Bright Horizons New Beckenham Day Nursery And Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with many exciting activities that result in a busy learning environment where children thrive. They are consistently caring and loving towards the children and get down to their level to play and spend quality time with them. Staff who are newer to the setting have already created close bonds with children. For example, babies sometimes cry when their special person leaves the room. However, they settle quickly when they receive the same loving support from other staff until their key person returns.

Leaders confidently plan a curriculum that ensures all children have equal chances to succeed as they progress through the nursery. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children for whom the team has concerns. The team focuses on helping children to learn new skills through achievable steps, so that they make good progress at their own pace.

Staff encourage children to behave in positive ways by helping them to understand and follow simple rules and routines. They nurture children well to help them develop positive feelings and behaviours. Older children confidently follow routines and kindly remind their friends when it is time to tidy away. All children show that they feel safe and secure, and they develop keen attitudes towards learning.

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

• Leaders are reflective and use self-evaluation well to continually improve the quality of provision. They recently took appropriate action to improve the supervision of children. Staff are organised well throughout the nursery to keep children safe and to meet their needs.
• Leaders and managers have worked hard to overcome staffing issues, so that children continue to receive consistency of care. They follow strong recruitment and vetting procedures to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. They provide staff with regular support and training from the start, so that all staff are clear about their roles and responsibilities.
• Staff implement the curriculum aims well to help children learn new skills over time in readiness for their future education and lives. Occasionally, they do not enable older children to concentrate during some activities, particularly when noise levels rise, to enhance their learning. However, they know the children well and plan and provide purposeful activities that help them to make the best possible progress.
• Staff follow the curriculum for children's personal, social, and emotional development well. For example, they help babies and toddlers to feel settled and secure as they begin to explore and learn. They focus well on school-related activities to help older children develop the confidence, skills, and positive behaviours they need for starting school.
• Staff provide all children with a language-rich environment to encourage their communication and language skills. They talk to babies and toddlers to guide their play, ask interesting questions, and introduce and repeat new words. Older children show great enjoyment when staff sit in their cosy areas to read stories. Staff involve them in sustained discussions about the content to increasingly develop their language abilities.
• Staff provide good opportunities for children to develop their physical skills. Some children enjoy moving their bodies to music while others manipulate play dough as part of strengthening their hand and finger movements. Staff offer their hands to babies when they show signs of wanting to stand. However, there are fewer opportunities for babies to use different objects and resources to further encourage their core strength, balance, and coordination.
• Staff provide regular feedback to parents about their children's progress and regularly share information to enhance children's development. Parents share positive comments about how staff know their children well and meet their individual needs.
• Staff work closely with other professionals to ensure that children, including those with SEND, receive targeted support. This helps them to close any gaps in their learning so that they make good progress. Leaders use additional funding well to provide resources that engage children and help them to learn as they follow their interests.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen opportunities for older children to concentrate and focus on what is happening during activities, to further prepare them for their future learning
• enable babies to further develop their core strength, balance, and coordination, in readiness for walking.