Bright Horizons Court Oak Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this setting happy and eager to start their day. Parents are welcomed into the children's rooms. They feel assured that they are leaving their children with nurturing staff, who greet the children with kindness and enthusiasm. This helps babies and children to settle very quickly. They build secure attachments with their key persons, who know their individual personalities and prior experiences incredibly well.

The curriculum is ambitious for all children. Children thrive at this setting. The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is strong. Staff tailor and sequence learning to help every child to build on their prior knowledge and make progress in their learning. Staff interactions are of a high quality. They provide rich experiences and an abundance of natural and open-ended resources to spark children's imagination, creativity and curiosity. Staff know the benefits of outdoor learning. They provide opportunities for children to learn about natural environments. Staff introduce enhancements into the curriculum, such as 'growing gardeners' and 'growing artists'. Children take responsibility for caring for a small allotment where they grow their own fruits, vegetables, herbs and wild flowers. They eagerly water their plants and measure them to see the growth. Staff spark conversations to help children to learn about growth and where food comes from.

Staff are positive role models. They help children to understand expectations and boundaries. As a result, children behave well. Older children show a caring attitude and build lovely friendships. Children show care for living things as they prepare food for their pet snails and talk about their caterpillars and what they need to grow into butterflies.

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

• The leadership team is strong. Leaders are dedicated to improvement and have focused on raising practice since the last inspection. The recently recruited managers have a clear vision. They are continuing to sustain and enhance the improvements made, to provide all children with the highest quality of care and education.
• The focus on professional development and staff well-being contributes to staff's ongoing achievements. Staff receive a wealth of support and targeted training. This results in high-quality teaching.
• Children with SEND have targeted support plans in place and staff know exactly what their individual targets are. Staff complete one-to-one sessions to help all children to fully access all aspects of the curriculum. Funding has been used to purchase resources that enhance children's learning and help them to engage.
• All children with SEND are making good progress from their starting points and gaps are closing. The special educational needs coordinator and key persons are working closely with parents and the schools that children will be moving on to. Teachers have been invited to meet and observe the children to help with their transition to school.
• Promoting children's communication and language is rooted through the curriculum. Staff provide rich language environments. Their high-quality interactions spark meaningful conversations. However, occasionally, staff talk in quick succession and do not always provide time to allow children to think and respond.
• Staff support children to develop a real love of books. A lending library is used across all rooms to send age-appropriate books home to support home learning. Staff use carefully selected focus books to enhance a range of activities to build on children's experiences. Babies and children enthusiastically join in with stories, songs and rhymes.
• Staff working with the older children have worked hard on supporting children to understand their feelings. They have created spaces that children go to, to help them with self-regulation. The book 'The Colour Monster' and soft toys are used as talking aids for children's emotions. Managers are clearly focusing on giving all children the language to talk about how they are feeling. However, at times, in the younger rooms, the noise level becomes quite high and children have no quiet spaces to go to if they feel overwhelmed or overstimulated to help them to better manage their emotions.
• Partnerships with parents are a key strength of the setting. Parents comment on the 'amazing staff' and how much they have helped their children to settle. Parents say that the progress their children have made is down to the wonderful experiences their children receive at nursery. Parents' evenings, workshops, and the online application help parents to be fully informed about their child's day, next steps and progress. There is a big focus on supporting home learning. A recent workshop on toilet training has been a huge success in helping parents to have the confidence to begin toilet training at home alongside the nursery.
• Mealtimes are organised in a way that helps to promote children's independence and social skills. There are stringent procedures in place for children with allergies and all staff and the cook are aware of these. Children find their name cards and know to get a specific-coloured plate depending on if they have any dietary requirements. Their name card represents the coloured plate they need and includes information about any foods they cannot have. Children self-serve and they pour their own drinks. Staff supervise children well and they sit with children and chat with them as they eat.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently give children more time to think and respond to questions asked, to support their thinking and language skills even further
• consider how to create quieter spaces, particularly in the toddler room, to help children relax and manage their emotions in a calm environment.