Goldcrest Day Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children look forward to entering the setting as they skip happily to the door and are greeted by the extremely welcoming and friendly staff. Babies and children feel relaxed and safe with nurturing and attentive staff. Children settle swiftly and immediately start to play and explore exciting and beautifully presented indoor and outdoor environments. The stimulating resources are age-appropriate and relate to children's interests.

There is a continuous flow of singing and giggles and children remain engrossed in their play with the competent support of staff. For example, while children enjoy discovering sea creatures during water play, they are captivated by the idea of going on a deep-sea adventure. Children have the opportunity to hop on the outdoor wooden train. They develop their speaking and listening skills when asked for directions to the seaside. Children continue their role play in the outdoor water tray, where they test interesting ideas and use props to bring their own sea creatures to life.

Early mathematics is skilfully integrated into children's everyday play experiences. Older children love to write stories together in their exercise books and staff support them to be ready for school. Children show resilience and perseverance.

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

• Overall, teaching is good. A clear and ambitious curriculum intent is securely understood and embedded throughout the setting. A robust assessment process is in place, which means that staff are supporting individual children's learning needs from the start. Any children who may need some extra help are identified swiftly and appropriate levels of support are put in place. As a result, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress in all areas of learning.
• Babies and children develop a love of reading. Staff respond to young children's first words exceptionally well. They respond effectively to babies' babbles and gestures as they learn to communicate. All children make good progress in their speech and language development. Staff take a genuine interest in what children are doing and ask questions to extend learning. However, occasionally staff do not give children enough time to respond to questions or instructions, to further enhance their language and vocabulary development.
• The key-person system works well. Parents report in-depth and continuous communication. They appreciate being involved in supporting their children's next steps in learning and are extremely happy with their progress.
• Babies and children are becoming increasingly independent. Babies are encouraged to help themselves to water throughout the day. Older children get ready to go into the garden and put on their own shoes and coats. Staff promote good hygiene routines. For example, children benefit from daily toothbrushing to promote their understanding of the importance of oral health.
• Mealtimes are social events. Healthy and nutritious meals are provided. Children develop good table manners and become increasingly independent when self-serving their food. However, on occasion, the mealtime routine for older children is not consistently followed by staff. For example, when a familiar handwashing routine is changed, it causes a hesitation in children independently washing their hands before sitting down to eat. Additionally, children become restless as there is a longer wait than usual for their meal.
• Throughout the setting, children learn how to express and understand their feelings by using the 'Colour Monster' book and coordinating sensory resources. Staff have clear intentions and successful teaching techniques, such as providing meaningful praise which encourages children to repeat positive behaviours. When children struggle to share, staff intervene to help support them. However, at times staff provide too much support and do not give children enough time to enable them to think of ways to solve conflicts themselves.
• The management team is passionate about their role. They are reflective and strive for continuous improvement. This leadership highly motivates and inspires staff to deliver new initiatives. Parents report how the manager and staff are incredibly approachable and like a 'second family'.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build upon already good teaching of communication and language and allow children time to think and respond to questions
• deliver consistent mealtime routines to ensure that the needs of children are met efficiently and further support independence in managing their personal needs
• implement effective teaching strategies consistently to support children to manage their own feelings and develop positive behaviours.