Bright Horizons Palmers Green Day Nursery And Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children and parents receive a warm welcome from the friendly staff. Children happily separate from their parents and quickly settle into the well-established nursery routines. They form strong emotional bonds with their key person and staff, which helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff are attentive and swiftly tend to children's individual needs. Babies and toddlers snuggle up to their key person and enjoy looking at picture books. Children enjoy lots of singing and story time routines. Children's behaviour is good. They learn to share and take turns with gentle reminders from staff.

Children learn through an effective balance of interesting adult-led activities and child-initiated play. Staff support children to develop an awareness of the diverse world in which they live. For example, children listen to a variety of books. They act out and remember the story of 'Handa's Surprise', learning about other cultures and trying exotic fruits.

Children and babies have daily opportunities for physical activity outdoors. Children think of their own ideas while playing, for example when pretending to catch pirates as they sail in a tray of cornflour, while on the pirate ship. Babies and toddlers practise their crawling and early walking skills in a safe environment.

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

• Staff in the baby room create a calm and relaxing space for babies to explore and engage in sensory play experiences. Staff encourage older babies to develop their hand-to-eye coordination. For example, babies investigate the texture of dough with their fingers. They display their enjoyment as they giggle and stretch home-made dough, making various shapes.
• The manager and staff are ambitious for children and their families. The manager monitors and reviews the impact of the changes that they make. For example, staff consider children's interests and ideas as they plan activities. This has contributed to increased levels of children's engagement in learning.
• Staff benefit from regular supervisions with the manager to identify strengths and targets to help improve their teaching skills. Staff are supported well by the manager and company in their professional development and well-being.
• In the main, children develop good knowledge and skills across all areas of learning. However, there is some inconsistency in the quality of how senior staff share children's learning priorities with other staff, particularly those working with the children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language well. They engage children in conversations and introduce new words to broaden their growing vocabulary. Staff use simple Makaton signing effectively to help babies and younger children to communicate. However, staff do not always use agreed strategies consistently to develop older children's listening skills further, such as during conversations and daily routines.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff gather key information, which helps them to plan effectively and follow familiar care routines. Parents speak highly of the nursery and the progress their children make. They say their children are safe and are well cared for.
• Staff encourage children to develop self-care skills. For example, older children serve themselves at mealtimes and tend to their personal care needs, such as toileting and handwashing. Babies make independent choices on what they would like to play with.
• Children's physical development is supported well. They enjoy investigating the well-equipped outdoor area. Staff teach children to take risks in safe surroundings. For instance, children balance and climb and jump off an obstacle course. Older children use watering cans to water their plants. Staff skilfully introduce counting and mathematical language, such as 'empty' and 'full'. Furthermore, older children design their own kites and learn about shapes and size.
• Staff carefully plan children's transitions within the nursery and their eventual move to school. For example, pre-school staff sensitively talk to children about going to 'big school'. They read books and discuss how they might be feeling. The staff offer reassurance when children say they feel nervous. This helps children to be emotionally prepared for the next stage in their learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider ways for staff to share information with each other about children's next steps to provide further continuity in their learning and development
• develop further consistent teaching strategies to extend children's listening and attention skills.