Bridgewater Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children benefit from the calm, inclusive and welcoming environment that staff provide. Children form strong bonds with staff and show that they feel safe and secure. Staff take time to get to know each child and tailor settling-in sessions to meet their individual needs. The key-person role is effective and there is a supportive settling-in process, including home visits from nursery staff. Children quickly build confidence to attend the nursery. They engage with staff and are keen to explore, showing increasing levels of attention. These strong relationships help children to build their confidence and self-esteem.

Leaders have developed a comprehensive and well-balanced curriculum that emphasises the importance of supporting children's communication and language development. Staff are strong role models for children's communication and language. They use a range of communication methods, including simple sign language, to support all children in expressing their wishes and feelings. This focus ensures that all children can access all seven areas of learning, enabling them to make good progress from their starting points.

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

• The provider notified Ofsted regarding a recent incident that happened at the nursery. Leaders took swift action to ensure this does not happen again. For example, they have revisited their risk assessments and introduced further safety measures, such as additional headcounts of children while in the outdoor area. Furthermore, all staff have completed additional safeguarding training and attended a meeting to ensure policies and risk assessments inform staff practice.
• Overall, staff's interactions are of high quality. Staff promote critical thinking and problem-solving by encouraging children to predict how much water to add during an activity and reflect on the outcomes. Occasionally, staff do not always provide clear explanations when teaching new information to help deepen children's understanding. This means, at times, children's learning is not fully supported to build on what they already know and can do.
• In the main, staff support children to develop their independence and healthy lifestyle habits. Older children know to wash their hands after using the toilet and do this independently. However, on occasion, some staff do not consistently carry out good handwashing practices or consistently take steps to stop any potential spread of infection. For example, while staff are vigilant in wiping children's runny noses, they occasionally forget to wash their own hands after doing this. Consequently, at times, children are not fully supported in developing a positive attitude to maintaining their good health.
• Staff have high but appropriate expectations of children's behaviour. They apply a consistent approach as they support children to learn right from wrong. Staff support them to resolve any minor conflicts swiftly. This helps children to learn about their own and others' growing emotions. Staff are positive role models, which contributes to children's kindness towards one another. Consequently, children behave well.
• Dedicated staff provide highly effective support to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff develop strong channels of communication with professionals, such as speech and language therapists and medical workers. They do this to ensure that plans for children's learning and care are implemented collaboratively. Leaders strive to provide all children with access to their full entitlement to education.
• The setting has strong communication with parents, helping to support each child's learning and development. Staff share daily updates through face-to-face communication, including information about routines, activities and progress. Parents are regularly invited to a review meeting to discuss their child's development and agree on next steps. This regular contact keeps parents informed and involved in their child's early education.
• Staff report that their well-being is good, and they feel supported in their work. They receive regular supervision that focuses on their development. The leadership team conducts regular observations, shares good practice and provides constructive feedback to enable staff to constantly review and improve their work. Professional development is a key aspect of the supervision and helps to ensure staff are as knowledgeable as possible.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in providing clear explanations to help children deepen their understanding of new knowledge even further
• encourage staff to consistently model effective hygiene practices to teach children about hygiene and self-care.