Tiny Stars Day Nursery, Edgeley

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happy to the nursery, confidently waving goodbye to their parents at the door.

They excitedly seek out their key person for cuddles, and readily engage in the wide range of play and learning experiences on offer. For example, children become highly engaged in a sensory play activity, which allows them to use real tools and porcelain crockery alongside real fruits and scented teabags. They share their imaginations and talk enthusiastically to each other and members of staff as they mix, pour, squash, squeeze and cut fruits to create their special teas.

They carefully pour their concoctions into the porce...lain cups. Children display high levels of involvement and well-being as staff deliver a curriculum that appeals to their interests. There is a keen focus on supporting children's personal, social and emotional development throughout the curriculum.

Children form positive attachments with key persons, which supports them to feel safe and secure. Staff offer children lots of praise and reassurance to build children's confidence and self-esteem. They use positive reinforcement, praise children for their efforts, and focus on the behaviour that they want to see.

This supports children to behave well for their age.

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

The curriculum has a keen focus on supporting children's communication, language and literacy development. All staff understand the importance of encouraging children to develop a love of stories, songs and rhymes.

For example, regular song and rhyme sessions occur frequently in each room, with children of all ages choosing their favourite songs using props or pictures. This helps children to explore a range of new words and begin to understand rhythm and rhyme.Babies avidly explore books of meaningful people in their lives.

They remain absorbed looking at these familiar pictures as staff sensitively support their communication attempts. Children display high levels of well-being and involvement in activities that support their current interests.There are clear routines throughout the nursery day.

However, sometimes, the transitions between activities and routines, such as lining up to go indoors and waiting for lunchtime, are not organised effectively. This means that, occasionally, some of the younger children become restless and disengaged, and their usually good behaviour deteriorates.The manager and staff team are passionate and committed to supporting all children.

They work in partnership with parents and professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who speak English as an additional language. This is confirmed by the very positive feedback from parents. This helps children to receive the correct support that they need to make good progress.

Children enjoy being active as they develop good physical skills. Babies explore during regular tummy time, and beam with pride as they begin to stand and take their first steps. Toddlers very much enjoy climbing, and they begin to use their hands to squash, pinch and roll play dough.

The pre-school children relish the large soft-play climbing equipment, which offers further physical challenge, and they confidently use pencils and scissors with increasing control and coordination. This helps children to make good progress with their physical development.Staff praise the manager and feel well supported in their roles.

The manager supports staff effectively with hands-on support, regular supervision meetings and observations of their practice. Staff have access to online training and are encouraged to reflect on their practice. This helps to enhance their knowledge and support children's learning.

Parents speak very highly of the setting and are extremely happy with the support that they receive. They praise the communication between staff and the parents. Parents feel fully included in their child's learning.

Staff also report as having strong relationships with parents, and welcome the sharing of information to support the children who they care for. This promotes consistent support for children's learning at both the home and nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff have a sound knowledge of signs of abuse and how to report any concerns. For example, staff have a strong understanding of current topics that pose a risk to children, such as e-safety and how to keep children safe online. They are clear on the procedures to follow if they have any concerns regarding a colleague's behaviour.

The manager follows robust recruitment procedures to help ensure that staff are suitable. Staff teach children the importance of keeping themselves safe. They talk to them about how to use knives safely when using these to chop fruit during an activity.

The manager monitors staff's knowledge of safeguarding policies and procedures through regular quizzes and on-the-spot questions. This regular monitoring of the knowledge and understanding of safeguarding procedures helps to keep children safe from harm.

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 strengthen transitions between activities and routines so that children remain focused and engaged in learning opportunities.