St Lawrence’s Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children and parents are welcomed warmly into this friendly nursery. Children build strong attachments with staff and are settled and happy in their care.

Children benefit from a variety of adult-led and child-initiated activities throughout the day both inside and outside. As a result, children are making good progress from their starting points. Children are motivated and enthusiastic to learn.

Children delight in playing with their friends in the safe and secure outside area. They negotiate a range of equipment to learn how to climb and balance. Staff provide consistent praise and encouragement, which help to promot...e children's self-esteem.

Children follow established routines and demonstrate independence in their self-care. Children's behaviour is excellent. They listen attentively to staff and respond positively to instructions.

Children enjoy the vast array of good-quality resources. They freely choose what they would like to play with and learn to share and take turns. Babies settle quickly and thrive, confidently separating from their parents.

They have fun exploring a range of sensory resources and safely practise their early walking skills.

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

The dedicated and passionate staff use detailed observations to plan exciting activities that focus on children's interests and what they need to learn next. For example, children showing an interest in dinosaurs are helped to explore this further.

They concentrate on making dinosaurs out of dough and colouring in pictures, which helps to develop their fine motor skills and imagination.Children are encouraged to develop a love of books. Older children excitedly vote on which book they would like at story time and talk about the author.

They join in with repeated phrases and eagerly answer questions about the story. As a result, children develop good communication and language skills. Younger children have lots of fun expressing themselves through singing and shaking musical instruments to the music.

Babies cuddle up to staff in the cosy area and look at books together.Children's understanding of the world is supported well. They take part in exciting outings within the local community.

Children visit the library, the retirement home and the local shop to buy ingredients they need to decorate biscuits and make soup. Children are helped to appreciate different cultures and religions as they take part in activities to mark cultural celebrations. This helps children to respect and value each other's individuality.

All children, including babies, have enjoyable opportunities to explore and investigate. For example, they explore ice blocks with items inside and watch how they melt. Staff take frequent opportunities to incorporate mathematical language into daily routines and children's play.

Children enjoy counting and weighing different-coloured animals. However, staff do not always fully consider their teaching, particularly during adult-led activities, to ensure that children of different ages and abilities are suitably challenged and consistently engaged.The manager and staff are proactive when ensuring they stay up to date with new ideas and continue to develop their knowledge and skills further.

For example, they research new and innovative activities and ideas on how to maximise and extend children's learning further. However, this is not yet fully embedded to support and enhance children's problem-solving skills and critical thinking.The management team and staff demonstrate a strong commitment to swiftly identifying children who may need early help to access the best start in life.

Staff work closely with the local health visitor when completing the progress check for two-year-olds. The settling-in process and transitions between rooms are planned to ensure that children and their parents are comfortable and happy with the room change. Staff help prepare children for their eventual move to school.

For example, the teacher from the local school is invited into the nursery to meet the children and help them to become familiar with what to expect.The management team and staff have built strong relationships with parents. They share a wealth of information and encourage parents to be involved in their child's learning.

Parents are very complimentary about the nursery. They say their children are very lucky to have found a 'second home' at the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The management team and staff have an excellent understanding of the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of neglect or abuse. They have a good understanding of wider safeguarding concerns, including being drawn into extreme situations. Children learn how to keep themselves safe.

For example, the local police officer is invited into the nursery to talk to the children about 'stranger danger'. The management team and staff have a comprehensive knowledge of safeguarding protocols and actions to take if they have any concerns about the welfare of a child. The environment is safe and secure.

Risk assessments indoors and outdoors and for any outings that children take part in are conducted on a daily basis. All staff and the management team are trained in paediatric first aid and consider children's safety and well-being to be of utmost importance.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop adult-led activities further to engage all children and effectively meet their needs more consistently provide further opportunities to extend children's critical thinking and problem-solving skills during their play and learning.

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