Happy Days Nursery and Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, motivated and highly engaged in this caring and well-organised setting. Staff make it their priority to know children extremely well, forming strong relationships with them. Babies thrive. They smile and laugh as they sing together. Staff skilfully teach them songs, signs and actions, helping them learn vocabulary.

The provider has developed a broad and supportive curriculum that enables all children to flourish. Children learn the importance that they have in the local community. They take pride in their contributions to others by creating cards for residents in a local care home. Children engage in rich conversations with staff. They discuss the differences they see in others and celebrate these, helping children develop empathy for others.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff teach them the skills to manage their emotions. When children are concentrating, they remain calm when they encounter challenging tasks, such as puzzles. They independently think about how to solve the problem and are delighted by their achievements. Staff enthusiastically celebrate their success in keeping going. They set a high standard for children and support them with well-established routines, which help children feel secure, settled and focused.

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

• The provider's curriculum is ambitious and well-sequenced to ensure that all children build the knowledge and skills over time that enable them to thrive. Staff understand each child's abilities and expertly design activities that focus on the skills they need to develop. To further enhance the quality and consistency of teaching, staff clarify the learning intention of activities to ensure that children benefit as much as possible from them.
• Children are confident and well-prepared for future learning. Staff are knowledgeable about how their planned activities support children's learning throughout all phases of their development at the provider. For instance, children develop exceptional control of their fine motor skills through carefully designed activities. Babies, for example, successfully post balls into a small hole in a box, enhancing their hand-eye coordination. This early practice prepares young children who enjoy making marks on a chalkboard with large movements. Older children concentrate well on drawing with increasing detail and develop a good grip when holding tools. Throughout the nursery, children are highly motivated, engaged and focused on the tasks that staff challenge them with. Staff inspire good habits in children to support their future learning.
• Children engage with stories across all rooms. In the toddler room, staff engage children in conversations about the subjects of the books. They discuss individuals who contribute to the community and explain how ambulances play a vital role in emergencies. Staff skilfully use books to enhance children's vocabulary, conversational language and thinking skills as children predict the story's outcome. Children are highly motivated to read and regularly choose to sit and read a book independently, studying pictures and sharing with others what they have discovered.
• Care routines throughout the setting are exemplary. Staff consistently implement high standards of care from babies to children, reflecting exceptional behaviour across all age groups. Emotional development is a central focus of the curriculum. Older children articulate their emotions effectively by using activities to build faces that represent different moods. Staff use this new knowledge to engage children in meaningful discussions about feelings. Staff uphold high expectations and support children to understand the rationale behind rules. Babies display outstanding engagement and focus, receiving sensitive, stimulating and warm responses from staff.
• The provider builds excellent partnerships with parents, engaging effectively with families and the community to create an environment that prioritises children's well-being and development. Staff routinely update parents on children's development and quickly identify areas of concern. They provide children with daily, targeted support to close gaps in their development and work with parents to offer additional ideas that they use at home to accelerate their progress.