Happy Kids East Dene

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make a strong start to their learning in this warm and nurturing nursery. Children who are new to the nursery are very well supported by skilled and knowledgeable staff who help them to feel quickly at home in their new surroundings. Children make good progress overall and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning, including starting school. Staff make good use of their knowledge of children's interests and abilities to plan for their learning and help them become independent and confident. For instance, children learn how to concentrate as they search in the mud trays for hidden toy insects and share them with their friends.

Children feel safe and build good relationships with staff and other children. They learn to behave well and show concern for each other. They rise to staff's high expectations and are polite and thoughtful to others. Children, including children with SEND, learn to recognise and manage their own emotions. They learn to take sensible risks and challenge themselves. For example, children progress from balancing on simple wooden beams and bridges to exploring the more challenging climbing wall. Parents comment very positively on how staff support their children to become happy and confident learners during their time in the nursery.

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

• Staff promote children's communication skills well overall. For instance, they strongly support children who find it hard to concentrate to increasingly focus their attention and maintain eye contact with the person who is speaking to them. Staff engage children in friendly conversations as they play and during snack and mealtimes. However, staff do not always fully enrich and extend children's vocabulary. For instance, they use words that are sometimes too basic and not as exciting as they could be.
• The manager provides passionate and purposeful leadership. She has led staff in developing a clear and focused curriculum to help children to progress in all areas of their learning. The curriculum is based on a deep understanding of the community the nursery serves and well-researched approaches to teaching. Staff morale is high. They are supported well to access a wide range of training and feel their contributions are valued.
• Staff strongly support children with SEND and other children in challenging social and economic circumstances. Staff identify gaps in children's learning and development at an early stage. They work closely with parents and other professionals, such as speech therapists and educational psychologists, to plan and support children's learning. The manager makes good use of additional funding to, for example to purchase books and other resources and to offer staff training to support children's specific needs.
• Staff positively encourage children's love of books. They build children's experiences as they progress through nursery by, for example, introducing them to new and different fiction and non-fiction books in the 'book of the month' and lending library. Children learn about family relationships and becoming independent, such as when they follow the story of the 'Owl Babies'. Staff read stories in ways that engage and stimulate children's further learning. They help children to plan and make up their own stories through their role play and other activities.
• Staff promote children's good behaviour and personal development very well. Staff successfully encourage children to say 'please' and 'thank you' throughout their play and healthy snack times. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, staff identified that many children found it difficult to mix with other children. Therefore, staff provided strong support to help children to learn to play with others and build friendships. Parents comment very positively on the guidance they receive to support children's social and play skills.
• Staff help children and their parents very effectively to appreciate the value of a healthy lifestyle through, for example, the 'toothbrush club' and growing and preparing their own vegetables. Staff's commitment to supporting parents and children in this is recognised in the nursery's achievement of a recognised gold award for healthy foundations.
• Parents highly recommend the nursery. They very much appreciate the warm and caring attitudes that staff show towards their children and themselves. They welcome the guidance they are given on supporting their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus staff's professional development on further enriching and enhancing children's vocabulary and language development.