to learn colour names or older children to learn new mathematical language.

Staff monitor children's progress effectively to prioritise focused next steps in their learning. They identify children who require additional support quickly and efficiently. They work closely with parents and other agencies to ensure that specific plans are in place, and funding used effectively, to target and meet children's individual needs.

Staff provide a wealth of activities to encourage children's literacy. For example, older children create stories through dictating their ideas and characters which staff write down to ensure that they can read back accurately. Babies and toddlers explore making marks and enjoy listening to stories.

Staff help older children to learn how to recognise the sounds and letters of their names in readiness for starting school.Children are motivated to explore and learn. They confidently create their own imaginative games.

For example, younger children find 'treasure' in the garden mud kitchen and make instruments with dried pasta in envelopes to shake and dance with. Staff use these spontaneous activities well to build on children's learning. For example, they notice children dancing excitedly and introduce a singing activity that engages them further.

Overall, staff support children in developing healthy lifestyles. They provide nutritious meals, activities to develop children's physical skills and teach children the importance of brushing their teeth. However, on occasions, staff do not support all children's personal hygiene well.

Young babies have runny noses which staff do not clean consistently, and older children do not always learn how to clean their noses hygienically.The management team supports staff's personal and professional development successfully. Staff benefit from supervision sessions to build their confidence and skills.

They undertake targeted training and development to enhance their knowledge and skills. Staff feel valued and are encouraged to share their views. They are involved in the management's consultation and development of the setting to make ongoing improvements to the quality of care and education.

Partnerships with parents are good. Staff work closely with parents from the start to settle children in and to meet their individual needs. They keep parents closely involved in their children's learning and development.

Parents share positive feedback about the care their children receive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a very good understanding of their safeguarding roles and responsibilities.

This includes understanding the risks to children from wider safeguarding issues and the correct procedures to follow in the event of a concern about a child's welfare. Staff all attend regular training that helps to keep their knowledge up to date. They teach children how to identify and manage risks to keep safe.

For example, children learn how to walk along the road safely on their trips to the garden and they correct others when they do something they consider unsafe. Management follows robust recruitment and vetting procedures to ensure that staff and apprentices are suitable.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop the use of activities to help children learn more words and build their vocabulary even further nimprove staff practice to support children in managing all aspects of their personal hygiene well.