Shambles Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and settled. They have fun in a welcoming learning environment which promotes their curiosity, exploration, and motivation to learn. Children form good bonds with staff.

All children, including those with additional needs, play harmoniously with their peers and develop their social skills in readiness for school.Staff get to know the children well, their interests and their abilities. They provide activities that focus on the most important areas children need to learn next.

Staff identify areas where children need extra support and work with the special educational needs coordinators (SENCos), and o...ther professionals as required, to help close any gaps in learning. As a result, all children make good progress.Children become confident communicators.

Staff use small group times alongside Makaton successfully to develop children's language and attention skills. Children enjoy listening to stories and staff encourage them to talk about the pictures and to predict what might happen next. Children join in with songs and rhymes throughout the day.

Children have plenty of exciting opportunities to develop their physical skills. This includes supervised woodwork sessions using real hammers, saws and screwdrivers. Children show good balance and coordination as they scramble across the cargo net above the playroom, and gain strength using the climbing wall.

Staff plan daily outdoor exuberant play, such as to local parks and the 'secret garden'. Children enjoy visits to the local greengrocer to buy their favourite fruits for snack and benefit from freshly cooked, nutritious meals.

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

The provider and manager are passionate about delivering an ambitious and stimulating curriculum and have extremely high expectations of staff and children.

The manager and deputy managers complete regular observations to support staff professional development. The provider has a clear vision for a high-quality provision and is aware of the main pressures on staff. At times, the provider works alongside staff and provides guidance to develop practice.

However, this is not always effective to promote staff's confidence and levels of self-esteem.The management team works hard to identify and target areas for improvement. New strategies to help children understand and manage their emotions have had a positive impact on children's behaviour.

Children follow instructions, share, take turns, and show respect towards others. They understand boundaries, such as not to go down the twisty tunnel slide to the lower floor when the red closed sign is showing.Overall, the quality of teaching and learning is good.

However, occasionally, staff do not provide additional challenge for the older and most-able children to extend their learning even further. Nevertheless, children become deeply engaged in activities and concentrate for long periods. For example, staff encourage children to close their eyes and use their senses to identify ingredients for dough.

Children recall the smell of cinnamon from a previous activity and talk about how the flour and raisins feel in their fingers. Children work cooperatively together to add water to the mix, checking that the dough is not too sticky before they begin to knead it.Staff encourage children to develop their independence and self-care skills.

They teach children from an early age to use metal cutlery, china plates and bowls. Children are confident to put on dressing-up clothes and shoes independently when they pretend to be 'mummies and daddies'. Children learn to care for living things, such as planting and tending to flowers outside the conservatory.

Children develop an understanding of mathematical concepts. For instance, staff talk to children about the shapes of magnetic boards when they construct a 'playhouse'. They check younger children's understanding of prepositions, such as 'in front of' and 'behind' as children roll toy vehicles down a ramp.

Older children recognise large numerals, such as '42' on the height board. However, at times, staff do not make full use of opportunities to encourage quieter children to join in with activities to increase their enjoyment and learning.Children have plenty of opportunities to explore a variety of media and materials to develop skills for early writing.

For instance, they study their faces in mirrors and then experiment with colours to paint self-portraits. Older children learn to recognise their name and some can write their name on their artwork unaided.Partnerships with parents are effective.

Staff share information to help parents support children's learning at home, such as language development, behaviour, and potty training. Parents speak extremely positively about the nursery, the management team and staff. They are pleased with the progress their children make and feel very well informed about their children's care, learning and development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The managers and staff complete regular risk assessments and supervise children well to keep them safe, for example, as they move between the floors via the stairs or slides. Staff teach children to keep themselves safe.

For example, they teach them about road safety on outings, and give younger children good explanations of how to use knives safely when they persevere to chop up raw cauliflower. Staff receive ongoing safeguarding training. They have a suitable understanding of the signs of child abuse and wider safeguarding matters.

They know the correct procedures to follow should they have any concerns to help protect children from harm. The manager implements robust recruitment and induction procedures to ensure staff's suitability 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: nensure staff consistently engage the quieter and less confident children in activities, to further increase their enjoyment and learning make full use of opportunities to increase levels of challenge for the older and most-able children to extend their learning to the highest levels review staff professional development systems to provide staff with consistently constructive and effective feedback, to fully promote their emotional well-being and confidence.