Canopy Nurseries Potters Bar

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and settled. If they struggle when they arrive, staff use what they know about the children to help them settle and focus quickly to an engaging activity. Children enjoy participating and, overall, they behave well. They form positive relationships with staff and the children around them, and quickly become familiar with the routines in place. Children progress onto the next room when they are ready to do so. This is flexible and varied, depending on children's own needs and age and stage of development.

There is a strong focus on community engagement, and children receive a wide range of opportunities to explore the local community. Children enjoy engaging with older generations at a nearby care home. They sing songs and share experiences with them at different times of the year. Within the nursery, children learn about the importance of caring for the world around them.

Children become independent. Toddlers drink from open cups and are encouraged to wipe their own hands and faces when they have finished eating. Mealtimes are carefully managed. Staff are well deployed to support children who have specific dietary requirements. Systems to ensure that children are kept safe while eating are now fully embedded.

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

• Leaders have worked hard to make a range of improvements to the nursery since the last inspection. This swift and effective action has raised the quality of the provision significantly. Staff have undertaken a broad range of training, and recognise the positive impact that this has had on their practice and knowledge. Leaders are reflective about the journey that the nursery is on and accurately identify areas that they wish to build on further.
• Staff plan and deliver similar opportunities for all children that build consecutively as children progress through the nursery. For instance, babies begin to join in with routine activities, such as singing and welcoming their friends at the start of the day. They begin to recognise themselves on photographs and copy familiar moves to songs and rhymes they know. Older children build on this further, concentrating for longer periods during these key group moments at the start of their day.
• Children successfully build their vocabulary and become effective communicators. Staff repeat words back as babies begin to talk. They continue to use relevant vocabulary as children move up through the nursery. Pre-school children learn the correct words for more-complex emotions, as staff kindly provide this vocabulary if children are unsure. Staff check children's understanding of this to ensure that the information is retained.
• Staff have a strong understanding of the intent of the learning opportunities on offer. They are able to recognise the different abilities of the children they work with. Staff differentiate opportunities to provide children with appropriate levels of challenge. The learning environment is organised to encourage children to access their chosen learning opportunities individually. Staff reflect on the learning environment and continue to develop this further so that children can challenge themselves independently.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and the whole staff team. They feel well informed about the progress their children make and feel supported if they have any queries about their child's development. Key persons keep parents informed about what their children have done during the day. Parents comment positively about the family feel that the nursery has.
• Leaders and staff work hard to identify children who may need additional support. They engage with parents effectively, providing them with support to access additional services to benefit their children's development. Leaders are clear about the strategies that they want staff to use to support children, including supporting children with positive behaviour. However, sometimes, these strategies are not consistently implemented by staff.
• Overall, staff know the children they work with well. They engage well with children during planned activities. However, occasionally, some staff do not use all opportunities to build on children's learning. For instance, while children eat their lunch, some staff do not hold meaningful discussions with children to build on their learning further.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consistently use effective strategies to help those children who require additional support and promote positive behaviour
• support staff to use all opportunities to build on children's learning to help them make even more rapid progress.