The Wilson Marriage Centre Nursery, Little Learners

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are very keen and active learners. They are met and greeted by smiling nursery staff, who help them to settle quickly and choose what they want to play with. Children have very good relationships with each other and with the staff.

They chat about their home life, siblings and pets. New children are very well supported. Staff are on hand to offer cuddles and reassurance to help them to gain confidence.

Children make good progress in their learning. They are well supported by their key person to help them to reach their next stage of learning. Children behave very well.

They have a good understanding o...f the nursery's boundaries and rules. Older children remind their friends that they need to use 'table voices' when the noise level rises at lunchtime and they find it difficult to talk. Staff thank the children for reminding them, and the group of children return to their quieter, yet still lively, discussions.

Even the younger children understand how to manage conflicts. They fetch the sand timer when children are engaged in a dispute over a favourite musical instrument.

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

Partnerships with parents are very good.

Parents comment that they feel their children are very safe and well cared for. They state that the staff are very friendly and welcoming. Parents feel involved in their children's nursery day as staff provide them with a thorough handover when they collect their children.

Children are inquisitive and interested in learning how and why things work. They ask questions to extend their thinking, which staff respond to appropriately. For example, when thinking about the Chinese New Year celebration, children ask staff what a Chinese dragon is.

Staff use the internet to help them to answer the children's questions proficiently. This leads to a spontaneous dragon-making activity and dance.Children choose whether they learn indoors or outdoors.

They move freely between the building and the garden. They involve their friends in their chosen play, for example when they use the large plastic and wooden construction materials in the garden to build a house.Children's early literacy skills are very effectively promoted.

Children are provided with resources to practise their early writing skills in all areas of the nursery. Staff use spontaneous opportunities to develop these further. For example, a discussion leads to children writing their own names.

Staff introduce a packet of name badges and children proficiently write their names on them, wearing their badge with pride and showing the other adults.Children learn about other people's celebrations and beliefs through a range of creative activities, food, stories and decorations. For example, they participate in the Chinese New Year celebration, enjoying noodles and rice for their snack and practising painting Chinese number symbols.

Children use numbers and counting in their everyday play and when helping to set out the table for lunch. However, staff do not always make best use of opportunities to extend children's mathematical skills further.A number of children attend other settings, as well as this nursery.

Staff and managers have links with some of the provisions that children attend. This helps them to share relevant information about the children's learning to effectively support them. However, this is not consistently strong for all settings.

Staff are well supported by an enthusiastic and proactive manager. She provides staff with good support and coaches them to help them to raise the quality of their teaching even higher. The manager has clear ambitions for the future of the nursery and works closely with the providers to implement changes and improvements.

Children's confidence and independence skills are effectively promoted. They pour their own drinks, help to set the lunch table and help themselves to plates, cups and cutlery at snack and mealtimes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Managers and staff demonstrate a good understanding of their responsibilities to safeguard the children in their care. They regularly update their safeguarding knowledge, for example through training and daily staff quizzes. Staff proficiently name the types of abuse and the symptoms that might alert them to a child's safety or welfare being compromised.

Managers and staff show that they understand the nursery's safeguarding policy and what action to take if they have concerns about a child's well-being. Effective recruitment procedures help to ensure that all staff working at the nursery have been appropriately vetted.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: further enhance opportunities to challenge children's mathematical skills strengthen the links already in place with other settings that children attend to build a more consistently strong two-way flow of information.

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