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

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff check which activities appeal to children and take full account of their interests and ideas when planning the curriculum. This helps to encourage children's engagement in activities.

Staff support children well, overall, to learn and remember more. Children achieve well, particularly in mathematics. Pre-school children measure a piece of wood using a tape measure.

Younger children learn number names and manage to count three sticks correctly while exploring a sensory activity. Older children enjoy independent play. For example, they explore shells that float and sink in the water tray, sharing their discoveries ...with their friends.

Children enjoy a 'scavenger hunt' outdoors and are excited to tell inspectors what they have found. Toddlers develop their imaginative skills, such as caring for dolls during pretend play. Babies show a sense of security, sitting close to familiar staff to share a book.

Leaders and staff have a community-based vision that strives to teach children about positive values and attitudes. Staff model good manners and respect. Children are polite and kind.

They develop empathy and understanding for others. For example, children offer to help their friends to fasten their coats ready for outdoor play.

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

Children develop confidence in their abilities.

Staff are enthusiastic and their interactions with children are positive and encouraging. They offer plenty of praise that helps to raise children's self-esteem. Children work together and persevere during activities.

For example, they arrange planks to balance and walk along.Staff have a good overall awareness of where children are in their learning. However, staff provide some activities which are beyond the level of understanding for some older children, which impacts on their learning.

For example, some children do not understand how to make a bear from dough.Provision for the youngest children attending is strong. Staff have a clear understanding of what they want babies to learn.

They think carefully about activities to help children to achieve the next steps in their learning. Staff's skilful interactions help babies and toddlers to learn and understand new words rapidly.There are plenty of opportunities for children to develop their large-muscle skills, such as balancing and climbing.

Babies learn to pull themselves up and take their first steps. Older children benefit from specific activities aimed at helping them to learn to ride bicycles.Relationships between staff and children are warm and supportive.

Staff know about children's needs and preferences. They tailor routines, such as nap times and outings, to meet the needs of individual children. This helps children to feel at ease in nursery.

Staff provide a wide range of activities, resources and discussions to help children to learn about what makes them unique. Children confidently talk about the similarities and differences between themselves and their friends. Staff teach children about the needs of people in their community.

For example, children contribute to a food bank and begin to understand the importance of helping others.Parents value the frequent opportunities they have to talk to staff about their children. Their feedback is consistently positive and they say that staff 'do an amazing job and deserve a lot of credit'.

Managers take account of their feedback and suggestions to support improvements in nursery. For example, they have improved how they share information about key-person arrangements with parents.Senior managers monitor staff's practice.

They provide supervision sessions and coaching that generally help staff to develop their skills and knowledge. However, managers do not always pick up on small aspects of teaching that do not fully support children's learning. For example, they have not yet identified and addressed weaknesses in how staff teach early literacy skills to pre-school children.

Children learn about how to keep themselves and others safe. They help staff to carry out risk assessments each morning, checking the garden for hazards before they play. Staff help them to understand allergies and dietary requirements.

Children fully understand the reasons why some children cannot eat certain foods and help to monitor this during mealtimes.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are trained well in safeguarding from their initial appointment.

Further and frequent professional development helps to ensure that their knowledge remains secure and up to date. Managers and staff have a very good understanding of how to identify children who may be at risk from harm or abuse. There are clear procedures in place to respond swiftly and appropriately to any concerns about a child's welfare.

Staff record accidents and incidents appropriately. Managers review this information to highlight any issues that may require attention to ensure children's ongoing safety and well-being.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the implementation of the curriculum to ensure that activities provided for older children are consistently suitable for their age and level of comprehension nextend monitoring, so that minor inconsistencies in practice are swiftly picked up on and addressed, to raise the overall quality of education.