Happy Days Day Nursery Thornbury

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff provide children with a positive nursery experience. Upon starting at the nursery, leaders tailor a settling-in process to the needs of each family. This helps children to have a smooth transition and ensures that parents are happy that their children's needs are being met. This bespoke transition process continues throughout the nursery as children move to different playrooms. All children are safe and secure and very well settled.

Leaders and staff create and implement a curriculum that they tailor to the needs of the children. Staff support babies to stand to activities and push walkers around the garden to develop their physical skills ready for walking. Older children develop their listening and concentration skills ready for school when they take part in a group music activity. Staff use their skills to keep children engaged and spark their excitement. Children listen to their peers, take turns and follow instructions successfully.

All children respect others and build relationships with their peers. When babies notice their friend is sad, they hand them a ball and kick it back and forth to each other; babies beam with happiness. Older children play well together. They are respectful of their peers who need more support. They offer their friends toys they like and give them a hug if they see they are sad.

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

• Leaders have worked hard though a number of changes to ensure they provide inclusive, high-quality care for children. There is a rigorous recruitment and induction procedure in place to ensure staff are suitable to work with children and that they can meet the expected standards for practice. Staff report leaders and their team support them well. Staff have attended various training opportunities to upskill their practice. For example, they have completed sing and sign training to develop early communication with the youngest children. Children and staff are happy and well supported.
• Staff are good role models for children and create exciting learning opportunities for them. Babies learn to take turns when they complete a puzzle together, and staff praise their interactions. Older children learn about the world around them when they use magnifying glasses to explore bugs, and staff talk to children about what they find. Additionally, children develop their creative skills when they create structures with magnetic shapes and eagerly tell staff about their creation.
• All children are very well supported. Any gaps in development are identified and strategies are put in place to help close these. Leaders provide support for the whole family to ensure they get the help they need. Leaders work closely with external agencies and schools that children will be moving on to. They invite other professionals into the setting and share important information about children to ensure children get a positive start to their school life.
• Children have a good awareness of the routine and expectations. For example, older children wash their hands before mealtimes and tend to their own personal care needs. However, at times, staff do not help younger children to understand rules and expectations. For example, when babies bring a ball inside and begin to kick it around the playroom, staff ask them to take the ball back outside. When babies do not respond, staff do not help them follow through with the action to help them understand the request. Additionally, when babies access climbing equipment, staff tell them to be careful but do not help babies to understand why they need to wait their turn and explain the importance of this. Staff close by support babies to keep them safe but do not help them to learn the expectations for using the equipment.
• Staff value the importance of developing children's communication skills from a young age. They use Makaton alongside language to aid babies' understanding, for example. When babies want more music, they look to staff and sign and say 'more'. Staff praise their interactions and honour their request. Staff develop older children's language skills when they explore water with various different resources. Staff ask children if they can guess how many 'squeezes' of the pipette they will need to fill their cup. Children develop their number skills when they count the squeezes. Staff extend this even further when they ask children if their cup is half full or a quarter full. Children engage with excitement and are eager to give their answers.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop a more consistent approach to helping younger children understand and follow rules and expectations.