Grunty’s Day Care

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are well cared for in a safe, secure and welcoming environment. All children are provided with a good range of stimulating learning activities. Babies learn new words and extend their language.

For example, when filling jars with dry pasta, staff repeat 'crunch' and 'more'. Babies also enjoy the sensory experience of exploring the pasta in water play. Staff develop the curriculum by adapting activities around children's interests.

Children thoroughly enjoy sharing stories with staff. For example, pre-school children are captivated as they explore the sounds that musical instruments make. They listen intently a...nd copy actions to a story as staff encourage their attention and good listening skills.

Children are well behaved, kind and considerate. They take turns with others during play and are well mannered. Staff are positive role models for children.

They set good examples and provide clear explanations to support children's understanding of positive behaviour. The provider and managers have made significant improvements since the last inspection. They have acted on all the actions imposed and addressed all the areas of weakness identified.

There is scope to further develop the quality of teaching to the highest level and further promote children's learning in the outdoor areas.

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

The committed management team works well with staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the nursery. Together, they have regular meetings, reflect on practice and identify areas for further improvement.

Staff say they feel well supported and enjoy working at the nursery. On the whole, leaders provide some effective coaching and supervision for staff. However, precise targets that focus on improving staff teaching skills are not consistently used to help staff to improve their practice overall.

Children demonstrate respect for themselves and for each other. They are polite and have good bonds with the nursery staff, who offer lots of praise and encouragement. They take steps to ensure that all children feel included.

This enables children to feel confident and self-assured. Children, including those who speak English as an additional language and those in receipt of funded early education, make good progress in their learning.Staff understand how young children learn.

They observe and assess children's progress accurately and identify where further support may be required. Indoors, children confidently make decisions about what they would like to play with. For example, toddlers confidently climb steps and whoosh excitedly down the slide.

Babies who are settling in enjoy one-to-one time with staff as they explore different textures during sensory play. Younger children become curious as they learn how to mix colours while exploring sensory materials. However, activities for children who prefer to explore and learn outdoors offer less challenge and motivation.

Staff support children's communication and language skills. For example, they introduce new vocabulary during an ice water activity. They talk about ice being 'cold, slippery and wet'.

Staff encourage babies and young children to repeat the names of animals during play.Parents are valued as partners and speak very positively about the provision and the flexibility of the setting to meet their changing needs. Daily diaries and verbal feedback help parents know and understand what their child has been doing in nursery.

Home learning sacks are available for parents to use. These help with ideas on supporting their child's learning at home through different topics, such as potty training.Children have good opportunities to learn about some of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

They enjoy nutritious foods which are freshly prepared on the premises. Children play with real food and pretend to feed dolls vegetables and cereals. They look at books and are able to identify exercise and movement.

Children have daily opportunities to enjoy the indoor physical play centre sessions.Staff take children on walks in the local grounds to help broaden their experiences and also take them to the park and café. Children buy drinks from the café and develop an understanding of using money.

These experiences help them to develop an understanding of the wider world.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The managers and staff have completed safeguarding training and have a good understanding of how to keep children safe. They have a good knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse and a broad understanding of wider safeguarding issues. The manager has robust recruitment and induction procedures in place.

She completes rigorous checks to ensure that only those suitable to work with children are able do so. Management has completed a thorough risk assessment of the premises and has adjusted the layout of the nursery and added daily comprehensive checks.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen the arrangements for reviewing staff practice and provide precise targets that focus meticulously on developing the individual teaching skills of staff to achieve consistent strong practice develop the outdoor space to provide more stimulating and interesting experiences in all areas of learning for children who prefer to learn outdoors.