Wildernest

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are confident learners.

The outdoor learning environment is well planned and organised. Children learn how to work together and manage risks. For example, they work together to build bridges using crates and planks of wood.

Staff support and encourage less confident children to walk along the bridge and praise their achievements. Children investigate bugs that they have found and confidently identify them. They gently pick them up and excitedly show them to their friends.

Younger children use their imagination as they pretend to make an 'apple pie' in the mud kitchen. They use descriptive words to tal...k about their 'pie' and relate this to what they like to eat at home. Toddlers and babies develop their physical skills as they shuffle, crawl and start to pull themselves up to stand on well-placed equipment in the garden.

Children behave well. Staff support children to share and take turns through positive and gentle interactions. Children listen and comply well.

They follow instructions from staff, such as placing their hands in the air to show they are listening. Staff guide babies and toddlers to behave appropriately through positive role modelling. Children have good communication and language skills.

Staff ensure children have access to a language-rich environment by reading stories, singing rhymes and talking with them as they play.

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

Managers show a clear curriculum intent for the nursery. They share this with staff who help children to build on what they know and can do.

They offer a range of opportunities for children to explore the world around them. Their love of nature is part of their ethos and evident throughout the setting. For example, toddlers and babies explore garden vegetables as they use these to roll out play dough.

Older children enjoy looking for bugs and talk about their characteristics. This supports children to gain an understanding of the wider world.Staff skilfully incorporate 'golden rules' through the children's interest in a toy police station.

They share stories with children to help them understand the difference between right and wrong. Staff ignite children's imagination and help them to think about a range of different concepts, such as how to be a good citizen. This helps to promote and develop children's understanding of British values.

Children regularly take part in forest school activities. These include pond dipping, using tools to dig, growing fruit and vegetables as well as embarking in growing competitions. Staff encourage children to make mathematical predictions.

For example, they guess the height of sunflowers and how many insects are in the bug hotel. Children love to explore and to learn about the world around them. They listen to stories and talk about how 'bees make honey' and 'spiders make webs.'

Generally, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well supported. Staff decide on strategies to support children with SEND, such as the use of targeted adult support and the use of non-verbal language, like visual clues. However, these strategies are not implemented consistently by staff.

This means that children's experiences may differ depending on the knowledge or experience of staff.Books are successfully embedded into the curriculum to help ignite children's curiosity and imagination. Staff creatively use the 'book of the week' to plan a broad range of activities to inspire children to learn.

For example, younger children explore their senses as they feel the different textures in the book, 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Staff talk about the 'soft' grass and the 'gooey' mud. Older children create storyboards using different natural resources that they collect from the garden.

Staff focus on promoting children's language development and engage them very well in conversations.Children enjoy a range of healthy food choices at snack time. They share out cups and plates with their friends and pour their own drinks.

On occasion, they do not use daily routines as well as possible to extend children's skills. For example, to build even further on their developing independence.Babies and children choose different toys and resources to play with from accessible storage boxes and they engage well in their chosen activities.

For example, babies find musical instruments and shake the shakers and toddlers choose to play with the train track. This supports them to become independent and make choices for themselves.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff demonstrate a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms which could indicate that a child is at risk of harm. They know how to make a referral if they have concerns about the welfare of a child. Staff are clear about the procedure they will follow if they have concerns about the conduct of a colleague.

The owner and management team make sure that safer recruitment checks are carried out to ensure the ongoing suitability of staff working with children. The nursery environment is routinely checked to ensure the safety of children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: further develop children's independence skills by consistently allowing them to carry out tasks by themselves review the use of visual support systems for children to ensure that, where strategies are in place, these are effectively and consistently used to support children's learning.

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