Bright Horizons Holland Park Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled at this welcoming nursery. They arrive with big smiles, eager to start their day. Children are greeted warmly by staff and receive lots of individual attention. This helps them to feel safe and secure. Children's voices and opinions are highly valued by staff. For instance, toddlers vote for their favourite books at story time, and pre-school aged children share their views at 'cabinet meetings'. Consequently, children are extremely confident and display high levels of self-esteem.

Leaders and staff have high expectations and want children to achieve all that they can. Children acquire important skills and information to help them prepare for starting school. For instance, older children display an excellent understanding of feelings and emotions. They express themselves proficiently and are exceedingly aware of their friends' needs. This enables them to play harmoniously together and to solve any disagreements amicably.

Children clearly enjoy their learning. They develop a love of books and listen intently to stories read by adults. Children display energy and enthusiasm as they join in with familiar words and repeated refrains. They eagerly anticipate what will happen next and are delighted by interactive books, which allow them to lift flaps and make their own discoveries.

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

• The managers and staff form an enthusiastic and dedicated team. They constantly reflect on the setting and make positive changes to enhance the curriculum. For example, leaders understand that good language skills are key to children's learning. Therefore, they help staff to constantly develop their communication with children. This includes using visual displays and simple sign language to help children make choices and express themselves.
• Staff say that they feel valued and supported by managers and speak positively about the opportunities for professional development. Managers provide regular supervision to help staff develop their good practice, and consequently some staff are highly skilled practitioners. However, managers do not always identify small inconsistencies in individual staff's teaching, to help them focus more sharply on improving these.
• The vibrant learning environment is well organised to support children's curiosity and independence. Children have a wealth of opportunities to learn from adults and to lead their own play. They are motivated to investigate the stimulating and adaptable resources, such as sand, soil and leaves. Children are highly engaged and demonstrate good imagination as they pretend to prepare and serve food.
• Managers and staff monitor children's progress closely and quickly identify where children are not developing as expected. They work in partnership with parents to draw up individualised plans and seek support from other professionals when needed. This early intervention helps all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, to make good progress.
• Children and staff come from a diverse range of cultures and backgrounds, all of which are highly valued and respected in the setting. Staff ensure that the resources, displays and activities reflect children's experiences at home and the important events in their lives. They provide consistent opportunities for children who speak English as an additional language to hear and use familiar words and phrases. This helps all children to develop high levels of self-esteem.
• Staff skilfully teach children about their community and the wider world. For instance, children join with another nursery to celebrate their own version of the Notting Hill Carnival, which takes place nearby. They exchange letters and interesting items with 'pen pals' at a nursery in Australia. These rich and meaningful opportunities help children to understand their similarities and differences and equip them for life in modern Britain.
• The nursery routines are generally well implemented to support children's care and learning. For instance, staff in the baby room plan their day around the children's individual sleeping and feeding patterns. However, occasionally staff do not organise the transitions between different parts of the day as effectively as possible. For example, children are taken away from story time to wash their hands before tea. Therefore, their learning and enjoyment of the story is interrupted.
• Parents describe the managers and staff as friendly, caring and approachable. They speak positively about the nursery app, through which they receive regular photographs and updates about their children's care and learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen further the systems to monitor staff practice, to help individual staff identify and address any inconsistencies in their practice
• review and improve the organisation of some parts of the daily routines to ensure that children's learning is consistently supported as well as possible.