Bright Kids Hackney Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy to attend nursery as they confidently say goodbye to their parents and quickly settle into their day. Babies and children form close bonds with staff and show they feel happy and safe in their care. Children have a positive attitude to their learning. The well-organised and interesting environment promotes their natural curiosity and eagerness to take part.

Children develop good communication skills and confidently articulate what they know and can do. Throughout each area, staff engage all children in discussions. They introduce them to new vocabulary and encourage them to talk about their experiences. Children enjoy self-selecting books, and staff enthusiastically share stories with them.

During a cooking activity, staff introduce a new mathematical language. They use visual and verbal prompts to engage children. Children follow directions as staff support them to count items and work out how many more they will need. Each child is included and given the space to contribute equally.

Children have plenty of opportunities to be active and explore the environment outdoors, fully participating in activities to help develop their physical skills. They enjoy using apparatus as they transport and negotiate the balancing blocks and wheel circuit with confidence.

Children develop their social skills while interacting with others. They are frequently caring and friendly towards each other. Staff regularly praise them for sharing and being kind. This helps to create a calm and well-organised environment, where children can relax and concentrate.

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

• Staff plan the learning environment well to motivate children to play and explore. They plan a rich and varied selection of well-organised activities to encourage children to explore and build on what they already know. This helps children to make good progress.
• Children are confident and develop strong relationships with staff and their peers. Staff are always close by to provide comfort and reassurance when children need it. Staff are committed to providing an inclusive environment where all children and their families are welcomed.
• There is a strong focus on children's physical development. Children benefit from the large, well-resourced spaces, both indoors and outdoors. Staff encourage babies to stand and reach for the toys they want. Babies confidently move around and build on their muscle strength.
• Staff teach children how to keep themselves healthy. Children discuss the benefits of a healthy diet as they help to chop up their fruit at snack time. When staff announce that lunch is nearly ready, older children spontaneously go to the bathroom to wash their hands. This demonstrates their good understanding of positive hygiene routines.
• All staff, including those new to the team, work collaboratively and comment that they are supported well by the leadership team. They have regular staff meetings and opportunities to share their views and opinions. Thorough inductions and staff supervision sessions help to ensure that staff understand their individual responsibilities well. Leaders are working on recruitment and are aware that the key-person approach will benefit as the staff team becomes more established.
• Staff use their observations and assessments of children, including the progress check for children aged two to three years, to inform their teaching. They prioritise and focus support so that all children make good progress. When children have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), staff work confidently with other professionals. This supports all children, including children with SEND, those with English as an additional language and those in receipt of additional funding, to make good progress in their learning. They benefit from a good range of experiences that prepare them well for their next stage of learning.
• Parents are highly complimentary about the nursery. They value the support that staff offer to them and their children. They appreciate resources that help support children's learning at home. They would welcome additional discussions with staff about their children's day-to-day experiences but report that they receive detailed information about their children's progress with the online app. They comment that the level of detail in this information shows how well staff understand and know their children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the role of the key person so that it is consistently effective in promoting children's progress and development to the highest level
• continue to improve the existing good systems for communication, to further enhance effective information-sharing with all parents.