Alexander House Nursery Wimbledon

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a calm and nurturing environment for children to play and learn. Most of the time children of mixed ages socialise together in a spacious, newly refurbished large play area. As a result, children of all ages are confident and independent learners. They keenly explore the environment and independently access a range of experiences and toys. Children begin to develop good social skills, and they behave very well together. Very young children learn new skills from older children, and they are tremendously confident. This means overall, children make good progress from when they first start.

During daily outings to local parks, staff are vigilant and always supervise children to help maintain their safety and well-being. Staff support children's awareness of how to keep themselves safe. For example, staff make sure that children are holding hands when they cross the road. Children develop a positive sense of self within their local community. They excitedly run and jump in a large open space to help promote their good health. Children have lots of fresh air and physical exercise. Indoors, young children excitedly crawl through pop-up tunnels and older children skilfully negotiate obstacles as they ride wheeled toys. Staff support children's physical development and skills well.

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

• Leaders continue to embed their high vision for providing quality, inclusive care and education to all children. They acknowledge the importance of reflecting on practice and successfully identify further improvements, for example continuing to focus more precisely on planning an education programme to build further on what children know and can do and what they need to learn next.
• Leaders understand the importance of continuous professional development to help improve staff's knowledge and teaching of the curriculum to an even higher level. They recognise that additional support and training for staff is required. This will further improve staff's knowledge to help design a curriculum that consistently meets children's individual learning needs.
• Staff say that they appreciate regular online training opportunities and staff training days on, for example, how to promote positive behaviour and support some children who may have gaps in their learning and development.
• Staff do not always adapt their interactions and already good teaching skills to consistently meet the needs of the different ages of children. For example, during circle time, some children become bored and distracted, particularly the youngest children.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills. They provide many opportunities for children to sing songs and develop a love of books and early reading skills. For example, children excitedly join in as they sing 'The Wheels on the Bus'. Older children enjoy trips to the local theatre to listen to well-known stories. They eagerly recall favourite parts of a story, such as 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'.
• Children enjoy a range of healthy meals and snacks to help develop their understanding of eating healthily and healthy choices. During a teddy bears' picnic, children thoroughly enjoy sliced cucumber and peppers, wraps and hummus, and fresh fruit for a snack.
• Overall, parents say that they are happy with the care and progress children make over time. They appreciate daily conversations with key staff and regular updates online about the progress their children make and what they need to learn next. This helps to promote a consistent approach and effective partnership with parents. Parents confirm that they share in-depth information with key staff when children start. For example, staff find out key words children speak and/or hear at home. However, this is not always consistent.
• Staff promote children's uniqueness and sense of belonging generally well. For example, children recognise labelled boxes where they store their personal belongings and see displays of their family members' pictures. However, even though key staff know the languages children speak and hear at home, this is not fully supported within the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide staff with support and training to raise the quality of teaching and learning to an even higher level
• continue to improve the implementation of the curriculum to ensure the individual learning needs of all children are consistently met
• promote children's uniqueness so that they see and hear the languages they speak at home.