Brookhill Baby Provision

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children positively thrive in this nurturing and inspiring setting. Extremely professional and knowledgeable staff support each child to reach their full potential. All children make exceptional progress. This is because of the brilliantly sequenced and child-focused curriculum. For instance, babies develop their walking skills quickly as they cruise from one piece of well-placed furniture to another. While toddlers balance on wooden beams and step through tyres as they practise their balancing skills.

Staff are highly aware of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on parents and children. They know that some babies have never experienced time with other children. Staff acknowledge parents' anxiety at leaving their children for the first time, due to the pandemic. They offer highly flexible settling-in sessions and provide parents with photos to help them feel at ease at home, while their child settles into the nursery. Staff provide emotional support to the whole family exceptionally well.

Children display exemplary behaviour and are very respectful to each other. They are extremely happy as they feel highly valued and safe. Babies and toddlers chuckle as they discover new skills, such as pulling themselves up to look in a mirror. Young children excitedly share their thinking and ideas with nearby staff. They are secure in the knowledge that their ideas will be supported and valued.

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

• Staff provide a curriculum that has an extremely positive impact on helping babies and young children to progress through the stages of learning. They embrace children's interests and provide learning that is highly engaging. They plan experiences over time to ensure that babies and children have the essential skills they need for their move on to their next stages of learning. Across all parts of the nursery, staff's interactions with children are of a high quality and contribute well to the excellent progress children make.
• Children develop their large-muscle skills by mark making on the wall with large rollers and water. Babies enjoy tummy time, crawling and movement through songs and rhymes. Small-muscle skills are superbly promoted. For example, babies squeal with delight as they clap their hands while handling coloured foam. They then watch in awe and wonder as the foam splats over staff and themselves. Staff know the importance of physical activity for children's all-round development.
• Children develop excellent language skills. Children join in with sing-and-sign sessions. They concentrate deeply and are all very engaged and happy as they sing familiar words and tunes. Children relish having interesting everyday objects in their role-play area, such as a nappy, bottles, blankets and clothes to dress their dolls. They learn the words for these and begin to understand what they are for as staff model actions for hair brushing.
• Mathematical opportunities are weaved into every aspect of the routines and during free-play activities. For example, as babies delight in investigating the effects of playing with large frozen ice balls in water. Staff skilfully encourage babies and young children to count the balls, and make predictions and test out their ideas to ignite their interest. Babies lift and poke heavy blocks of ice and show fascination as they watch them melt in the water tray.
• The curriculum for babies is nurturing and celebrates individuality. Staff provide babies and toddlers with a healthy mix of emotional support, secure attachments and great enjoyment. Babies and toddlers are exceptionally well behaved. The learning environment is calm and restful and offers freedom for babies to make choices in their play. Staff develop excellent relationships with families and build on children's motivations and passions.
• Inspirational senior leaders support a skilled staff team in striving for excellence. Leaders share their ideas clearly with the team. There is also highly effective engagement with staff through team meetings, training days, supervision meetings, and focused actions for professional development. Strong shared values between leaders and staff mean children receive the highest quality of education.
• Parents are delighted and exceptionally happy with the service their children receive and the progress they make. They comment on the fantastic staff team and their involvement in community events. Parents state that staff treat the whole family with respect and they nurture everyone, not just the children.