My Ohana Nursery Gloucester

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are settled and clearly enjoy the time they spend at nursery.

They are eager to learn and enthusiastically make choices about their play. Children have daily opportunities for sensory play activities. Babies thoroughly enjoy splashing in water and swirl their hands around to make bubbles.

Older children are beginning to recognise numbers, and delight in searching for these beneath the 'moon sand'. Children behave well. Staff implement consistent rules and boundaries and empower children to develop an awareness of their own feelings.

For instance, older children recently helped staff to create a 'calm ...area' where they choose to have some quiet time away from others. Children are developing a love of songs and stories. They enjoy selecting books from the nursery library to read at home with their parents.

Children sing familiar rhymes and enthusiastically join in with action songs. Older children confidently retell their favourite stories using a range of props, such as story cards and soft toys. Staff provide a range of writing materials to encourage early mark making and literacy skills.

Children are beginning to connect some letters to sounds, and confidently attempt to write their name. Children have daily opportunities for fresh air and exercise. They skilfully negotiate pathways when using ride-on toys and have opportunities to climb and balance in the well-resourced outdoor area.

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

Staff provide children with a range of learning experiences in the local community to deepen their understanding of the world. For example, children benefit from weekly activities in woodlands to develop an appreciation of nature and learn to manage risks safely. The manager invites external professionals, such as music and movement instructors, to lead sessions on a weekly basis.

These sessions support children's concentration and extend their social skills. Children learn to listen to their friends and take turns while engaging in active, enjoyable and stimulating sensory experiences. This supports children to manage their emotions and behaviour effectively as they play in larger groups.

The management team strives for excellence and is committed to making ongoing improvements. Managers regularly monitor staff's practice and set achievable targets for them to work towards. Staff feel supported in their professional development.

They access a range of training opportunities to help them further develop their already good knowledge and skills.Staff gather a range of information from parents about children's interests and capabilities when they first begin to attend. They use this to ensure that the environment meets children's individual needs and that children feel safe and secure.

Staff promote an inclusive environment, where all children's individual experiences and cultures are valued. However, they do not always seek enough information from parents whose children speak English as an additional language, and use this to further develop children's communication and language skills at nursery.Children display high levels of independence.

They enjoy the responsibility of carrying out small tasks. For instance, a 'special helper' undertakes daily duties. They count the children at circle time, lead the line and help staff to lay out name cards on the table for lunchtime.

Staff praise children for their help. This encourages children's growing confidence and self-esteem.Staff sensitively join in with children's play and engage in meaningful conversations.

They interact with children well and skilfully introduce ideas to support their thinking and extend their learning further. However, staff do not always explain to children why they have been asked to follow instructions or routines. For instance, staff remind children of their expectations but do not always explain the importance of following them.

Managers make good use of additional funding to meet children's individual needs. They buy resources linked to children's interests. Any gaps in children's development are quickly identified and supported.

Parents have opportunities to view observations and photographs of their children through an online system. Parents speak highly of the nursery and comment on the staff's friendly and approachable nature. Families are involved in nursery experiences and look forward to different events throughout the year.

For example, parents comment on the lovely graduation ceremony that children attended when leaving nursery to go to school

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The arrangements for the recruitment and vetting of staff are robust. Staff attend meetings with leaders and complete regular training to keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date.

This ensures that they understand their roles and responsibilities in keeping children safe. Staff know the signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm and what to do should they have a concern. They demonstrate an awareness of how to respond to wider safeguarding issues, such as radicalisation and exploitation.

Staff are deployed effectively in the different areas of the setting. Children are supervised well.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: seek even more information from parents whose children speak English as an additional language, to further develop children's communication and language skills at nursery provide children with even clearer explanations to develop their awareness of why we do things and fully support their understanding to the highest level.