Heath House Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and eager to learn at this welcoming nursery. They form secure relationships with the caring staff, who are responsive to their needs. New children settle quickly into the routines of the day due to the tailored settling-in process. Children readily engage, on their own or with friends, in a variety of exciting activities. This helps to further develop their interests.

Children learn to adopt healthy lifestyles from the start. They learn about the effect of exercise on their bodies and enjoy participation in physical exercises run by an external sports coach. During these sessions, children show great control and coordination as they use different sports equipment. Children know that washing their hands before mealtimes helps to stop the spread of infection. They thoroughly enjoy the nutritious and well-balanced meals from a variety of cultures represented at the nursery. This helps to promote good health and well-being.

Children demonstrate high expectations of behaviour set by staff. Older children show a sense of responsibility and willingly support the younger ones in carrying out certain tasks, such as inviting them into their play. Children are encouraged to use sign language as a way to communicate with others. Younger children confidently use 'please' and 'thank you' signs. This assists children in becoming courteous towards others.

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

• The dedicated leaders continuously reflect on the effectiveness of the education and care children receive. They are committed to improvement, with plans in place to further increase the positive experiences of children, such as the refurbishment of the main outdoor area. The plan is to incorporate all areas of learning for children to explore freely, use their imaginations and make connections in their play. Leaders value their staff, with a strong emphasis on supporting their emotional well-being. This means that there is a strong team in place.
• Leaders and staff consider children's personal, social and emotional development to be a high priority. This is a need also identified as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's learning. Children are encouraged to recognise different emotions and relate these to their own experiences. There are dedicated quiet areas in each room, where staff help children to manage their emotions more effectively.
• The special educational needs coordinator plays a vital role in leading joint working with external professionals and parents. Consequently, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities perform as well as their peers. For instance, children with communication difficulties exchange photographs to indicate things they would like to do. This leads to their growing independence and confidence. Staff's ongoing dedication to this process has proved highly successful.
• Leaders and staff understand how young children learn. On the whole, they have devised an ambitious, sequenced curriculum based on children's needs, abilities and interests. However, individual children's learning is not fully maximised when staff interact with small groups of older children. At the planning stage, staff do not consistently consider children's individual learning needs and how to enable them to achieve their best.
• Children love to explore, both indoors and outdoors. For example, they handle ice and watch it melt to water in the garden. However, in the pre-school room, sometimes, there are high levels of noise as children play. This is distracting for children, who wish to spend quiet time sharing a story with a staff member. As a result, children are unable to hear important information or participate in a sustained two-way conversation. They use short answers to questions posed, while quite capable of more detailed responses.
• Children are encouraged to be independent from the start. This works well, as all teams work closely to help children manage their own self-care needs in an age-appropriate way. For instance, babies are encouraged to find tissues to clean their noses, and older children clean their own noses, remembering to dispose of the tissues in the bin after use. This helps to prepare children for their next stage in education.
• Parents speak highly of the staff and their good communication. They are impressed with the online application, which keeps them informed of their child's progress, as well as giving them ideas to work at home with their children. This helps to provide continuity of learning and care. Parents say their children are making 'strides in their confidence and speaking skills.'

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review planning of group activities to consistently match and support individual children's needs, to allow them to achieve their best
• manage noise levels in the pre-school room, to enhance children's levels of engagement and ability to fully contribute to conversations.