Toddlers University

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are safe and secure in this welcoming and friendly nursery. They are happy and well settled.

Children move around the rooms and confidently choose what they want to do and play with. Staff have high expectations for children's learning and development and interact with them in a positive manner. Children behave well and play well together.

They take turns to roll the cars down the ramps and share the water equipment. Children are becoming independent from an early age, which helps their future learning. Older children know to wash their hands before lunch and help to serve their own food and pour their drinks....

Babies feed themselves and are learning to wipe their own hands. Children spend time outside and grow fruit and vegetables and enjoy the wonders of making pretend campfires. They run around, climb apparatus and pedal bicycles on the road track as they develop their physical skills effectively.

Babies who are in the early stages of walking explore the safe environment. For example, they hold on to the furniture and push walkers around to help steady their walking.

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

The manager is well focused and ambitious.

She has worked hard on developing the quality of the provision. For example, she has altered the outside area and it now provides more opportunities for children to independently explore and investigate the resources. She carries out checks to remove any hazards to ensure the environment safe.

The manager provides strong leadership to the staff. She carries out ongoing vetting checks to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. She implements effective checks on staff's performance to help improve their practice.

Staff are committed to attending training to help increase their skills and knowledge.Staff have effective partnerships with parents and other professionals involved in the children's care and learning. They inform parents of the achievements their children make and talk to them on a daily basis about what they have done.

However, staff do not seek a full range of information from parents about what children already know and can do when they first start. This means staff are not able to assess the children's starting points accurately and provide activities to enrich children's current experiences from home to support their further learning.Staff understand how children learn and use their knowledge to plan activities that are exciting and interesting.

This promotes children's learning effectively. Staff observe children while they play and assess what they can do. They adapt activities to follow children's interests.

For example, they use the farm animals and tractors as props to help children to listen to stories. However, occasionally, staff overlook opportunities during play to provide extra challenges to help extend children's learning even further.Children demonstrate a positive attitude to their learning and are willing to take part in activities.

For instance, they thoroughly enjoy singing rhymes and songs. Children listen and concentrate on instructions and use musical instruments well. They shake, bang and rattle the instruments as they sing.

Staff praise the children's efforts, which helps to build their self-esteem and confidence.Staff build strong attachments with the children, and the key-person system helps extend these further. Staff promote children's emotional well-being effectively.

They encourage children to do things for themselves, such as follow good hygiene procedures and put on their coats. This helps to build children's personal care skills.Staff promote healthy lifestyles and provide children with healthy snacks, nutritious meals and plenty of exercise.

They provide activities to help children learn about healthy food. For example, staff put real fruit and vegetables in the play kitchen, such as a coconut, broccoli and a melon, and children grow potatoes and tomatoes. This also lets children know about different fruits and vegetables they could eat.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a thorough understanding of the signs and symptoms that could indicate a child is at risk of harm. They demonstrate a good knowledge of child protection issues and know what action to take should they be concerned about a child in their care.

The manager knows what to do if she has an allegation made against herself or member of staff. The manager and staff have completed further safeguarding training to help them understand the wider issues of child protection.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the existing partnerships with parents and gather detailed information about what children know and can do when they first start at the nursery, to build on their future learning build on what children already know and provide extra challenge during their play, to help extend children's learning even further.

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