Littlebrook Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children, including those new to the nursery, settle well.

Babies build warm and trusting relationships with staff. They benefit from staff who engage sensitively with them. For example, staff offer lots of cuddles to babies that are settling into nursery routines.

This supports babies' emotional and social well-being. Younger children play well together, passing objects and sharing resources, while exploring water play together. Older children confidently share their thoughts and ideas with staff.

They told them about family outings to the beach, and this resulted in staff making changes to the curriculum to ...follow children's current experiences. Children excitedly explore the types of sea life creatures that can be found in the sea and along the shoreline. Older children are ready for their move to school.

They are independent in managing their own personal needs. They talk confidently and use a good range of vocabulary in their everyday speech. Children are aware of the school they will be attending, and staff talk to them about what to expect.

This helps to prepare children, socially and emotionally, for change. Children's behaviour is good. Staff have high expectations of how children should behave.

Children build positive and respectful relationships and enjoy sharing their experiences with others. They demonstrate good listening skills and follow nursery routines with minimal disruption. This creates a very calm, purposeful, and homely nursery environment.

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

The provider and newly appointed manager know what they want children to learn. They monitor staff practice to ensure the curriculum intent is implemented well. The manager is extremely motivated, and this helps inspire her staff team.

Staff work well together to provide activities and experiences that motivate children to learn.The manager engages with staff to ensure that she is aware of any pressures on their well-being from their workload. Management have arranged opportunities for a doctor to attend the nursery to talk to staff about mental health and well-being.

Staff receive regular supervision and appraisals to support their ongoing professional development. They feel management implement a culture of mutual respect.There is an effective key-person system, which helps establish good relationships with children and their families.

Staff seek out as much information as possible from parents when children first arrive to help ease transitions from home to nursery. They ensure they have children's favourite toys ready and available, which captures their interests and helps to settle them.Staff who support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have a clear understanding of their role.

They use their knowledge to great effect to ensure that each child has the appropriate support, so that gaps in learning close as quickly as possible. Staff successfully use additional funding children receive to enhance the outcomes for individual children.Staff successfully support children's communication and language skills.

They ask older children thought provoking questions, such as how the whiskers of a cat might feel if brushed against their skin. Children enthusiastically share that the whiskers might tickle and make them giggle. Staff provide a narrative during younger children's play to describe what they are doing.

Staff teach children new words, which include the splashing of water and spilling of sand as they explore a beach activity. Staff talk about trees, birds, and flowers as they take babies for walks within the nursery grounds.Partnerships with parents are good.

Parents enjoy being able to access the online learning programme to view their children's progress. They say they can see a noticeable change in their children's language and social skills. Parents share that although they do not enter the nursery, due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, they can discuss their children's progress with staff.

This helps them to support their children's learning at home.Staff help children develop good attitudes to learning. For example, staff talk to children about sizes to help them consider if a brick is too big to fit into a small gap.

However, at times staff do not always give children the opportunity to make choices when participating in planned adult-led activities to support their independence even further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a secure knowledge and understanding of child protection and wider safeguarding issues.

They complete research and undertake regular training on the possible signs and symptoms that might indicate a child is at risk. This helps to ensure their knowledge remains current and up to date in safeguarding children. The nursery has a robust recruitment and induction process and ongoing suitability checks help ensure that all staff remain suitable in their role.

Staff are vigilant about the security of the nursery and are deployed effectively to keep children safe. Staff implement thorough hygiene procedures, including additional measures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to help lower the spread of infection.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: focus more precisely on allowing children to make choices and do things independently at adult-led activities.