Heathside Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders have worked with staff and other agencies to make the required improvements in the setting. The new manager has created a sequenced and exciting curriculum for all children. Staff have attended curriculum training and accessed other useful courses, such as supporting children's communication, language and thinking skills. As a result, the quality of education is much improved and outcomes for children are good. Staff now ask children more open-ended questions as they play and interact with them. In addition, they understand that they need to give children time to think and respond. As a result of this, children are confident communicators who enjoy taking part in discussions with the staff and their friends.

Staff take time to get to know children and their parents when they first join the setting. They gather lots of useful information about children and their families. Staff use this information to help them understand and plan for children's individual care and learning needs. As a result, children are supported to make good progress from the outset.

Staffing arrangements in the setting are now more settled. As a result, children are able to build secure attachments to key members of staff. All children, including children who are new to the setting, are happy and demonstrate that they feel safe and secure. Staff are good role models who have high expectations for children's behaviour. Their simple yet consistent reminders about conduct, alongside an abundance of praise, help children to understand their own and other's feelings. Furthermore, this builds children's confidence and helps them feel a sense of pride in their achievements.

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

• Due to new and improved arrangements for staff supervision and coaching, the implementation of the curriculum is now much better. This means all children, including children who are funded, make good progress across all areas of learning. Staff will benefit from even more incisive feedback and timely monitoring of their teaching practice, to enable consistently high standards of educational practice across the team.
• Staff model language well and engage in meaningful discussions with children. For example, staff respond to babies' babbles and encourage them to repeat single words. Staff introduce new words to toddlers, such as 'red car' and 'yellow lion' as they read their favourite books. Pre-school children confidently talk in a group. For instance, they vividly recall and talk about their home life experiences.
• Staff regularly observe children. They use what they know about children to plan a broad range of activities and experiences that are linked to their interests and support their individual next steps. However, some staff do not share assessment information in a timely way when children move to a new room in the setting. This does not best support children's continued progress at this time. That said, other routine assessments carried out by staff are timely and, as a result, children's learning and development are overall, supported.
• Overall, staff purposefully interact with the children. For example, babies are encouraged to develop their core-muscle skills as they practise sitting up. Toddlers refine their small-muscle skills as they copy staff and make snips in dough with scissors. Staff challenge older children to predict how many scoops of water it will take to fill a large jug. However, staff do not always reshape and adapt activities to suit all children's preferred way of learning. As a result, some children become frustrated and their learning is momentarily interrupted.
• Staff are good role models. As a result, children develop good manners and respect for others from an early age. Children say please, thank you and excuse me without any prompting from the staff. Additionally, children are kind and extremely helpful. Staff support children to become increasingly independent. For example, they encourage children to serve themselves meals, pour their own drinks and have a go at placing on aprons and coats.
• Children have access to a large and well-equipped outdoor area. This provides many opportunities for them to practise their physical skills. For example, children confidently scale the climbing frame, ride bicycles and scooters, and they have lots of space to run freely. Additionally, children learn about wildlife as they safely observe and talk about the wild rabbits with the staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to embed the new arrangements for staff coaching to raise the quality of educational practice to the highest levels across the team
• support staff to shape and adapt activities in a timely way to better support children's preferred ways to learn
• strengthen information sharing as children move through rooms in the setting.