Children 4 Most at Squirrels Wood

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children feel happy, safe and relaxed in this nursery. They develop strong, warm bonds with their key person and other staff members. Children know what is expected of them and, for the most part, demonstrate wonderful behaviour.

They listen respectfully, share resources and follow the rules. For instance, during lunchtime, children patiently wait until all their friends have received their food before beginning to eat. Staff offer children an abundance of praise, which helps children to feel confident and proud of their own good behaviour.

Children are delighted to partake in exciting outdoor activities, such as a 'be...ar hunt'. Staff use such activities to promote children's physical development, literacy skills and understanding of the world. Children recall vocabulary from well-known stories and use this to describe the sounds they hear.

For example, they talk about their boots 'squelching in the mud' and describe the wind as 'swishing and swashing'. Children squeal with delight and run away as they find a 'bear' hiding outdoors. Staff skilfully support children as they recreate this story, which helps support children to build a love for reading.

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

Staff provide children with many opportunities to build their independence and self-care skills. Pre-school children wash their hands before eating and after using the bathroom. Two-year-olds help to put on their own aprons during messy activities.

However, not all staff consistently follow expected hygiene procedures set by the management team. As a result, children are not always learning the links between good hygiene practices and their good health. The majority of children enjoy the nutritious, well-balanced meals provided by the nursery.

However, when children refuse to try new foods or engage with lunchtime, staff are unsure of how to proceed. This means a small minority of children are not building healthy attitudes towards certain foods while at this nursery.The management team and staff are committed to supporting children's well-being.

Staff attend training to learn to support children's mental health and cascade this knowledge to all of their colleagues. As a result, children access 'frustration baskets', yoga sessions and calming sensory experiences. Staff use these activities to help children to successfully recognise and respond to their own feelings.

This helps to support children's personal and emotional development.The management team monitors staff performance through supervisions and appraisals. It works with staff to identify strengths and areas for development.

Targeted training and continuous professional development are then accessed by all staff. This helps to continuously raise the quality of provision offered. Staff well-being is well supported.

The management team shows appreciation for its staff through 'awards ceremonies', where individual achievements are celebrated. Staff feel valued as a result.Parents commend this 'brilliant' nursery.

They appreciate that staff keep them well informed of their children's ongoing development and learning goals. They comment that the staff and management team 'cater to every child's needs'.Overall, staff support children's communication and language development well.

Staff narrate their own actions and use repetition to help support younger children's growing vocabulary. Pre-school children learn Spanish words and use descriptive words from their favourite books in play. However, some staff ask children questions which require one-word answers or do not allow children enough processing time in between questions.

This does not support children's critical thinking skills.The quality of education is good. Children of all ages explore different foods, developing their understanding of natural things.

For instance, they are intrigued to feel the differences between 'smooth' melon rind and 'spiky' pineapple rind. Pre-school children develop their mathematical skills as they count different objects and solve simple problems. Younger children practise their drawing skills and explore traditional fairy tales such as 'Jack and the Beanstalk'.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff recognise the signs and symptoms which may indicate a child is being abused.

They know their safeguarding responsibilities. For instance, staff confidently describe the steps they would take should they have concerns for the welfare of a child. Furthermore, staff understand the procedures to follow should they feel managers have failed to uphold their safeguarding duties or if they have an allegation against another member of staff.

The manager, who is the designated safeguarding lead, has robust child protection knowledge. She keeps abreast of wider safeguarding issues, such as drugs trafficking and honour-based violence, all of which 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 the consistency of hygiene practices to help support children's understanding of the links between good hygiene and good health consider ways in which to support children to make healthy choices around food to help promote their good health strengthen the use of effective questioning techniques to help promote children's critical thinking and problem-solving skills.