The Woodlands Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff build warm, positive relationships with all children in their care. They are sensitive and responsive to their needs. They support new children starting nursery well and offer comfort when needed.

Children separate from their parents easily and settle quickly. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the nursery. They are motivated and eager to learn.

Young children enjoy exploring their environment. They turn and shake sensory bottles, finding out what things do and how they work. Staff support children's learning through these activities.

They help children to identify colours and name ob...jects. Staff introduce new vocabulary, such as 'whisk', in the play kitchen. They support language as they sing rhymes and songs, which children delight in and join in with the actions.

Older children enjoy familiar stories as a group, and staff help them to share their ideas and listen attentively to others. Children spend most of their time in the outdoor area where they explore the natural world. For example, they collect wild strawberries.

Staff nurture children's personal, social and emotional development. Children are very independent. They manage their own personal care well and serve themselves at lunchtime.

Staff help children to share toys fairly and show kindness to others. Children enjoy playing with each other and develop friendships. They make good progress and are well prepared for the next steps in their education.

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

Staff know the children extremely well and create opportunities for them to achieve their next steps. They follow children's interests and extend their learning through play. For example, staff introduce and encourage children to use words such as 'under' and 'around' as they play hide and seek outside.

Children are highly engaged and have a positive attitude to their learning.Older children are confident communicators. Staff support children's language and communication skills in different ways.

For example, they extend children's sentences and introduce new vocabulary. They frequently ask questions and wait for children to respond. Staff respond to babies' babbles.

They use simple, repetitive language and consistently use signs. This helps young children to learn to communicate more easily.Staff provide opportunities for children to develop their physical skills, such as balance and coordination.

Young children learn to negotiate space in the outdoor environment and use wheeled toys confidently. Children climb competently up steps to the slide and use climbing equipment independently.Staff encourage children to express their own ideas and develop their thinking.

For example, children build a wall outside, using real bricks. They work out how these fit together and how to make the wall stable. Children build their own obstacle course, using crates and planks, and staff encourage them to think of ways to extend this.

Children are developing problem-solving skills and know that their ideas are valued.Staff provide opportunities for children to learn about the natural world. They help children to identify different woodland animals, such as robins and squirrels.

They talk to children about their characteristics and what they eat. However, staff do not routinely teach children about their local community and the cultures and traditions of others, which limits children's understanding of the wider world.Parents are very complimentary about the nursery staff.

Parents say that children's language and social skills have developed significantly and that their children have grown in confidence. Staff inform parents about their children's progress and next steps, which supports continuity of care.Older children particularly spend almost all day outside.

Here, they develop their physical, language and social skills as well as their knowledge of the natural world. However, during this time, they have fewer opportunities to access resources that help to develop their early mathematical, literacy and creative skills.Staff regularly undertake training to develop their knowledge and skills further.

A newly implemented system for staff supervision enables staff to share ideas and raise concerns if required. It also provides an opportunity to identify future training needs. Systems for evaluating the efficacy of the nursery are evolving to further support continuous improvement.

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: help children learn about their local community and the cultures and traditions of others, to further their understanding of the wider world develop the outside learning environment to ensure that the children who enjoy spending time outside have opportunities to develop their mathematical, literacy and creative skills.