Yellow Penguin

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and thrive in this welcoming nursery. They settle in quickly and have adapted well to the necessary changes as a result of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, including saying 'goodbye' to their parents at the entrance and confidently go to their key person. Children have warm and affectionate relationships with staff.

They feel safe and secure and have lovely interactions with staff and each other. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported extremely well to develop their communication and language skills. For example, staff learn simple words in children's home language.

Ch...ildren of all ages effectively use Makaton signing. Children's learning is supported well because staff follow their interest right from the start. When a child finds a spider in the garden staff quickly engage in their play as they explore, 'Mrs skinny legs'.

Children are confident and independent learners. They have good opportunities to practise their mark making. This helps them develop early writing skills.

For example, children enjoy making marks with chalk or in sand. This develops into children starting to form the letters in their name. They use paint to make marks and patterns with cars or cover their bodies in paint.

Children play outdoors daily which supports their physical development, particularly for those who do not have a garden. For example, they develop a love of the natural world and all its wonder and use a sloped climbing wall to develop their physical skills. Children go on daily outings within the local area to the shops or local reservoir, listen for sounds in the environment and collect natural objects.

Children are very well behaved and engaged in their learning. They learn and use good manners from an early age and show respect for others.

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

Staff have a good understanding of what children already know and what they need to learn next.

They plan effectively to ensure children make progress in their learning. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress as a result. Additional funding is used effectively to provide the targeted resources and experiences some children require to thrive and develop.

This means that gaps in learning close quickly and children are well prepared for the next stage in their lives.Children make good progress across all areas of learning, due to a well-designed curriculum. Staff provide activities that keep children motivated to learn.

For example, all children access a wide selection of sensory resources, such as real food in the home corner, pasta and flour play.Staff have a good knowledge of their individual key children, including their development, care needs and what makes them unique. When a child shows interest in cars, staff introduce cars into painting activities and outdoor play.

Staff are attentive to children's needs and recognise when they need additional emotional support. For example, when new babies are coming into the family, children are taken into the baby room to give them the experience of playing with babies.Staff provide activities that help children prepare for their eventual move to school, such as using pinecones, shells, stones and twigs, as they encourage children to learn about symmetry.

However, occasionally, staff fail to hold children's interest because planned activities are not pitched at the right level and, as a result, some children quickly lose interest.The manager provides regular ongoing training and supervision for staff and promptly identifies any weaknesses in practice. Staff are encouraged to research ideas for activities to share on their group's social media page, which they all actively take part in over the weekend.

This shows they have a genuine passion and enthusiasm for their work with children. However, there is scope for further improvement in helping the less experienced staff to gain an understanding of how to support children's learning even better.Staff build good relationships with parents and communicate effectively about children's learning and development.

Parents speak very highly of the staff and say they are 'brilliant' and they would not take their child anywhere else. They talked about how supportive staff have been, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic when staff kept in contact with them, giving them ideas for activities they could do at home to support their children.The manager has an ambitious vision for the nursery and continuously seeks ways to improve the nursery.

She works closely with the provider and the staff team to identify improvements to enhance the experiences for children. For example, there are plans to develop the outdoor provision to offer a mud kitchen and growing area. Training for staff on forest schools is also planned to enhance the outdoor learning opportunities for children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are very knowledgeable about child protection matters. They fully understand how to keep children safe and confidently identify the possible signs that a child may be at risk.

Staff keep their knowledge up to date by attending regular training and discussing a variety of scenarios about safeguarding. Thorough procedures and checks are in place for the recruitment of suitable staff. All staff are required to complete a declaration to confirm their ongoing suitability to work with children, including when they sign in daily.

New staff receive a clear induction before they start to ensure they fully understand their roles and responsibilities. This helps to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen staff's understanding of ways to adjust planned activities which hold children's interest and helps them make even more progress continue to focus staff training and development more sharply on helping the less experienced staff develop an even better knowledge of how to support children's learning.