Happy Days Nursery and Pre-School Tonbridge

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at the nursery. They become very independent learners as they spend their days busily exploring and investigating. All children make extremely good progress in their learning and development.

Babies form strong, trusting bonds with their key person. Their care needs are met very well, ensuring that they are comfortable and ready to play and learn. For example, babies concentrate for long periods as they sit with a member of staff, excitedly pointing to images in a book. Toddlers are very sociable, working together to create wonderfully imaginative games. Although they are developing confidence, they frequently take a moment to get a reassuring cuddle and to share relaxed conversations with staff.

The skills and knowledge that children gain as they move through the nursery prepare them very well to face the new challenges available in the pre-school room. For example, they safely chop vegetables, confidently discuss dinosaurs, and use the techniques they have learned to create unique artwork.

Babies and toddlers take part in activities that help them to learn about a range of cultural celebrations, to implant the idea that there are different customs and traditions in society. Pre-school children benefit from in-depth discussions and activities that help them to understand and respect the lives, beliefs and experiences of other people.

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

• The leadership team places a great deal of focus on promoting staff's well-being as well as their ongoing professional development. Staff work very effectively together. Their morale is high, which creates a harmonious atmosphere and contributes to children feeling settled and secure.
• Teaching across the nursery is strong. Staff working with all age groups spend the majority of their time engaged directly with children. During these interactions, staff very skilfully capture and maintain children's interest. On occasion, staff are so engrossed in the activity they are supporting that they do not notice when other children would benefit from greater encouragement to join in. However, overall, all children receive a good amount of attention and support throughout the day.
• Staff have created a very stimulating learning environment. All children have a base room, full of easily accessible resources. They also share use of a garden and have an indoor garden area. This creates opportunities for children of different ages to mix together, helping younger children to feel confident as they move up through the nursery. Children make good use of the garden to develop their physical skills. For example, they move with control and coordination as they create and navigate elaborate obstacle courses.
• The very positive, friendly atmosphere in the nursery helps children to develop good social skills. They follow the strong example set by staff, speaking to each other nicely and learning to share and take turns. As a result, staff very rarely need to intervene to manage children's behaviour. At times when some guidance is required, most staff provide clear explanations to help children understand why certain behaviour is not wanted. However, some staff are less effective than others at managing these situations.
• The member of staff with lead role for overseeing the provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities has a very secure knowledge of her role. She works alongside each child's parents, key person and other professionals to ensure that they receive coordinated support.
• Staff use effective methods to promote children's good health. They use a large model of teeth to teach children about oral hygiene. They also build on children's fascination with dinosaurs to demonstrate good tooth brushing techniques. Children have fun as they use a two-minute timer to strictly monitor a member of staff as she brushes the teeth of a dinosaur puppet.
• Partnerships with parents are very positive. Parents feed back that they are happy with all aspects of the service they receive. They feel well informed and appreciate the work that staff put in to ensure that each child's unique needs are met.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to recognise when children would benefit from more encouragement to take part in activities to extend their learning and enjoyment
• target support more precisely for individual staff to address minor inconsistencies in the effectiveness of behaviour management.