Sapphires Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children demonstrate that they feel safe and happy during their time at the nursery. They form close, secure attachments to the nurturing staff team. Staff provide an individualised approach to settling children into the nursery.

This helps children to quickly feel comfortable in the environment. Children's behaviour is good. They treat their friends with kindness and respect, sharing and taking turns with the resources.

Children engage in gardening projects and learn to plant, grow and harvest vegetables. Staff take the children on regular outings into the local community. For instance, they visit the nearby church an...d take part in nature-based activities in local woodland.

This helps children develop a love of the natural world and feel part of the community. Leaders and staff have high expectations for what they want children to learn to help prepare them for the next stage in their education. Staff focus on developing children's independence and embed opportunities for children to practise their skills throughout the day.

For instance, children help to lay the table at mealtimes, take bedsheets off the sleep mats and blow their own noses. Children develop their physical skills and are confident and resilient learners. They demonstrate a willingness to take risks during their play, such as when they climb up the climbing wall and balance on logs.

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

Leaders have high ambitions and a clear vision for their nursery. They provide a range of training and professional development opportunities to the staff team. This helps staff to develop their knowledge and skills.

Staff value the support and training that they receive from their managers. They speak extremely positively of their roles within the setting.Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning through high levels of engagement.

They play imaginatively when they use large magnetic shapes to construct different objects, such as boats. Staff provide children with a range of sensory learning experiences. For example, they set up trays with mud, water and lentils for children to experiment with.

Staff regularly share stories with children which helps them to develop a love of reading. Toddlers eagerly point at the pictures in the books and say single words. Staff use books to teach children about the topics that they are learning.

For example, they read a story to children about a family not having much money to demonstrate why they are collecting donations for a local food bank. This helps children to learn about being kind to others.Staff know what they want children to learn through their planned learning experiences.

They effectively sequence children's learning, building upon what they already know and can do. Staff provide stimulating activities that promote children's natural curiosity. They are aware of children's interests and use this information to implement the curriculum.

Staff confidently adapt their approach and show flexibility in the delivery of activities to support children's individual needs and wishes.The children benefit from healthy, balanced meals and snacks throughout the day. They learn skills such as pouring their own water and serving their food.

However, the organisation of the routine before and during meal times leads to children sitting and waiting for prolonged periods of time. At times, this leads to some children losing focus and engagement.Staff form very strong partnerships with parents.

They value the importance of building relationships with the families to work collaboratively to support the children's learning and development. Staff regularly share information with parents and invite them to events, such as sports day and the Christmas nativity. Parents praise the nursery staff team highly.

Staff working with babies regularly sing songs and comment on their play, exposing them to lots of language. However, not all staff are confident in providing consistently high-quality interactions to promote children's communication and language skills. For example, on occasion, when children ask questions or share ideas with staff, they do not consistently respond to extend their language and thinking further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff ensure that the learning environment is safe, secure and well maintained. They deploy themselves effectively so that children are supervised at all times.

Leaders ensure that staff have a good knowledge of safeguarding and child protection. As a result, staff know the signs that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. Staff are confident in how to raise a concern about a child, both internally and following the local safeguarding partnership procedures.

They complete safeguarding training to refresh their knowledge and skills. Staff know the action to take should they have a concern about the conduct of a colleague or other adults in contact with children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the organisation of meal time routines to ensure that children are not waiting for long periods of time support less experienced staff to develop their interactions with children to ensure that their communication and language development is promoted even further.