Bexley Manor Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children warmly and with enthusiasm to help them to settle quickly. There is thorough and sensitive support in place for all children, in particular those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The managers and their staff team work closely with outside services and parents to provide diligent oversight of all children's needs. They adapt activities and the curriculum so that, wherever possible, all children have access to the same experiences as their peers.

Children across the nursery benefit from the sensitive and close attention from staff. Staff are strong role models who help children to recognise and understand their emotions and regulate their feelings. This helps the children, as they move through the nursery, to manage their own feelings in readiness for school. Staff who work with babies have a thorough understanding of their learning needs. They enjoy singing and talking with babies to encourage their communication skills.

Staff help children to feel safe and secure. They visit children at home prior to them starting at the nursery. This helps staff to get to know children and their families well. This is beneficial for children as staff make plans for a bespoke settling-in process. Children's behaviour is good, and they play together well in the calm and stimulating environment.

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

• Staff have a good knowledge of children's individual needs and interests. They use their observations and respond to conversations with children to plan interesting activities that support children to meet their next steps in development. Children show a keen interest in learning. They engage in activities and explore the indoor and outdoor environment with curiosity and awe. For example, following children's recent interest in planets, they enjoy looking for and moving like aliens, helping their friends as they do this, supporting their personal, social and emotional development.
• Staff help to build on children's language. They provide a commentary on children's play and repeat back sounds that babies make for them to understand the back and forth of communication. Children speak to practitioners about their own personal experiences and ask questions to extend their knowledge. Staff introduce words during activities to enhance children's vocabulary.
• Overall, children gain good independence skills. For example, they learn to recognise their names to find their coats and gain confidence in putting on their shoes and coats. However, staff do not currently encourage children to participate in routine activities, such as setting up and serving snacks and lunch. Despite this, children confidently explore the nursery and select the activities and resources they want.
• Staff support children's development and understanding of mathematics effectively. They teach them how to count and order objects, introducing words such as 'estimate' to compare capacity as they fill teddy boxes. Toddlers are fascinated during small-world play and join staff to count the sails on the boat.
• Managers and staff place a high value on partnerships with parents to ensure that each child's individual needs are met successfully. Parents are kept well informed about their child's learning and development, and they are encouraged to share their child's achievements at home. This collaborative partnership ensures consistency in the children's care.
• Children's physical skills are supported well. They have a range of opportunities to run about in the garden and adjoining field, climb and practise kicking, catching and throwing balls. This helps to develop children's larger muscles. Children develop their smaller hand muscles during play dough and painting activities. This prepares them well for the next stage of their learning.
• The managers are enthusiastic and dedicated to their role. They use their wealth of experience to lead the staff team well. The nursery has staff who are developing their own knowledge and skills through their ongoing continual professional development to enhance their practice. Staff comment that they feel supported by the managers and that there is an open-door policy. However, the managers recognise effective coaching, supervision and monitoring of staff practice are not fully embedded. Therefore, any gaps in teaching are not always identified quickly.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when to allow children to build on their independence skills, especially during routine activities
• strengthen staff supervision and monitoring to enhance teaching further.