Teeny Queeny Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children of all ages enjoy a wide range of messy play. For example, staff provide babies with paints, while toddlers have tremendous fun exploring the coloured rice and hunting for the characters from their favourite story, 'The Tiger Who Came To Tea.'

Older children explore coloured flour. They begin to show competent mark-making skills as they write letters from their names in the flour and explore sounds and letters. Additional resources, such as bowls, spoons and small pots, provide opportunities for children to extend their imaginative ideas while retelling a story.

Children are happy, confident and enjoy their t...ime at nursery, which shows that they feel safe and secure in their surroundings. Children generally behave well. For example, staff encourage them to share and take turns, with the use of stickers and sand timers to further support this.

Staff remind them about behaviour expectations at the setting and praise children for turn taking to help build their self-esteem. Children enjoy being independent. For example, babies learn to feed themselves from an early age, toddlers skilfully pour their drinks at snack time, and older children assuredly serve their own lunches.

Children's early literacy skills are developing well and staff build on and encourage children's love of books. For instance, staff enthusiastically read to younger children and help them turn the pages, to enable them to start to see that print carries meaning. Older children look at the pictures and recall what happens in their favourite story.

Children enjoy singing rhymes and songs. They eagerly ask for their favourite ones, such as 'Wind the Bobbin Up,' and happily sing along, which aids their growing vocabulary. These are important skills they need for their future success.

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

Staff know their key children very well and build trusting relationships. Parents are overwhelmingly positive about their children's experience at nursery. They state that staff communicate well with them verbally, through written diaries and the online assessment platform.

Parents particularly like the home-from-home, family environment promoted by staff, which they say helps children to feel safe and secure.Children learn to lead healthy lives at the nursery. They have daily access to a well-resourced outside play area that staff take advantage of in all weathers.

Children enjoy appetising and nutritious meals. Children are gently reminded to drink water throughout the day to ensure they do not become thirsty, and they discuss healthy eating options, such as eating lots of fruit and vegetables.Managers and staff are dedicated and work well as a team.

They explore their professional development at regular supervision and appraisal meetings. Staff state that they are supported well by managers with regards to their workload. Managers are committed to continuously raising standards and delivering a high-quality provision for children and their families.

However, managers recognise that with recent staff changes, they do not always make the best possible use of their staff monitoring systems to help develop knowledge and skills even further.Children benefit from positive attachments with staff in the nursery and the provider is known and loved by all the children. For example, as she enters each room, children seek her out for a reassuring cuddle.

Managers implement strong settling-in procedures. These help children become familiar with their key person and new environment. Staff mirror these procedures when children transfer from room to room within the nursery.

This helps children to adapt to change well and develop secure bonds.Staff respond to younger children's emerging interests successfully, to help fully progress their development, such as listening to the different sounds resources make. Staff ask children age-appropriate questions and encourage them to do things for themselves.

However, occasionally, staff do not implement the curriculum consistently well, particularly in group activities. This does not assist children to fully keep their attention and benefit from a rich learning experience.Managers evaluate the nursery well, including seeking the views of parents and staff.

This aids them to develop the quality of the provision and provide better outcomes for children in their care. For example, through seeking parents' views, managers have added extra curriculum sessions, including the fortnightly Spanish lessons which older children attend.Managers develop strong partnerships with a range of professionals.

Staff share information with other professionals involved in children's care and follow tailored learning plans that help to support children's development. Successful partnerships with the staff at the local school have been fostered by the manager and her team. For example, older children visit the school on a regular basis and this supports children's smooth transition into school and their next stage of learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers and staff have completed safeguarding training and have a good understanding of how to keep children safe. They have a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse, and a broad understanding of wider safeguarding issues.

Staff know the procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child in their care as well as the whistle-blowing procedure. Staff update their training to support their knowledge of child protection and wider safeguarding concerns. This helps to promote children's safety and well-being.

Managers follow robust recruitment procedures. They carry out in-depth checks to make sure staff are suitable to care for children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: build on staff's monitoring processes in place, to help build their confidence and knowledge to an even higher level strengthen the implementation of the curriculum to help fully engage children in deep levels of concentration and motivation in their learning, specifically during group activities.