Happywoods Nursery (Lewisham) Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery has worked hard since the last inspection to make improvements and ensure better outcomes for children. All children, including those who require extra support with their care and learning, make good progress from their starting points. Children are motivated and demonstrate a positive attitude to learning.

The staff work well with parents to help identify and meet children's individual needs. They implement robust settling-in arrangements to ensure that new children become familiar with the routines. Children separate from their parents and carers with ease and are eager to play, explore and learn. They demonstrate that they feel happy, safe and secure in the nursery. Staff create a calm and warm environment where children feel reassured and content.

The nursery places a strong focus on helping children to become independent and acquire problem-solving skills. For example, staff encourage babies who have mastered the concept of holding things firmly to drink from an open cup. Staff allow toddlers to work out how to use a hammer to break ice and get frozen 'animals' out. Staff support pre-school children to investigate objects that float and sink while carrying out a science experiment.

Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour and learning. They give clear messages to children and support them to learn and understand the expected behavioural boundaries. Children are highly considerate of each other and play well together.

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

• Self-evaluation is effective. Leaders are aware of the nursery's strengths and areas to improve. The staff benefit from good training and development opportunities to help improve their overall practice. Leaders and staff are clear about they what they want children to learn and why. They implement a broad and challenging curriculum that meets children's needs. Children of all ages and abilities enjoy the learning experiences on offer and acquire essential skills in readiness for their move on to school.
• Support for children with who may be at risk of falling behind is good. Leaders and staff are quick to identify and access specialist support and guidance to ensure that these children's learning needs are met. They work effectively with parents and share strategies so that they can continue to support children's learning at home.
• The curriculum intent for physical development is implemented well. Staff support babies to develop their fine motor skills through exploring age-appropriate toys and messy play activities. Babies enjoy using metal and wooden spoons to scoop oats. Toddlers have acquired good hand-eye coordination as they use scissors to practise their cutting skills. Older children develop their pencil grip by taking part in lots of painting and writing activities. Staff encourage children to climb play apparatus, which helps to develop their gross motor skills. Furthermore, they engage children in planting and role-play activities to help support their understanding of healthy eating and good health.
• Staff ensure that children have access to daily outdoor play, and children enjoy exploring the nursery garden. However, the transition between the room and the garden is not managed effectively to support children's learning. For example, toddlers who are deeply engaged in their chosen activity get distracted by noise from pre-school children accessing the garden.
• Overall, the arrangements for the supervision of staff and monitoring of the quality of education are good. The manager carries out regular room observations and supervision sessions to help identify strengths and gaps in staff's practice. Although some minor weaknesses in staff's teaching skills have been identified, these have not been fully addressed. For example, at times, staff ask too many questions and do not allow children to process information before introducing something new. As a result, some children get overwhelmed and lose interest quickly. Nevertheless, the manager is fully aware of where the gaps are and how to support individual staff to help ensure consistently high-quality teaching across the nursery.
• Staff are highly skilled in supporting children to understand behavioural expectations. They encourage children to share, take turns and talk about how they feel. Staff form positive relationships with children and offer lots of praise to boost their self-esteem. This has a positive impact on children's confidence and behaviour.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider how transitions, especially those to and from the garden, can be managed effectively to help minimise distractions to children's learning
• support staff to continue to improve their interactions with children, with a sharp focus on how to sequence and consolidate children's learning.