Bright Horizons West Hampstead Station Day Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and well settled at this welcoming nursery. They form close bonds with the caring staff, which helps them to feel safe and secure. For instance, babies seek reassurance when new people are present and are quickly comforted by cuddles from staff. Staff have high expectations for children. They provide consistent praise and positive reminders, therefore children understand the boundaries for behaviour. Mealtimes are sociable affairs, where children follow good hygiene routines, make choices and happily converse with staff and their peers. They learn how to serve their own meals and enjoy the responsibility of scraping their plates when they have finished. This helps children to develop independence and social skills in readiness for starting school. Children are highly active and inquisitive learners. They concentrate for long periods as they explore their ideas and interests. For instance, children are excited to discover new colours as they mix paints. They continue their investigation by adding water to the paint, to see how the texture will change. They experiment to find out whether a toy duck will float or sink in the mixture and are keen to share their findings with staff.

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

• Managers and staff provide a broad and ambitious curriculum, to enhance children's interests and experiences of the world. They structure the learning programmes well so that children progressively build on what they know and can do. Staff ensure that children can revisit activities and practise using resources, to help them remember what they have learned.
• Staff monitor children's progress accurately and provide a wide range of experiences, to support all areas of learning. When staff identify gaps in children's learning, they quickly provide targeted support. This includes working with parents and appropriate professionals. As a result, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who receive funding, make good progress towards the next stages in their learning.
• Children and staff come from a wide range of backgrounds. This diversity is valued and celebrated in the setting. Many children speak English as an additional language. Staff have developed some effective ways to encourage the use of home languages in the setting. For example, parents have helped them to create language activity bags, with resources such as books and games that they can share with children.
• Staff generally promote children's communication skills well. For instance, they introduce a wide range of words as they read and talk to children. Consequently, most older children speak confidently and display impressive vocabularies. Staff also use effective strategies to help children with SEND to communicate. However, at times, they do not adapt their teaching as well as possible, to promote speaking and listening for younger children and those who speak
• Inspection report: Bright Horizons West Hampstead Station Day Nursery and Preschool 2 24 August 2022 English as an additional language.
• Parents praise the friendly staff and say that they receive lots of information about their children's time at nursery. Managers and staff use innovative ways to enhance partnerships with parents. For example, the nursery is decorated with artwork that children have created at home with their parents, to support a recent nursery topic about space.
• Children display positive behaviour and treat others with kindness and respect. Babies and toddlers show interest in their peers and play happily alongside each other. They participate in group activities and learn to share and take turns. Older children demonstrate a good understanding of the rules and expectations. They develop firm friendships and play together harmoniously.
• Children are served healthy meals and snacks, which are freshly prepared by the nursery chef. Staff sensitively encourage children to try new foods and help them to understand the importance of eating a balanced diet.
• Managers value the staff team and provide effective support and training. This includes regular supervision meetings to discuss professional targets. Staff describe very good support for their personal well-being. For example, there is a comfortable 'wellness room' in the nursery, where staff can relax and access books and resources to support their health and well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to strengthen their support for children's communication and language, particularly for younger children and those who speak English as an additional language.
• Inspection report: Bright Horizons West Hampstead Station Day Nursery and Preschool 3 24 August 2022