Banana Moon Day Nursery Croydon

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children quickly settle in this welcoming, bright, well-equipped nursery. They are met by smiling staff, with whom they soon develop close bonds. Children enjoy playing outdoors each day, in the spacious garden. They develop their physical skills when they climb, balance and ride bicycles. All children learn to be independent. For example, babies explore their environment around them. Toddlers are supported to serve their snacks and meals. Pre-school children enjoy carrying out tasks such as preparing tables for lunch. In the main, children benefit from a well-designed curriculum that supports them to develop the skills they need for the next steps in their learning.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) enjoy good levels of support. Staff work closely with other agencies to ensure these children make good progress. Children behave well and understand nursery routines well. Staff provide effective support for children who are having difficulty, explaining why certain behaviour is not appropriate and the impact it has on those around them. Children have a positive attitude to learning. Children's emotional well being is supported well, as children are given lots of reassurance and eagerly seek staff for comfort and cuddles. This helps to build on their self-esteem and confidence.

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

• The management and staff team have high expectations for all children. Children with SEND are supported well as staff work alongside other agencies involved in their care and learning. Staff use information they obtain from parents in the beginning to plan for what the children need to learn next as well as following children's interest. Staff analyse what children already know and identify what they need to learn next. As a result, all children make consistent progress from their starting points.
• Staff talk to children as they play. They introduce words that help children to build a wide vocabulary. Staff are eager to help children to learn and develop their ideas. They ask children lots of questions and give them time to think and formulate a response. For example, children eagerly describe different fruits as they explore their shapes and textures.
• Staff provide children with a variety of activities which they are eager to join in with. Overall, staff deliver good interactions with children. However, staff do not consistently communicate with each other where they are needed to best support children, particularly during changes in routines such as mealtimes and during outdoor activities in the garden. Therefore, children do not fully benefit from the learning on offer.
• Children have opportunities to develop their mathematical understanding. For example, they talk about different shapes they see in the environment, use language such as 'longer' and 'shorter' as they check how many discs fit on the pegs to match to the correct number.
• Children enjoy nutritious meals at the nursery. Staff support them to lead healthy lifestyles with plenty of fresh air and exercise. A strong focus is placed on developing children's physical skills. Staff actively support babies to take their first steps, and older children eagerly join staff to build using foam blocks and kick balls in the garden.
• Generally, parents are happy with the care and learning experiences on offer. They say their children are always happy to attend and have a good relationship with their key person. Parents are kept up to date with their children's progress. However, manager and staff do not consistently support parents when they have concerns regarding their children's care and learning.
• The management team know the setting well and can identify its strengths as well as weaknesses. They have plans in place to further improve on the experiences that are provided for children. However, the management's monitoring of staff practice is inconsistent. For instance, although the manager completes 'daily walks' of the nursery to support staff practice, the impact of these is not yet fully effective.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve communication between staff to support children's learning further
• enhance partnerships with parents to ensure children's continuity of care and learning is strengthened
• monitor staff practice and provide relevant support to ensure the quality of teaching is consistent and children continually benefit from good quality learning experiences.