Bridges Nursery and Out Of School Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time in this welcoming and inclusive environment. Staff greet children with warm interactions and smiles. This helps children to settle quickly, and they show a real eagerness to start their day. Children's behaviour is good. They share, take turns and use their manners with gentle reminders from staff. Staff act as excellent role models. They listen intently to what children have to say and treat them with respect. Children receive an abundance of encouragement and praise, which helps to boost their self-esteem and confidence in their abilities.

Babies are content and enjoy lots of cuddles from the kind and caring staff. Toddlers relish the challenge of finding toy creatures underneath the bubbly water. They excitedly call out, 'I've found one.' Pre-school children use a variety of resources which help to develop their small-muscle skills and coordination. For example, they have fun while they manipulate dough and concentrate when they use scissors during small craft activities. They identify colours and know what colours they can create if they mix them. Although parents no longer come inside the nursery, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, staff make sure that they keep them informed. They spend time each day sharing updates and news.

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

• The management team provides strong leadership to the well-established and knowledgeable staff team. They all show a real commitment to providing children with the very best opportunities. The manager and staff use their knowledge to plan a selection of exciting and engaging activities across the curriculum. Staff make accurate assessments of children's achievements. Consequently, they know children well and understand their developmental needs and interests.
• The manager identifies staff's training needs and professional development opportunities and uses their skills and expertise well across the setting. Staff's well-being is given the highest regard. This results in the team working extremely well together.
• Staff's support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is a real strength of the setting. The special educational needs coordinators have a wealth of knowledge and expertise, which they use to determine very quickly if there are any gaps in children's learning. They are proactive with the support they offer to parents and gain any additional support from other agencies without delay. This means that children benefit very quickly from targeted support.
• The manager has made good use of funding to improve the provision for children who need it. For example, weekly trips to the library provide children with opportunities to develop an awareness of their community and promote a love of books. Equally, weekly visits from a football coach help to enhance children's confidence, self-esteem and physical skills.
• Staff promote children's independence well. They encourage children to make choices in their play and they support them to manage personal care needs effectively. This results in children being confident to manage toileting, toothbrushing and handwashing routines. However, on occasions, the daily routines, particularly around lunchtime, do not fully support children to be prepared to finish what they are doing before having to tidy away.
• Children enjoy their time outdoors. There is a buzz of activity and lots of lively chatter as children invite their friends to play. They work out their rules together during play. Children develop their smaller physical skills as they use various containers to scoop the water and sand into buckets. They develop their larger muscles as they run up and down in the space and slide down the climbing frame.
• All children benefit from meals that are healthy and well balanced. Staff ensure that mealtimes are very sociable, and children have ample opportunity to converse with their friends. However, for babies in high chairs, staff do not always sit at their level while feeding them, so their experience is not of the same high quality as for older children.
• The manager and staff focus intently on developing children's speech and literacy skills. They frequently use enjoyable songs, rhymes and stories to engage children. Children learn from their clear speech and the repetition of sounds. Staff read stories with enthusiasm, and children snuggle up to them and listen carefully. Staff engage children in meaningful conversations and introduce new words. This helps to support children's communication and language skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review mealtime arrangements for babies who use high chairs so that staff are able to sit at their level and give babies their full attention when talking to them
• focus more precisely on preparing children for changes in the daily routine to enable them to complete their chosen tasks before having to tidy away.