The Old Station Nursery, Dollman Farm

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happily to the setting and receive a warm welcome from staff, who are kind and nurturing towards them.

This helps children to settle quickly and feel safe and secure in their care. Children of all ages have abundant opportunities to access a variety of resources. Older children have time to lead their play and learning and make decisions about the direction of their play.

Babies have fun and stand to play with sand, and they use their skills to dig and fill containers that they transport across the room. Staff demonstrate how to use tools such as sieves, and babies watch intently to see what happens whe...n sand is added. Children behave well.

This is because staff help them to understand the behaviours that are expected of them. Staff use positive strategies and reminders for children to use 'kind hands' and good manners. Older children are kind to their peers.

For example, they give each other the right cutlery as they help to prepare tables for lunch. Children show positive attitudes to learning and, in the majority, gain the skills and understanding they need to prepare them for their next stages in learning.

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

The nursery curriculum shows clear intentions for children's learning.

Staff understand and implement learning through carefully planned activities and experiences throughout the nursery.Staff gather some information from parents when children first start, which helps them to settle children. However, there is scope for staff to gain further information about what children know and can do to help staff focus their plans for learning more precisely from the beginning.

Staff consider children's interests to engage them in play. They build on their understanding through their interactions. For example, staff hold interesting discussions and talk about different animals during play with a farm scene.

Older children learn more about the world around them while they play with sea creatures in blue slime. Children identify and use tweezers to remove discarded rubbish from the sea to help keep the sea creatures safe. This also helps to strengthen the smaller muscles in their hands.

Staff make early identifications when children are in need of additional support. The setting's special educational needs coordinator is proactive and communicates effectively with parents and outside agencies to seek the required help. As a result, children receive the specific help they need and make good progress from their starting points.

Independence is promoted throughout the nursery. However, further support is needed for children to manage self-help tasks at mealtimes and to manage their personal care at a time when they are capable of this learning.Children develop their physical skills in a range of ways.

Older children have fun and practise walking along a balance beam. They pause and grin when they anticipate that the beam will tip down towards the ground before they continue to walk along. Others use a range of wheeled toys and practise kicking balls to score a goal.

The environment for babies is planned well to enable them to strengthen their core muscles to sit up, pull to standing and walk independently between furniture. Older babies practise their balance as they walk up low steps and down a ramp to the end.Managers ensure that staff receive the support they need to continue their professional development.

Staff access a range of training, and managers ensure that the knowledge they gain is kept current. Staff receive the individual support they need to continue to build on and enhance their teaching practice.Parents are happy and speak highly of the nursery, the staff and managers.

They comment on the warm relationships they build with their key persons and how this contributes to how happy their children are. Parents say they value the regular information they receive about their child's care and learning. They are happy with the progress their children are making.

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: make use of the opportunities to gain information from parents when children first start, to help staff focus the plans for learning from the beginning build further on the opportunities for children to develop the independence they are capable of, in particular their self-help skills during mealtimes and in managing their personal care.