Eden House Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery is a happy and welcoming place for children. Children are well cared for and safe with staff who want the best for them. Even the very youngest children settle quickly and happily in the calm and nurturing Bunnies room. Babies feel secure and confident to explore their surroundings. Staff provide a range of sensory experiences and skilfully use these to expose them to a wider vocabulary. Staff know the children well and set up engaging activities based on their interests. For example, younger children enjoy rolling balls down a ramp to see how far they go. They use spoons to scoop up a gloopy mixture, developing their fine muscle skills.

Older children enjoy their outdoor space, making potions in the mud kitchen, going on a bear hunt with the staff and running their bikes up and down a little hill. Children maintain focus in their chosen activities, for example, making precise marks of dinosaur's feet in the play dough. Children are friendly and confident to approach visitors, keen to talk about what they enjoy doing at the nursery. They enjoy sharing stories with staff or looking at books independently. Children generally behave well and with clear guidance from gentle staff they learn to understand and manage their emotions.

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

• Staff know the children very well and set up engaging activities that help to develop learning and concentration. Activities are planned around the children's interests and what is happening in their lives at the present time. These are used successfully to extend children's learning.
• There is a strong focus on developing children's communication and language skills. Staff get down to the child's level and narrate what the child is doing, adding new vocabulary. They repeat new language to reinforce it and give the child confidence to use it themselves.
• Children feel secure and cared for, demonstrated by babies holding out their arms to be cuddled and older children snuggling to listen to stories with staff.
• The curriculum is tailored to meet the needs of the unique setting and is ambitious and extremely well sequenced. Staff in each room know what the children need to achieve, and planned activities reflect this. It is displayed so that staff new to the room can find out what the children in their care need to achieve before it is time to move on.
• Staff have developed strong relationships with parents. They take time to gather information about the child and follow the home routine as closely as possible. Parents are full of praise for the communications they receive about their child daily and for the standard of care and education. Parents say their children make good progress.
• Children's behaviour is good, and younger children respond to simple instructions with enthusiasm. Older children play well together and care for their environment. Children are encouraged to say please and thank you.
• Children have plenty of access to the outdoor field area and enjoy being active. They have opportunities to run and play and develop their large muscles.
• Staff prepare children for their next stage of learning and the move to school. For example, children find their name and hang it on the chart when they enter, they learn to use knives and forks and they put on their shoes and coats independently.
• Children are generally engaged with the activities. Sometimes, staff do not recognise when daily routines are not organised effectively. Children wander around and become disengaged from their learning.
• The well-being of staff is a priority for leadership and management and staff appreciate the support they receive and the access to free counselling and help via a well-being app.
• Incidents have occurred where children's dietary and health care needs have not been met. Management have reviewed their procedures on how they share information regarding children with health care plans and potential allergies. All staff are clear about ensuring that children consistently have their health care and dietary needs met.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of transitional times and routines to better meet children's needs and their learning outcomes.