Wonderland Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children benefit from warm, consistent relationships with knowledgeable and caring staff who know them well. They engage in a broad curriculum of stimulating activities. Children eagerly explore and discover in an environment designed to capture their curiosity, and staff encourage and nurture their interests.

For example, children discover seeds in their fruit snack and staff keenly support their request to go and plant them in the garden. Staff monitor each child closely and use their understanding of individual children to support their learning and development well. As a result, children make good progress and gain new skil...ls.

Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding and use their understanding to promote children's safety and well-being highly effectively. Children learn to keep themselves and each other safe and they demonstrate positive behaviours, modelled by sensitive staff. Children work together and demonstrate respect for one another, for example by supporting and encouraging each other when participating in a group yoga and mindfulness activity.

Parents no longer enter the nursery due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, children are greeted individually at the door by their key person, which helps to maintain secure relationships. Parents are highly complimentary about the nursery and they report a high level of communication from staff.

Additionally, parents feel reassured by the steps which have been introduced by the nursery as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Leaders have a strong vision for the nursery. This is shared by all staff, who understand how to help children to develop the skills they need for their future learning.

For example, staff in both the nursery and the pre-school rooms encourage children to explore malleable materials to strengthen their small-muscle skills in preparation for early writing. Children explore play dough and flour with curiosity and concentration. They twist, pull, roll and pinch the dough and make marks in the flour with their fingers and natural materials which they spontaneously use as writing tools.

The staff build good relationships with families to support children and to tailor children's experiences. This enables staff to get to know the children well and to understand their individual needs, which supports children to make progress. Staff develop new ways to make learning opportunities available at home, including recording songs, stories and yoga activities.

Staff work effectively with other professionals and parents to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For children of whom the nursery is in receipt of additional funding, staff work well with parents to target the use of this funding, which supports children to make progress.Children benefit from strong links with their local community, which staff use to promote real-life experiences to extend children's learning.

For example, the children discussed cake, and the staff responded effectively to this interest by taking them to the local shop to buy ingredients to make a cake themselves. Staff seamlessly include different areas of learning during these activities, for example by supporting the children to explore mathematical concepts and healthy eating.Staff support most children's communication and language skills well and help them to learn new words.

However, staff do not always respond to some of the quieter or non-verbal children's communication, to engage and involve them fully and support their communication skills further.Younger children demonstrate security by regularly seeking reassuring cuddles from their trusted adults. The calm, well-organised environment for the under-twos promotes exploration and discovery, which helps the youngest children to learn and develop.

Children delight in their experiences of playing with bubbles and natural materials, readily sharing what they are doing with adults and other children.Children have access to a range of easily accessible books and regularly share stories with staff. However, staff do not consistently support children's literacy development in some whole-group story sessions.

At such times, only a few of the most motivated children are able to maintain focus and engagement. This results in some children becoming distracted and disruptive, which impacts on children's opportunities for learning in the activity.Leaders nurture a culture of reflective practice and continuing professional development.

This ensures that children are, overall, receiving a high standard of care and education. Staff have access to a range of development opportunities, supported by effective supervision arrangements, which they then use to improve the quality of their teaching.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff demonstrate confidence in their knowledge and understanding of how to keep children safe and promote their well-being. Staff have a good understanding of the signs and symptoms of abuse and what procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child. Staff recognise the importance of reporting safeguarding concerns beyond senior leaders if they are ever unhappy with the response to any concerns raised.

Designated lead staff for safeguarding have robust procedures in place and regularly update their knowledge over time. Staff maintain a safe and secure environment for children through, for example, regular health and safety checks and risk assessments.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop staff's interactions during activities to ensure that they include and respond to the voices of quieter and non-verbal children, to develop their communication skills even further nimprove the organisation of group story times, to support children's literacy development further still.