Harvey House Nursery Clubhouse

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy their time in this welcoming environment. They show good levels of emotional well-being and that they feel happy and secure. Children develop positive bonds with the caring staff and busily engage in a wide variety of activities. Staff know children well and take time to learn about their interests and development. They plan age-appropriate experiences to build on what children already know.

Babies benefit from lots of cuddles and show interest exploring messy-play activities. For instance, they smile as staff help them to touch and smell shaving foam. Babies also enjoy exploring touch and feel books. Older babies show developing language as they engage in role play with animals and pretend to have a picnic. This supports their imagination and social skills as they take turns and share.

Toddlers have fun exploring the difference between wet and dry sand when building sandcastles. They receive good support to learn new mathematical language and make comparisons. They also enjoy pretending to make biscuits with play dough and discuss different shapes.

Pre-school children show good interest when exploring sea creatures and shells during interactive, small-world play. This helps them to learn through their senses and discover new knowledge and facts. In addition, staff teach children about compassion when playing vets and pretend to administer medicine to a range of animals. Children show good engagement and enjoyment as they play and behave well.

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

• Leaders are dedicated to providing good-quality care and education to children. They are ambitious and regularly reflect on the settings strengths and areas for further development. Staff access a wide range of training to further develop their knowledge and skills. Leaders provide staff with frequent coaching and mentoring with the view to achieving even greater consistency across the quality of education.
• Staff take time to get to know children's interests, routines and current stage of development when they join. They plan a range of activities to extend their knowledge and skills. It is evident that children make good progress during their time at the setting.
• Staff share information with parents in a number of ways. For instance, parents receive regular photographs and observations on the nursery app. They also get feedback at the end of the day about their child's care and activities.
• Parents are very complimentary about their experiences at the setting. They highly value and appreciate the leader's and staff's dedication and caring nature. Partnerships with parents is a real strength.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive good levels of support. Staff work in partnership with other professionals to develop tailored targets and complete professionals reviews of progress. This helps children to receive good levels of continuity with their learning.
• Teaching children about diversity and how to value and appreciate others similarities and differences is embedded throughout the nursery. For instance, children hear stories about the festival of light when celebrating Diwali and enjoy exploring glitter to make firework pictures. This helps them to develop respectful attitudes from an early age.
• Supporting children to lead healthy lifestyles is given good priority. For instance, children eat a range of nutritious meals and have daily opportunities to be active in the well-equipped garden. This supports children's overall health and well-being.
• Children experience a wide and varied curriculum that supports them to move forward in their learning. However, not all staff extend and challenge children's learning to the very highest level when they play.
• Toddlers enjoy sharing things from home with their friends during circle time and 'show and tell'. However, the organisation of this time does not always fully support all children's listening and attention skills and help them to fully concentrate to learn new knowledge.
• Children frequently receive clear messages about boundaries and expected behaviour as they play. Overall, children show a positive approach towards learning and enjoyment during their time at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the quality of education further and build on how children's learning is challenged and extended to the very highest level
• consider ways to better organise and enhance group time in the toddler room so that all children can take an active part and benefit fully from their learning experiences.