Elephant Moon Day Nursery Cheltenham

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children relish in the rich learning opportunities on offer through a wide range of activities and exploratory experiences, creating an immense impact across all areas of their development. Staff have excellent skills to review each child's individual needs, particularly around their personal interests, continually encouraging children to progress in their learning. Planning and assessments of the children are skilfully focused on each child's needs and allow opportunities for all children to participate in their own learning experiences.

Children have impeccable opportunities to learn about various cultures from around the world. For example, children explore several cultures and languages to an impressive degree, supporting inclusivity and diversity for all children attending the setting. Children experience the outside world extensively, with visits to the local parks, shops, library and church, and are involved in community events.

Children have excellent relationships with their key person, enhancing their sense of security within the setting. This allows for effective learning, as children demonstrate deep engagement and retention of learning in the activities available to them. Children behave impeccably, both inside and outside the setting, demonstrating respect for their adults and peers through the use of positive language and their choice of actions.

Management and staff are dedicated to working together with parents to create a comprehensive parent partnership that builds trust and develops highly effective learning experiences through the outstanding communication systems in place.

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

• Management has a clear and ambitious vision of what they expect for the setting, the children and the staff. Leaders and managers have excellent skills in recognising high-quality standards of care and education. Leaders are involved in reflecting on staff practice, ensuring continual professional development among the team. It is highly recognised that staff are guided and supported by leaders of the setting, who encourage them to develop further progression through regular and relevant training courses.
• The extremely skilled staff provide children with extensive learning opportunities to progress across all areas of development. The remarkable efforts made by key people ensure that they get to know their key children extremely well, creating detailed and sequenced planning to ensure a continual pathway to learning and progress. Staff show remarkable knowledge of each individual child's learning needs, and they are aware of the importance of retaining knowledge to allow children to further progress in their learning. Children are offered a wide variety of choice and are always encouraged to try new experiences and voice their thoughts, which deeply develops their feelings of self-worth and positive well-being.
• Staff make outstanding efforts to get to know the children and their extended family members. They extensively review the children to understand their backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and individual needs. Staff have exceptional knowledge of cultures, and this ensures that children are included and accepted and that their needs are met in a deep and meaningful way. Staff support children to recognise the differences in each other. This is created through the experience of cultures, languages and celebrations within the setting. These rich experiences create an understanding of each other and of people in the wider community.
• Children demonstrate consistently high levels of respect towards adults and their peers. This is developed from the positive role modelling of the staff, as they provide a nurturing and engaging environment. Pre-school children are extremely articulate in their communication with others, and they enjoy talking to adults to confidently explain the purpose of their activities. For example, when the children begin to scoop and pour lentils into a tall tube, they openly discuss the process, recognising that the tube is starting to get full and demonstrating problem-solving skills for this dilemma. Children are confident to work alongside their peers, taking turns, sharing the tools and engaging in meaningful conversations.
• Constructive relationships are created between managers, staff and parents, and these are presented through the trust that parents hold for the nursery staff. Parents are extremely secure in sending their child to nursery, and they have confidence that their child is exceptionally content in the care of their key person and other staff members. Parents rely on the robust communication system in place, making use of a secure online platform that allows for parents, key people and managers to communicate clearly. For example, staff share development milestones with 'wow' moment achievements, allowing parents to make contributions to their children's learning and development. This embedded relationship ensures children are delicately supported to thrive and continually feel valued and respected, creating commendable diversity within the setting.