Bright Horizons Salcombe Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff offer a broad curriculum and are ambitious for all children. They are positive role models and overall, promote children's behaviour well. Staff plan and implement a good range of motivating play experiences, to help children to build firm foundations for their future learning. For instance, children practise their early writing skills as they create 'tickets' to use on their pretend train. Staff explore and have fun alongside children, skilfully guiding their learning and providing lots of praise. This helps children to feel confident about what they can do.

Staff provide a safe and welcoming space. There is a well-established key person system, where staff provide personalised care and support to children. This helps children to settle well and form secure attachments. Staff follow younger children's 'home-from-home' routines and are consistently kind and respectful. For example, they seek children's consent before they wipe their faces or change their nappies. Staff plan the learning experiences around children's interests and fascinations, which helps to nurture their curiosity and desire to learn. Children demonstrate this as they investigate how paints can be mixed to create new colours and shades. They are delighted when they make the colour brown and chat happily about all the brown things that they can think of.

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

• Leaders strive for continuous improvement in the setting. They are mindful of staff's well-being and place a high value on their professional development. This helps to keep staff at all stages in their careers enthusiastic and motivated about their roles.
• Staff foster children's critical thinking and problem-solving effectively, supporting them to confidently approach and work through challenges. For instance, older children make their own play dough, deciding how much of each ingredient they need to add to get the right consistency. Staff are encouraging and supportive when children add too much water or oil and allow them time to work out how to put this right.
• The setting is fully inclusive, with strong and trusting relationships between staff and children. There is a clear focus on supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to ensure that children get the support they need. Leaders use additional funding for children effectively, to provide resources which engage and enhance their learning. This helps children with SEND to make good progress from their starting points in development.
• Staff promote children's communication and language development well throughout the setting. Stories, songs and lively discussions form part of the daily routine for children, introducing them to a range of new words. Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, become confident communicators.
• Overall, children behave well. Staff support them to share and offer gentle reminders about rules, such as using 'kind hands'. However, while staff tell children what they should and should not do, they do not always explain why, to help them begin to regulate their behaviour more independently.
• Staff support children's healthy lifestyles well. Children have daily opportunities to exercise in the large garden and take part in movement and music sessions. Children enjoy the healthy meals and snacks provided. They develop their understanding of healthy eating as they chat to staff about which foods help to build healthy bodies.
• Children are confident and independent during their play. They learn to manage personal hygiene routines, such as washing their hands before meals. However, staff do not consistently consider further ways to develop children's personal care skills. For example, they do not encourage younger children to wipe their own faces after eating.
• Leaders and staff value their partnerships with parents and carers. They encourage parents to be involved in their children's learning, such as by providing books to share at home. Parents are very complimentary about the setting and comment that their children are happy and settled. They appreciate the detailed feedback from staff, which provides a good insight into their children's time at the setting.
• Leaders have worked with staff to improve the supervision of children. They ensure that children are consistently in sight and hearing of staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help children to recognise the consequences of their actions and begin to regulate their behaviour more independently
• consider how to enable children to develop a broader range of personal care skills.