Little Acorns Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff in the nursery work hard to provide a safe and home-from-home environment for children to learn and develop in. Overall, they focus on helping children to extend their knowledge and broaden their experiences. Children develop high levels of self-confidence and enjoy their learning.

For example, older children are keen to join in activities and wait eagerly to join in small-group sessions to extend their literacy skills. They use the knowledge gained from trips to the local shops to play imaginatively in role of the shopkeeper and talk about the cost of things on their lists. Children benefit from being part of their local... community and staff regularly teach them about the wider world.

Older children are kind to each other and their behaviour is positive. For instance, they share props for the story and move over to allow others to join in.Staff have high expectations for all children and quickly identify potential gaps in their learning.

They work closely in partnership with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to help develop young children's communication. Since the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, staff have worked hard to consider ways to help children feel safe and secure. This has had a positive impact on children's emotional well-being, and parents comment on how well staff have supported them through tough times.

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

Children show that they feel happy, safe and stimulated in the nursery. They show excitement when they attend on a morning, and benefit from regular and consistent routines. For instance, children wash their hands, put their shoes away and pop their slippers on to start their day.

Staff welcome children as they enter the nursery and use circle time to help children learn each other's names. Children develop good personal, social and emotional skills and have secure bonds with staff.Children are well prepared for the next stages in their learning and their move on to school.

They show increasing concentration during experiences and are keen to keep trying to develop their skills. Staff plan a varied and balanced curriculum for children to make good progress, particularly indoors. For example, they sensitively model number names and counting to children as they engage imaginatively in the home area.

Children listen intently to their favourite stories and join in with key phrases, showing a love of books from an early age. Other children show pride as they make snips in their paper and copy staff's actions to use scissors effectively. However, staff are still working on how to promote children's learning effectively in the new garden area.

Staff help children to understand what it means to be healthy. They use songs to encourage children to brush their teeth and teach children about the importance of washing their hands. Children know that they need to use the soap thoroughly.

They talk about getting energy and building muscles as they enjoy healthy lunches. Staff encourage children to be independent. For example, they provide time for children to find their own coats and put on their own shoes before they go outdoors.

This helps children to take an active part in their own self-care.Staff are well supported by the manager and the provider. They are good role models for children and show enjoyment in their work.

The manager regularly provides staff with supervision sessions and appraisals to reflect on their practice and well-being. This helps staff to make continual improvements which benefit children and ensure that staff are happy at work. For example, staff have completed training to help them boost children's language skills and have enhanced the rooms upstairs to provide spaces for small-group sessions to help prepare children for school.

The manager completes well-being questionnaires with the team to make sure that the level of support she provides is effective.Leaders and managers maintain a range of partnerships with other professionals in the community. For instance, they work closely alongside the early years team in the local authority and complete regular audits to help them to promote inclusion.

The nursery is linked to the setting next door which provides care for babies and young children. However, staff do not always make the best use of the information they gather. For example, they wait to find out about children's likes and interests after they have already moved up.

In addition, some information about new pre-school children's development is not known to staff so they are unable to build on children's prior learning from the start.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe and manage appropriate risk in their environment.

For example, children show an understanding of road safety as they walk to their garden. They quickly find a partner to hold hands with and know they cannot go in to play until staff have checked that the area is safe. Leaders and managers ensure that staff are provided with training to refresh their knowledge of child protection and wider safeguarding issues, such as county lines.

Staff are vigilant and prioritise children's safety and well-being. They confidently describe procedures to follow if they have concerns about children's welfare and know how to identify, record and report potential abuse.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: consider ways to promote children's learning even further, specifically when using the garden area, to help those children who prefer to learn outdoors nuse the information gathered about new children more effectively, to get to know them quickly and build on their prior learning from the start.

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