Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Hodge Hill

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff place a strong focus on using children's play interests and set up the learning environment to support this. This ensures that the available resources capture children's interests and motivate them to play and explore. For example, staff have noticed that many of the new children are very interested in playing with cars. Staff place cars in the sand and painting to encourage children to access the various learning opportunities provided there.

Leaders and staff support children's communication skills well. Many of the staff are bilingual and communicate with children in their home language as well as English. This helps to support children's sense of belonging and helps them to form a bond with the staff. All children progress well from their starting points.

Leaders and staff offer children and their families a warm welcome when they arrive at the nursery. Leaders have reintroduced the opportunities for parents to walk their children to the rooms. Staff greet parents and they exchange information about the children so staff can meet their care needs well and understand how each child is feeling. This all contributes to children feeling happy, safe and secure. Children show they feel relaxed in the care of staff. Staff use distraction techniques, such as blowing bubbles with new children to support their emotional needs. New children quickly settle and become more content.

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

• Leaders monitor the quality of teaching and the impact this has for children's learning. They use this information to inform the setting's self-evaluation and to provide staff with ongoing professional development. They have a clear vision for enhancing the provision for children. However, the monitoring of staffs' planning is not as effective as possible to ensure that all staff are planning fully for children's next steps in learning.
• Leaders have an evolving curriculum that is regularly reviewed and enhanced. Overall, the curriculum is well sequenced and progressive to ensure that children's development is supported over time. However, the physical development curriculum, specifically for children's large muscle movement does not precisely identify the learning focus for children from toddlers to pre-school to fully challenge them.
• Leaders and staff have recently been focusing on their planning for the learning environment so this continuously engages children. They observe how children are playing with the resources and monitor their interest level. Staff make regular changes to the available resources throughout the day so children always have something exciting and new to explore. This also includes frequently changing the layout of the rooms to further promote children's interest. Children develop positive attitudes to learning. Pre-school children enjoy experimenting with ingredients to make play dough. Staff consistently support children to make decisions about what they want to play with.
• The provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is strong. Leaders and staff closely monitor children's progress and work with parents and outside agencies to develop individual learning programmes as needed. Leaders make effective use of funding to support children's development needs. Recently, they have created a sensory room to support children with managing their feelings. Leaders adapt arrangements for children to ensure their individual needs are met, such as providing smaller adult to child ratios when children need additional support.
• Leaders and staff have effective arrangements to support children to manage their behaviour. Staff are positive role models for children to learn from. They provide clear expectations for children from the onset. For example, staff establish ground rules for mealtimes which also includes reinforcing good manners. Children behave well. They learn to share and take turns. Pre-school children are very sociable and harmoniously interact with their friends.
• Staff implement effective hygiene routines at nappy changing and mealtimes to support children's health. Staff plan activities to help babies and toddlers understand about hygiene routines including hand washing and brushing their teeth. They increase the opportunities for children to develop their independence as they progress through the nursery.
• Partnership working is effective. This includes working closely with parents and collaborating with the local primary school. Staff work closely with parents to exchange information about children's learning needs and provide them guidance to support learning at home. For example, if children need additional support with their communication development, staff provide parents with language packs to use with their children at home. Parents appreciate the opportunities to go into the rooms. They say how they nursery is welcoming.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staffs' planning to check that all children's learning targets are being addressed and implemented fully
• give further consideration to the curriculum overview for children's large muscle development to establish clear progression for their learning.