Clerkenwell Mount Day Nursery and Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are passionate about ensuring that children feel a sense of belonging at this inclusive and welcoming nursery. The environment reflects this, as it feels homely and inviting. Staff develop secure and supportive relationships with children. They listen to children and respond to everything they say with warmth and enthusiasm. This builds children's confidence and self-esteem, which is evident as they interact with visitors and freely share information about themselves.

Staff plan the curriculum around what children need to learn next, supporting their progress through child-led play. They thoughtfully organise the learning environments based on children's ages. This enables staff to provide targeted support appropriate for children's stage of development. For example, babies have a wide range of sensory toys to ignite their curiosity and encourage them to explore. Staff skilfully use these resources to interact with babies, and they respond with giggles of delight.

Staff act as positive role models and share high expectations of children's behaviour. Children are quick to respond to instructions and reminders about the rules in the nursery. For example, staff remind children to put their toys away once they have finished playing with them. Staff support children to develop important social skills such as sharing and taking turns. This is seen as older children play cooperatively with construction toys, sharing resources and showing an interest in each other's creations. Children make positive behaviour choices, and the environment generally feels calm and purposeful.

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

• Leaders are highly present in the nursery. They have effective oversight of staff's practice and support them to develop through effective coaching and modelling. Staff are passionate about their roles and in ensuring that staff feel valued. Staff share that they feel heard and that leaders are approachable and supportive.
• Staff know their key children very well and talk proudly about their progress. They use a 'buddy system', which is highly effective in ensuring that each child has a secondary caregiver who also knows their individual needs and interests. This provides children with consistent and familiar support.
• Staff provide a commentary during children's play, modelling language and new vocabulary. For example, they introduce children who speak English as an additional language to the word 'snail', repeating this several times during a drawing activity. However, staff do not always give children enough time to respond to their questions, and the talk can be too adult-led. This sometimes limits children's ability to share their own thoughts and ideas.
• Staff use their home languages to support children who speak English as an additional language in the setting. For example, staff members talk to children in French and English to help them understand instructions. However, staff are not always clear with children about what is happening next. This can be confusing for children, particularly those new to speaking English.
• Staff support children to develop their independence skills as they progress through the nursery. For example, babies learn to self-feed, toddlers self-serve their own meals and older children clear their plates away after lunch. As such, children are well equipped to meet their own needs in readiness for school.
• Staff develop individual plans for children who require additional support to meet their developmental milestones. They fully involve parents and carers to ensure a cohesive approach towards shared targets. Children receive individual support and make strong progress over time.
• The nursery's leaders and staff have recently received an award for helping children understand more about protecting the environment. They plan activities such as recycling with children and growing their own vegetables. Children have enjoyed visits from the local police and participated in an animal-handling workshop. Staff use these experiences to enhance the curriculum and support children to learn more about the world around them.
• Staff ensure that children's snacks and meals are nutritious and meet their individual needs, including their allergies and dietary requirements. Older children can freely access an outside courtyard for fresh air and exercise. Staff talk to children about the importance of wearing sun cream. This supports children to develop an early awareness of healthy routines and self-care.
• Staff build strong partnerships with parents. They invite parents in for stay-and-play sessions and share weekly summaries of the learning and activities on offer for children. Parents share that the feedback from staff has notably improved in recent months, with a better focus on their children's development. This enables them to support their children's learning at home better.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• give children more time to process and respond to questions and to share their own thoughts and ideas
• consider how to better communicate changes in routine to children, so they understand what is happening next.