Bright Horizons Chiswick Park Day Nursery and Preschool

Inclusion: Expected standard

Staff know the children well and identify their needs, using this to provide support as an early intervention tool. Regular conversations with parents, alongside observations of children, help staff to accurately identify children's development and what they need to learn next. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make steady progress from their starting points. Staff use strategies such as small-group activities and focused time to support children who need help with areas such as social interaction and communication development. This helps children to build confidence and provides them with opportunities to try new learning experiences. Individual needs are carefully considered, with adaptations made to the environment. For example, furniture is moved for early walking babies who are curious and adventurous. Some staff have received specialist training to identify gaps in learning, and staff regularly share updates so that planning reflects children's needs. Leaders engage with external agencies, including the local authority, to ensure that every child is supported to reach their full potential.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

The curriculum has been designed so that all children have a full range of learning experiences in all areas of learning. Teaching is carefully sequenced to build on what children already know and can do, ensuring their understanding is secure before new learning is introduced. Staff support children in enjoying their learning by building positive relationships between themselves, the children and parents. Leaders are ambitious for every child to reach their full potential, and all children have clear next steps for their learning. Teaching is generally consistent, although leaders recognise that staffing issues in the toddler room have resulted in some daily variation in key staff. Leaders have a clear action plan to address this, and any impact on learning is limited as children's interests and next steps are clearly identified in each room.

Children are supported in developing secure communication and language skills. Staff talk to children, extend language and sing songs. Children listen with intent as staff read 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt'. Children recall familiar parts of the story and add their own interpretations. This helps children to build their vocabulary and confidence and supports their imagination. Staff support children in building their mathematical knowledge through numbers, shapes and comparisons of sizes. Children have lots of opportunities to build their large physical skills. They use bikes, trikes and scooters to manoeuvre around the newly created circuit. They use balance boards to hop and use large arm movements to create marks with paint brushes. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make steady progress from their starting points.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make steady progress from their starting points. Children are well prepared for school. They learn independence skills to provide them with confidence when moving to their next stage of learning. For example, children learn how to put their coats and shoes on independently. For children who are at the early stages of mastering these skills, more confident children step in to help their friends, without prompting, in using zips and buttons on their coats. Children relish the opportunity of sharing their skills and being kind to their friends. Staff are adept at supporting children in building their confidence and developing friendships so that children develop positive social skills and a clear understanding of expectations.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children behave very well in the nursery. Staff have high expectations of every child. Routines begin in the baby room, where children learn the structure of the day, understand what comes next and know what is expected of them. For example, before mealtimes, children know to wash their hands. This supports children learning how to keep their bodies healthy. Staff are positive role models, teaching children the importance of kindness and respecting their friends. For example, children wait their turn to use the bikes in the garden. Behaviour is managed swiftly and effectively, enabling children to understand the consequences of their actions. This is achieved through talking with children and them gaining an understanding of their emotions and how to regulate themselves. Staff explicitly praise children when they observe them regulating their emotions independently.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Leaders ensure that there are appropriate procedures in place to consider children's welfare and wellbeing. Staff develop close bonds with children to help them feel safe and secure and ready to learn. However, there are some inconsistencies in the implementation of some practice. There have been occasional lapses in the sleep routines, which have not considered safety thoroughly. However, staff were able to put things right, which meant that the impact on children was minimal. Staff ensure that children build a good understanding of what keeps their bodies healthy through regular exercise and good hygiene practice. Leaders are in the early stages of implementing oral health practice within the nursery after lunchtimes. This will help to build children's knowledge in how to keep their teeth healthy. Leaders ensure that children are provided with healthy, freshly prepared meals that consider all dietary needs. Children learn about appropriate portion sizes. However, occasionally, routines and mealtimes are not fully considered and children can wait for long periods of time for their food. This impacts on children's emotions and leads to children becoming restless.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders have a strong knowledge of the nursery's context and a clear plan for continual improvement to drive standards higher. For example, they have strengthened parent partnerships and communication since their appointment. Regular parent feedback and nursery social events have helped leaders gain a clearer understanding of children's individual needs and family dynamics, which parents value. In addition, leaders are focused on building a consistent workforce to create a cohesive team. Plans are in place to support this, and leaders are highly ambitious in driving this forward.

Leaders have high expectations for staff to provide high-quality teaching, and regular training supports this. They also ensure that specialist training, such as local authority special educational needs and/or disabilities training, is accessed by leaders so that knowledge remains current and relevant. Leaders monitor staff performance and provide regular supervision, during which workload, key children and training are discussed.

Overall, staff support children's learning well. However, there are some inconsistencies in practice and leaders are taking further steps to ensure teaching is consistently high quality across the nursery.