Happy Hours Private Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy and ready to play. They benefit greatly from the trusting and supportive relationships with staff. The well-established team provides a caring environment where all children are listened to and respected. Staff are excellent role models. Children show positive attitudes towards their learning. Babies squeal with delight as staff throw balls to them and blow bubbles in the air. Toddlers willingly share bicycles with their friends and then wait for their turn, excitedly jumping up and down. Children's behaviour is good.

Staff skilfully engage children in a range of activities. This helps them to make good progress from their starting points. For example, babies develop their physical strength as they learn to crawl and pull themselves up on low-level furniture. Toddlers develop their small-muscle skills and hand-to-eye coordination as they expertly transfer soil into cupcake cases in the outdoor mud kitchen. Older children use mathematical language spontaneously in their play. They solve problems as they move a robot forwards, backwards and left, estimating how many moves in total. Children are confident and independent explorers who are ready for their next stage of learning.

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

• The manager and staff team work hard to establish and maintain effective partnership working. For example, they work alongside neighbouring schools to gather information to help children to prepare to move on. Parents feel listened to by 'trusting and supportive staff' and praise them for regular communication. Parents talk about flexibility in meeting families' needs, which makes them feel 'special' and 'welcome'.
• The manager demonstrates a clear curriculum intent for the nursery. Staff plan a broad and sequenced curriculum which reflects children's interests and builds on what they already know and can do. Group assessments and daily individual observations prepare staff effectively to plan children's next steps. Staff identify gaps in children's learning early and act swiftly so that children make good progress.
• Mathematical language is woven into everyday play. Staff spontaneously sing number rhymes with babies while splashing rubber ducks in water. Older children choose from a wide range of number, colour and shape recognition games. Children's mathematical skills are developing well.
• Staff plan stimulating experiences to engage children in purposeful learning. For example, children develop large- and small-muscle movements as they ride bicycles, climb steps and transfer soil with different-sized scoops. Creativity and imagination flourish as children explore paint, sand, water and dough indoors. However, the outdoor curriculum is not yet fully implemented to enhance creativity and imagination to complement what children learn indoors.
• Care practices are good. Staff follow strict hygiene practices and teach children about healthy living. Children learn about the importance of oral health though their involvement in a programme of dental practice-based initiatives. Children are independent in attending to their own physical needs. They are resilient individuals who show respect towards others and behave well.
• Overall, staff communicate well with children. They skilfully understand what children are trying to say. Staff talk through what they are doing, which helps children to learn language in context. Well-timed and sensitive questioning with older children encourages them to talk through ideas. However, some staff mispronounce words and use incorrect tense. This means that children do not always hear and learn to use the correct pronunciation of words.
• The manager has a strong focus on supervision, mentoring and coaching. An effective programme of support is in place for less-experienced members of staff. For example, there is a 'buddy' system where experienced staff act as mentors for those with less experience. Regular in-depth supervision sessions further identify individual training targets. This has a positive impact on curriculum intent, implementation and on children's learning.
• Staff strongly ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) get the support they need. Additional funding is used effectively to provide children with personalised learning. Support plans are well focused. Rigorous monitoring and detailed observations allow for continuous intervention and support next steps. As a result, children with SEND make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to model language correctly and clearly for children, to help children to develop their vocabulary
• implement the outdoor curriculum effectively, to further enhance children's creativity and imagination and reflect what they learn indoors.