Happy Days Nursery and Pre-School Cranbrook

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are extremely happy and confident. They play and learn in a harmonious and positive atmosphere. Children feel very safe and secure as they freely explore and lead their own learning. Children form extremely warm and positive relationships with staff. Children are provided with highly tailored care by their key person. For example, at nap time, a child is compassionately rocked to sleep in the arms of his key person before being carefully laid down.

The staff have very high expectations for all children. This includes those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The setting layout is carefully planned with specialist equipment. This ensures that the environment is fully inclusive for all children attending. Staff provide excellent opportunities to support children's independence in learning. The highly effective curriculum is planned and delivered superbly well. This ensures that children are more than ready for the next stage in their learning.

Children display impeccable manners and social skills across the setting. For example, at lunchtime, children seat themselves in a mature and calm manner. They wait patiently for the chef to bring their food to their table. The children thank the chef for their delicious lunch. All children have developed excellent communication skills and demonstrate an extensive vocabulary.

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

• The staff know the children extremely well. Staff plan stimulating and engaging activities that support the children's interests and build successfully on what they already know and can do. For instance, during one activity, children freely explored the texture of dry pasta. The practitioner who led this skilfully extended the activity by introducing a colander with small holes for threading. The children showed extremely high levels of concentration and were deeply engaged in their play. Their fine motor skills were remarkable.
• Staff have exceptionally high standards for children's behaviour. When minor disagreements do take place, staff give children time and the responsibility to resolve issues themselves. For example, in the pre-school room, a child said to his peers 'I need some space' following a falling out with a friend. This demonstrates an extremely high level of maturity in children's approach to relationships. Staff consistently give children the tools and language they need to help them manage and understand their emotions effectively. Children's behaviour is exemplary across the age ranges.
• Children have outstanding levels of independence for their age, across the setting. For example, in the baby room, the children instinctively know the handwashing routines to follow before they sit down to eat their lunch independently. They use cutlery adeptly. Children have remarkable hand-eye coordination skills.
• The setting has an exemplary attitude towards working with the local community. Children visit an elderly care home regularly, where they enjoy a range of activities and have formed special caring friendships. When one of their special friends passed away, the setting supported the children to understand the death of their friend through talking and sharing stories. Children benefit hugely as they learn to understand different emotions.
• The manager speaks passionately about their ethos. Equality, diversity and learning from different cultures is embedded within everyday nursery life. For instance, the setting work with their families to create diverse lunch menus. These reflect traditional cultural recipes, such as jollof rice and fish. This further enhances the experiences of the children as they learn about food from different countries.
• Leadership and management are exceptional at the setting. The manger has created a culture of mutual respect and trust across all levels of staff. Any issues are identified quickly and effectively. For example, she operates an open door policy, where staff are able to reach out for advice and support. This makes staff feel highly valued and supported within their roles.
• The manager ensures that there is a highly effective system of staff supervision that takes place regularly throughout the year. For example, areas of improvement and further training are identified together with staff. The manager has ambitious aspirations for her staff's continuous professional development. Consistently high levels of well-being are reported by staff.