Ashdown Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happily at the setting and quickly settle within their age-group room or in the dining room having breakfast. Children separate with ease from their parents, and staff are on hand to offer effective support. This enables children to be confident in their base rooms and be ready for their activities of the day. There is an effective rhythm to children's days at nursery, enabling them to feel safe and secure. Staff use repetition as a tool to aid in this process, to further enhance children's learning. Babies sleep and rest according to their own routines, and they receive support from their key person to doze off quickly. Staff readily support older babies to undertake tasks to increase their independence and understanding of following instructions. For example, they help to put away younger babies' slippers.

Children relish being in the woodland areas, on walks in the countryside and playing in the garden. Toddlers take great delight in their task for finding sticks in the woodland for their project. Staff are consistent in their reminders to children for safety. This helps children to understand about their own safety and that of others. Children learn through effective teaching to be independent and to work together. When toddlers return from their walk, they help each other to remove their boots and waterproofs, celebrating their successes. Children are resilient. If they accidentally fall, they assess their situation and pick themselves up, with staff on hand to support. Older children demonstrate good imaginations and enjoy playing together. For example, they pretend to be at school and decide on who will have the role of teacher. Children develop good friendships, which supports them as they make the move on to school. The provider has a secure grasp of the planning of learning for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. She understands the importance of young children developing at their own rates and that they all have unique ways of learning.

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

• Key persons know their children, developmental stages and what is next in their sequence of learning. Staff work as a team in the differing age-group rooms to share information about what children need to learn next. They then weave this into their planning of activities and experiences and use during their interactions with children. This supports children to make good developmental progress.
• Children thoroughly enjoy story times, sitting cuddling with staff and other children. They help to turn the pages of their favourite stories, and staff provide children with new words. This helps to give children a good start in life for the enjoyment of books and literacy.
• Sometimes, when there is a changeover in the activities of the day and there are a lot of different things happening, babies occasionally become slightly unsettled. Staff do not review these times, which does not always make sure that they explore the impact on children and make minor improvements.
• Staff set out the environment effectively to enable them to explore freely. The equipment is all at a low level, enabling children to develop new skills, such as pulling themselves to standing. This successfully supports children to develop good core and large muscle development.
• Staff manage children's behaviour effectively. They are calm in their approach, and children develop a good understanding of managing their own behaviour. There is a strong focus on supporting older children to learn to be kind to each other. These are effective skills they need for their future.
• Children learning more than one language receive good levels of support, and staff use words in their home language to aid this. However, staff do not always explore further ways in which to fully embrace children's cultural backgrounds and heritages. This does not fully enhance children's awareness of similarities and differences and expand their understanding of the world.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents report that they love the ability for children to spend plenty of time in the outdoor area and surrounding countryside. They comment that staff adhere to children's care and learning needs and about how quickly their children settled at the setting in the care of the staff.
• Staff report that there is clear and effective support for their well-being, including a dedicated staff member for them to talk to when needed. Staff comment that leaders are fully supportive in reducing their working days and hours to enhance their well-being. There are effective development opportunities for staff. For example, staff receive support to gain recognised childcare qualifications and short courses to further improve their knowledge.
• There is a clear and robust recruitment process in place. The provider has recently been employing new staff to help ensure that staffing arrangements meet requirements. New staff receive a full induction and training, and this enables them to act appropriately in the case of a child protection concern.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• revise times of the day when there is a changeover of activities, specifically to further improve the experience for the youngest children
• explore more ways to further embrace children's home cultures and heritages to strengthen their sense of belonging.