YMCA Little Ducklings Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive at the nursery and enter happily. Pre-school children hang up their belongings and are eager to join in with staff who are leading a 'wake and shake' activity.

Children show they have formed secure relationships with staff, who are keen to hear about what they did with their families at the weekend. Babies receive warmth and cuddles from the staff as they look at books together. Staff support young children to roll balls down a slide, climb the steps to follow them and go down the slide themselves.

The manager has a clear vision for what she wants children to learn as they progress through the nursery a...nd on to school. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those at risk of falling behind, make good progress in relation to their starting points. This includes children who receive additional funding.

Older children show excitement about the activities, cheering when they know they can join in with painting, for example. They concentrate well, are keen to share their ideas and show real motivation towards their learning. Toddlers are eager to join in with a dough activity.

They join in with rolling the dough and making star shapes, which they then stick on the window.

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

The manager is committed to developing the nursery and has clear priorities for improvement. For instance, she has plans to extend the garden, to introduce forest school sessions, and to train a member of staff to run these.

She intends for these to widen children's opportunities for outdoor learning. In addition, she has developed the older children's community engagement and created a community larder. This has enhanced children's understanding of the people in their local area.

Children's behaviour is good, and staff are positive role models. They praise children for their achievements, saying 'good job', which boosts children's self-esteem. Children are encouraged to talk about their feelings and emotions from a young age.

Toddlers can say if they are 'happy' or 'sad'. Older children describe how they feel using words such as 'loved' and 'scared', when talking about the 'boom' of the fireworks.Children have lots of opportunities to develop their physical skills.

Babies are helped to progress from crawling to cruising and walking, and staff plan the resources and environment to support this. Older children enjoy running around outdoors playing games, and they climb and balance on various equipment.Children develop good levels of independence from a young age.

Toddlers collect their place mats, cups and plates and then clear their plates away, gaining skills in readiness to move on to pre-school. Children take themselves to the toilet, wash their hands and put on their coats and boots to go outdoors to play.Staff support children's speech and language well, overall.

Staff narrate what young children are doing, repeat words back to them correctly and model new vocabulary. Staff working with older children ask them open questions to encourage their thinking, and support them to remember and talk about what they have previously learned. Children recall that leaves fall off the trees in autumn and that the acorns they find grow on trees.

Partnerships with parents are positive. They report that they are well informed about their children's days and are happy with the progress their children are making. They receive weekly challenges so they can complete activities with their children at home, such as going on a nature walk to collect autumn resources to bring into nursery.

However, parents do not always know what their children's next steps are to enable them to continue to focus on and support these at home.Staff know the children and what they need to learn next very well, including children with SEND and children who are at risk of falling behind. However, sometimes group activities do not focus precisely on children's next steps to help them make even better progress and to close any gaps more quickly.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a sound knowledge of child protection and safeguarding issues. They know the procedures to follow if they are concerned about a child's welfare or the behaviour of a colleague.

Recruitment procedures are effective in checking staff are suitable to work with children. Staff check the premises for risks and minimise these, such as by pouring stagnant water out of troughs in the garden.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nenhance partnerships with parents so that information is regularly shared about their children's next steps and how they can continue learning at home train staff to plan more precisely for individual children's next steps during group activities, to help them make even better progress.