Bright Horizons Shoreham-by-sea Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children thoroughly enjoy their time spent at this nurturing and stimulating nursery. They form close bonds with the attentive staff and explore the nursery with confidence. Children of all ages are very happy and settle quickly into nursery life. Babies enjoy cuddles with staff but are equally confident to explore their environment. Children behave very well. They are particularly sociable and learn to respect the feelings of others. For example, children kindly ask others to join in their play and share out resources so everyone has what they need.

Children respond positively to staff's high expectations of them and are keen to do things for themselves. Older children are very independent and manage their own care needs, routines and hygiene. Babies learn to wash their own hands from an early age, while older children use tongs to select their own snack and take themselves to the toilet. Children develop strong physical skills, using both big and small muscles. For instance, they safely ride balance bicycles in the garden, use paintbrushes skilfully and learn good pencil control. Babies enjoy using their fingers to make marks in shaving foam and remember the actions to their favourite songs. Children are motivated, inquisitive and enthusiastic learners.

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

• The ambitious manager is well supported in his role by the dedicated and highly experienced provider and senior leadership team. Together, they create an environment where children feel valued, confident and ready to learn. There is a successful curriculum focus on children's language development and preparing children for their future education.
• Staff encourage lots of conversation with children and give them plenty of time to think, develop their ideas and share their views. Older children speak confidently, using full sentences, and are keen to discuss their interests and home lives. Staff read stories regularly and ensure these are engaging and interactive, helping to ignite children's love of books. They commentate clearly on what babies see, hear and do, supporting their early language development very well.
• Staff know the children well and assess their development closely. They understand what children need to learn next. Children enjoy varied experiences, such as mixing paint colours and playing educational games on the nursery computer. However, sometimes, planning focuses too much on the activity and resources and not enough on the intended learning. This means that some activities are not precisely tailored to children's learning. Also, when staff cover in different rooms, information-sharing is not always fully effective to help them easily focus on what children need to learn next.
• Staff are strong and positive role models to children. They offer clear and consistent messages about their expectations and children behave very well. Children learn how to express their feelings and begin to understand and regulate their emotions, with staff support. For example, children confidently tell staff when they are feeling tired, hungry, excited or happy throughout the day. Parents are very appreciative of how much their children love attending the nursery and the high levels of support they receive.
• Staff are skilled teachers and make strong use of their interactions to support and guide children's learning. For example, staff working with babies teach them how they can make marks in foam with their fingers. Babies excitedly point at the marks they make and respond with glee to the warm praise they receive. Older children enjoy imaginary play and develop detailed narratives to their play. For example, when asked by staff, children explained that they were going on a safari and needed to feed the animals together.
• Staff support children's understanding of healthy lifestyles particularly well. Children enjoy healthy and nutritious meals and learn why diet is important to their health. They spend a lot of time in the large and adventurous garden, where they run, climb and gain more control of their body movements. Staff have recently focused more on oral hygiene and children confidently know the importance of cleaning their teeth.
• The manager knows his staff team well and offers thorough training, support and coaching. He spends time observing staff in the playrooms to identify key strengths and areas for further development. Staff are currently learning a new scheme to support children's literacy through dance and movement.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus planning more on what children need to learn next and how this can be achieved
• strengthen information-sharing to help staff covering in different rooms to clearly know the most important learning for each child.