Sunbeams Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happily and separate from their main carers with ease. Staff greet children and their families warmly and know them all well. Children explore the nursery confidently.

They show a keen interest in the learning and resources that staff provide for them. For example, babies giggle as they explore leaves with their feet and hands, enjoying the sensory exploration. Staff support children to learn to take care of their environment and the world around them.

For example, older children learn about recycling and the importance of keeping the pre-school tidy.Children benefit from plenty of fresh air and exercis...e to help keep them fit and healthy. They learn how to climb safely and negotiate space as they run and explore the garden from a young age.

Staff support children to play cooperatively and praise them for sharing and considering the needs of others. For example, staff teach children how to ask for a turn with a toy. Staff nurture children's language well.

Children enjoy a wealth of stories and songs and listen closely as staff read to them. Babies use single words to describe the pictures in the books and staff support their pronunciation by repeating the words they say. Children make good progress from their starting points and are well prepared for the next steps in their development.

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

The provider has made improvements to the sequencing of the curriculum since the last inspection to help ensure that staff consistently build on what children already know and can do. Staff's interactions with children are much improved and focus on supporting children to develop their communication and language skills.Staff training, coaching and supervision processes now provide effective support to continually improve staff practice.

For example, most staff are now working towards their next childcare qualification level. Staff morale is high, and there is a strong, caring team ethos.Staff promote children's communication skills well.

Staff working with babies narrate children's play to help give their actions meaning. All staff add new words to develop children's vocabulary. For example, they add the words 'elastic' and 'stretchy' as children thread beads onto string.

Children later demonstrate they have learned these words when they use them by themselves.Staff support children to learn early mathematical concepts in preparation for school. For example, staff count with babies to three.

Staff working with older children introduce the language of shape and help them learn to identify numbers and know that the final item in a set represents the total.Staff read stories to children throughout the day to nurture a love of books. For example, older children join in with the parts of the story they know well as staff read 'Jack and the Beanstalk'.

This helps children to learn about the structure of stories. Babies learn to turn the pages of board books by themselves, which also promotes their physical development.Children's large-muscle skills are well nurtured.

All children access the outdoor area throughout the day, where they learn to ride tricycles, balance and climb. Staff extend children's learning well to help them reach the next steps in their development. For example, they support children to move onto bigger equipment that requires more strength and balance when they are ready.

Children behave well. However, staff are not always consistent in how they manage behaviour and do not always apply the same rules. For example, some staff allow children to stand up on the swing and others do not.

This causes confusion for children because they are not sure of the expectations to help them learn to manage their own behaviour.Children learn to take responsibility for some small tasks, such as tidying up when they have finished using a resource. However, staff often jump in too quickly to do things for children, rather than letting them learn to do things for themselves.

For example, children are not encouraged to put on their own shoes or coats, prepare snacks or pour their own drinks.The provider works with parents to find out what children already know and can do before they start attending the nursery to help ensure children make good progress from the outset. Parents report that they are happy with the care and education their children receive and that they value the feedback that staff give them about their children's development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to manage children's behaviour in a consistent way to help children to understand what is expected of them and to learn to manage their own behaviour further promote children's independence to build their confidence in managing more tasks for themselves.