Granby House Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make strong and sustained progress in all aspects of their learning. They thoroughly enjoy their time at this stimulating and welcoming nursery. Children are extremely well prepared for the next stage in their learning, including starting school. For example, children confidently and decisively work as a team as they design and create their large-scale, role play fire engine from planks, tyres and other assorted resources. They use their rich vocabulary to discuss 'raising the ladder' and 'aiming the hoses'.

Children are safe and secure. They are extremely well behaved. Babies build very strong bonds with the experienced and skilled staff who care for them. They rapidly acquire the confidence to explore the vibrant and tactile environment they play and learn in. Children learn to recognise and manage the risks in their play. For instance, they negotiate, with considerable skill, manoeuvring a wide range of pedalled and balanced vehicles around their obstacle course in the well-resourced grounds.

Parents are highly appreciative of the professionalism, warmth and care the managers and their staff show at all times. They welcomed the strong measures staff took to keep everyone safe during the COVID-19 pandemic and, in particular, the very positive support for children's personal and social development.

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

• The highly experienced and well-qualified management team provides incisive leadership in all aspects of the nursery's work. They give robust support and challenge to enable all staff to fully contribute to the direction and development of the provision. Managers lead by example through, for instance, guiding research and training to create highly effective curriculum planning.
• Staff enrich children's communication skills extremely well. They carefully plan, for example, to introduce children at each age group to a rich and broad vocabulary. This is built on their own interests and the experiences staff introduce them to. Staff ensure children explore new words in different contexts and help make them memorable. For instance, children identify 'stalks', 'stems' and 'petals' as they create vivid collages with wild plants and plant flowers in their wellington boot planters.
• Staff provide highly effective support to children with SEND. They have a very wide knowledge of children's learning needs. Staff identify possible gaps in development at an early stage and act promptly to address them. They plan very precisely to help children achieve key steps. Staff work closely with other professionals in education and medical fields to ensure children achieve their potential. They make very good use of any additional funding to meet children's individual needs.
• Children's love of books and stories is strongly promoted. Staff identify a range of songs, rhymes and books that children will experience as they progress through the nursery. This helps children develop, for example, common cultural, personal and language experiences. Staff make excellent use of different strategies to make books memorable. For example, children enthusiastically chant the words and coordinate their actions as they 'go on a bear hunt'.
• Children's physical development and appreciation of healthy lifestyles are strong. Children are physically very active throughout the day and they enjoy the nursery's well-prepared nutritious meals. Staff help children to develop their small-muscle skills by, for example, drawing round the shape made by shadows of their toy animals. They use tweezers to make complicated patterns with stones, pebbles and other natural objects. These skills contribute to the development of later writing skills.
• Children are very well behaved and considerate to each other. They enjoy taking responsibility for putting away their own toys as they go along, finding a dustpan and brush and clearing up. They eat their meals and snacks in a polite and friendly manner, serving themselves and waiting their turn.
• Parents welcome their involvement in the life of the nursery. They appreciate staff's extensive knowledge of their children and the support they offer for their children's learning and development at home. For instance, staff provide highly informative blogs on diverse themes, such as online safety and oral health. Parents also contribute to children's understanding of the world through sharing cultural and religious celebrations and the world of work, such as the emergency services and dentists.