Bilingual Day Nursery & Pre-school Ravenstone Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive at this caring and welcoming nursery. Managers and staff have designed an extremely well-planned and carefully structured curriculum which thoroughly supports all children to gain the most from their learning experiences. Children make rapid progress as staff continually build on what they know and can do, ensuring all children remain highly motivated and eager to learn and master new skills. Home visits and regular meetings with parents help staff to have a deep understanding of each child's developmental needs. Staff use their extensive knowledge to plan meaningful next steps, ensuring all children achieve the best outcomes. Children are well prepared for every stage of their learning and transition into school.

Children demonstrate they are exceptionally confident communicators in both English and Spanish. They delight in engaging with staff and confidently use a wide range of methods to express themselves appropriate to their age and stage of development. Older children delight in singing Spanish rhymes. They show their understanding by following actions and repeating key words. The ease with which children alternate between both languages demonstrates the sheer skill and passion of the staff, who create an environment where children excel in their language development.

Children's emotional needs are extremely well met. Staff are highly responsive when interacting with children. When babies become tired, they offer warmth and comfort and quickly soothe children to sleep. Food and drink are provided around individual routines. Children feel secure as staff recognise and meet their needs consistently. Children are extremely well behaved and foster positive relationships with one another and staff.

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

• Leaders and managers are passionate about their work and strive to ensure every child reaches their full potential. Robust supervision and appraisal systems ensure that individual skills and areas of expertise are valued and fully utilised. This helps to disseminate good practice within the staff team. Ongoing staff training and development are given high priority. Training initiatives focus specifically on the care and developmental needs of children to ensure the best outcomes. For example, highly effective programmes have been implemented to support children's oral health and physical development.
• Staff place a strong emphasis on outdoor learning. Children exude enthusiasm as they get ready for a trip to forest school. They show a deep awareness of the need for safety, putting on reflective jackets and being mindful of potential hazards on their journey. Staff expectations for behaviour are fully embedded, and children confidently recall the rules. Children express themselves creatively, taking great delight in mixing potions using petals and water. They go on scavenger hunts to collect foliage to decorate paper crowns. Staff support children as they confidently handle tools and cut and join different materials. They show kindness to others as they make crowns for their friends and staff. The exceptional interactions from staff help all children fully appreciate the awe and wonder of the natural world.
• Children's communication and language development is given high priority. For example, babies quickly learn to use facial expressions and gestures to communicate their needs when playing. Staff are extremely observant and follow these nonverbal signs to ensure experiences for the youngest children are stimulating and purposeful.
• Staff foster children's love of reading from an early age. They carefully select engaging books which are easily accessible to children, indoors and outside. Staff create inviting spaces that draw children in to settle down with a book. Babies learn to turn the pages and delight in exploring different textures with their fingers. Older children consider the text and reflect on what they have learned in the story, for example understanding and respecting differences between one another.
• Staff are excellent role models. They seize every opportunity to help children develop high levels of independence. Babies go off to collect their boots when it is time to go outside, and learn how to pull them on. Older children attend to their own care needs, getting a tissue when they need to blow their nose and washing their hands when they get dirty outside. Children develop positive self-esteem as staff acknowledge and praise their achievements.
• The partnership with parents and other professionals is exceptionally strong. Parents comment that they feel fully included in children's learning due to incredibly strong relationships with key persons and the wealth of information they receive. They express amazement at how quickly children absorb a new language and comment that some of the first words spoken were in Spanish. Parents are fully supported to extend this learning at home as staff provide workshops, activity ideas and online support.