Your Co-op Little Pioneers Nursery and Pre-School, Finchfield

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff provide children with a welcoming and fun environment. As children arrive, they are greeted warmly by the caring staff. Children are happy to attend and keen to start their day at the nursery.

Throughout the nursery, staff build strong, affectionate relationships with the children. Children demonstrate high levels of self-esteem and confidence. Staff help children to learn to be independent.

Children make choices about their play throughout the day. They learn to dress themselves and use the toilet independently. Children enjoy taking responsibility, such as helping staff to serve lunches.

Children know ...to scrape their plates into a bowl after finishing their lunch. Staff help children to develop a love of books. Children look at books independently and with their friends.

They regularly take books to the staff, confident staff will read to them. Staff support children's understanding and curiosity about the world around them. Children dig in the garden and talk about the 'big, long worms' they find.

Children regularly visit the nearby park where they learn about local historic buildings. Leaders have a clear vision on what they want children to learn. They have devised an ambitious curriculum, which overall, is understood and implemented effectively by the staff throughout the nursery.

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

Ofsted received a notification from the nursery regarding a child being left alone in a room when staff took a group of children outdoors to play. Leaders have taken swift action to address this issue. Procedures for ensuring that all children are accounted for at all times have been reviewed and updated and are understood by all staff.

Leaders provide staff with regular supervision meetings. They use these times to identify training needs. However, at times, leaders are slow to address poor performance.

For example, some less experienced staff are not aware of how to fully enhance and extend children's learning beyond what they already know.Staff have high expectations for children's learning. Overall, they have a thorough understanding of children's current stage of development.

Prior to children starting, staff obtain information from parents about their children's development and interests. Staff use this information to plan activities from the onset.Staff place a strong focus on supporting children's communication and language skills.

For example, staff in the baby room sing songs and introduce young babies to storybooks. Staff in the rooms for two-year-old children help children to learn new words and build sentences. In the pre-school room, staff ask children questions to encourage their thinking skills and to share their views.

Staff support children to learn about healthy lifestyles. Children are provided with healthy snacks and nutritious meals that are cooked on site. Children learn how good oral hygiene contributes to good health.

Staff in the baby room are kind and nurturing towards the children. However, on occasion, staff do not make the best use of their time. For example, staff carry out routine tasks after mealtimes, when they would be better deployed in supporting babies who are unsettled and upset.

Children thoroughly enjoy their time outdoors, where they develop their physical skills as they whizz around on tricycles and climb apparatus. Children count the steps they take as they play 'What's the time, Mr Wolf?'. They squeal with delight as the 'wolf' chases them.

Children jump in and out of hoopla-hoops and swing them around their bodies.Staff in the baby room create an environment that supports babies' developing mobility to enable them to move around safely. Two-year-old children learn to go up and down the stairs independently.

Throughout the nursery, staff help children to develop their small muscles in readiness for future writing. Children have fun as they manipulate dough and use pipettes to move water from one vessel to another.Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour.

They teach children to learn right from wrong. Children share, take turns and play cooperatively. They learn to manage their feelings and minor conflicts independently.

Parents comment on how well staff know their children. They say their children enjoy attending. Parents talk about the good progress their children make, particularly in their social and language skills.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: focus supervision and coaching to support staff to be able to consistently extend children's learning beyond what they already know and can do support staff in the baby room to review the organisation of daily routines to enable them to respond more promptly to babies' needs.