Chevening School Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, successfully develop their communication and language skills. Staff use effective strategies, such as signing and picture cards, to help children to understand and communicate their needs. Additionally, staff teach new words during the many conversations they have with children as they play. This helps to prepare children for later reading.

Staff teach children about the wider world they live in. They take children on a range of outings and trips to help them understand about other communities beyond their own. For example, they visit the theatre, which supports children to learn about music and culture. Children are consistently polite, well mannered and respectful to others. Furthermore, staff help children to learn about festivals and events from other countries, which supports them to understand about equality and diversity. This helps children to respect others, which prepares them well for later life.

Children learn how to keep themselves healthy. Staff provide lots of opportunities for children to learn how to keep themselves fit and well. For example, they remind children to drink plenty of water to keep themselves hydrated. Staff encourage children to spend time outdoors, where they successfully improve their physical skills. This can be seen when children strengthen their core muscles and balance as they travel along low, raised beams.

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

• Staff plan activities that successfully promote children's early writing skills. For example, children practise their pincer grip as they carefully transfer sand from a tray to toy diggers with their fingers. This helps to strengthen their hand muscles for holding a pencil.
• Staff have a good understanding of what they want children to learn. The curriculum is ambitious for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They closely monitor children's progress and use assessment well to plan experiences to build on children's learning and development. However, sometimes, parents are not kept up to date with children's current next steps in learning to help them build on this further at home.
• Staff are ambitious for all children. They work well with outside agencies to plan individualised learning experiences for children, including those with SEND, to close any emerging gaps.
• Staff have strong bonds with the children. The effective key-person system ensures that children have a familiar adult to consistently promote their emotional well-being. Furthermore, they support children to feel safe and secure during times of change. For example, they visit children at home before they start at the setting to begin to build positive relationships with children and families.
• Staff plan exciting learning experiences to promote children's independence. For example, they use a glove puppet activity to help children to learn how to put on their own gloves before going outside to play.
• Staff provide children with opportunities to take risks in a safe environment. For example, they support children to climb low branches on the trees in the garden. This successfully develops children's resilience.
• Children's behaviour is impeccable. They are incredibly kind and caring to each other and show a genuine interest in the welfare of their peers. For example, when they see their friends struggling to complete a task, they ask, 'Can I help you with that?'
• Staff successfully teach children effective strategies to control their feelings and emotions. Children can manage and resolve conflict extremely well. For example, they independently use the sand timer when they want to play with a resource that another child is using. They explain to their friend that the sand timer is on and they would like a go when it is finished. Children respect this rule and willingly pass over the toys when the timer is complete.
• Managers encourage staff to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. They focus professional development on improving outcomes for the children attending. For example, staff have recently completed training to help them meet the needs of children aged two years.
• Parents speak very highly of the care and education their children receive at the nursery. They comment on how their children have gained in confidence since starting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen communication with parents to ensure they are kept fully up to date with children's next steps in learning to help them further build on this at home.