Twiggys Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enjoy attending this nursery.

They are confident and settle well. Babies thrive because they have a strong, secure relationship with their calm, caring key person. They animatedly sing along to their favourite rhymes alongside other babies at circle time.

Older children's independence is encouraged and supported by sensitive and kind staff. For example, they are helped to find their coat peg to hang their belongings on when they arrive. They are praised as they fasten buttons and zips on their coats before going outside to play.

Children are enthusiastic learners and are busily involved in their play.... For example, babies explore the spaghetti and touch it to see what it feels like. They press and squash play dough with obvious excitement.

Older children are completely involved in their task of building and construction. They animatedly give instructions of how to section off an area, using yellow and black striped tape. They talk about keeping themselves safe by not blocking the fire exit and exclaim, 'We must protect ourselves!' Children's physical development and health are supported very well.

They enjoy a wide range of opportunities in the outside area. They challenge themselves on various levels of climbing equipment and balance beams. They notice how their heart rate changes as they move very quickly to music.

They develop smaller physical skills as they use a range of chalks to make marks on the blackboard and on the pavement outside. Adults support children to join in with races, on wheeled toys and on foot, and children comment, 'That's tired me out!'

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

Staff know children very well. They skilfully recognise children's likes, their personality and how they like to learn.

They use their knowledge and observations of children to highlight any gaps in learning. Where there are concerns about development, they provide more support and seek advice from other professionals. Furthermore, a well-planned routine focuses on child-led learning and play.

This helps staff to support children's individual progress well.Leaders and managers have a clear intention for a well-thought-out and coherently planned curriculum. They make sure that children build on what they already know and help them to develop skills for the future.

They reinforce key values, such as kindness and respect, throughout the provision.Some of the teaching is of high quality. For example, some staff give children time to solve problems, and they pose challenging questions to help children understand more-complex mathematical concepts.

However, there is scope to better support all staff to ensure that the quality of teaching is consistently high, offers challenge and ensures that all children are involved in activities.Children are ready for the next stage in their learning because staff and leaders prioritise appropriate experiences and the teaching of key skills and experiences. For example, through the use of communication prompts, babies become familiar with three visual signs.

Toddlers build on this knowledge by recognising and using up to six signs, and pre-school children use 10 signs. This helps them to communicate their needs. However, children's communication and language development would benefit further from consistency in teaching skills across the staff team, for example by using a broad range of vocabulary so that children hear a wide range of different words and making better use of open-ended questioning.

Arrangements for transitions are strong. The nursery is in a good location to maintain and strengthen its strong links with the local school. Children become familiar with the school grounds because they access the playground frequently.

In addition, they use the school grounds for weekly forest school sessions, which children really enjoy.Staff have good support from leaders so that they can discuss any training needs and support they may need. Regular supervision meetings are held alongside daily discussions as needed.

Leaders and staff work well together as a team, which means that staff are deployed well to meet the needs of the children.Parents say that they are supported very well by the nursery staff. They know about their child's development because staff communicate with them in daily discussions and through an online communication tool.

They are happy with the progress their children are making and are reassured that they are content and enthusiastic to attend.Children are aware of their own community because they see familiar people and activities through the nursery fence as they play outside. For example, they get very excited to see the dustbin lorry and wave with excitement as the driver waves at them.

Furthermore, they walk to local parks and shops. Leaders plan to restart links with the local church to join together for key celebrations. Children know about the wider world through themed activities and diversity in toys and resources.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are confident in their knowledge and understanding of safeguarding. They talk about signs and symptoms of abuse that would alert them to a concern about children.

They know how to pass on any concerns through nursery procedures and local safeguarding procedures. Leaders make sure that all staff access training regularly. This helps to ensure that they have a secure awareness of wider safeguarding issues, such as extremism and radicalisation.

Children access a space which is safe and secure. They are aware of how to keep themselves safe as staff talk with them about walking inside and taking their time on the outside climbing equipment.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: build on the already good teaching to consistently challenge children further, including their level of independence, engagement and involvement in learning experiences support staff to further develop the quality of their interactions to enhance children's communication and language development, for example by using a wider range of describing words, asking more open-ended questions and commenting on what children are doing.

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