Heaton Lodge Children's Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are eager to arrive at this family friendly nursery and look forward to seeing their friends. Staff build positive relationships with families and welcome children warmly. Children develop strong bonds with their key person and wave to them when they see them. They show they feel safe and secure in their care. Babies go to staff for comfort and snuggle in for reassurance. Staff plan a safe and stimulating environment for children to learn. They encourage children to have a positive attitude to their learning. Children are happy and quickly engage in their play and their behaviour is good. The special educational needs coordinator works effectively with outside agencies to support children who need additional help. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities make good progress.

Children's physical skills are well supported. Staff encourage babies to take their first steps and offer challenge as they encourage the babies to go up small steps, as they hold the adults hands. Older children learn to pedal a tricycle. Children develop their small muscles. They use tools to scoop and fill containers. Young children explore mark making using their hands and older children learn to use tools. They master the art of using tongs to pick up their food. Children develop the skills they need for when they move on to school.

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

• Staff promote children's independence very well. There is a clear progression of skills across the nursery and children build on what they know and can do. Babies learn to feed themselves and older toddlers are supported to serve their food. Pre-school children become confident in carrying their plates to the table and serve their own food. Children become independent learners.
• Mealtimes are a social time. Staff sit with babies as they encourage them to feed themselves. They talk with toddlers about the foods they enjoy. Older children engage in conversations with their friends when they sit at the table and eat their lunch. Children build positive relationships and develop good social skills.
• Children listen to a range of stories, songs and rhymes. Staff sing with children throughout the day. Babies enjoy shaking musical instruments as staff sing action songs. Older children listen to stories as they learn about life cycles. Staff provide a lending library for children to choose a book to take home.
• Overall, children's communication and language is well supported. Staff comment on what children are doing and ask questions, giving time for children to respond. They speak clearly and introduce new words. For example, staff repeat the word 'pop' to babies, and they pop the bubbles. They repeat the word 'stomp' when talking about how the dinosaurs move. However, sometimes, staff do not always repeat the correct words back to younger children, for example they repeat the words 'baa baa' for sheep and 'foodies' when talking about food. This does not consistently support children to develop their use of spoken language.
• Staff are very supportive of children and families. They provide stay-and-play sessions and welcome parents into the nursery. Parents are very happy about the care their children receive and comment staff, 'go above and beyond' to support their needs. Children enjoy building friendships and have come on 'leaps and bounds' since starting the nursery. Parents feel their children are in 'safe hands' and report their children welcome the care and love from staff.
• Staff feel very supported in their roles. Leaders and managers give a high priority to staff well-being. Staff value the support and training they receive in their new roles. Leaders and managers implement effective supervision sessions that provide the opportunity for staff to discuss their key children and any areas of concern.
• Leaders and managers plan a curriculum to support children to develop the skills they need for their move on to school. However, sometimes, staff do not always fully understand the intent of the curriculum to be able to implement this consistently. For example, planning for a 'book of the month' is not consistently implemented. Staff do not always consider the intent of focus activities when completing the activity. This means that, sometimes, staff are not always clear on what they want children to learn from the activities they provide.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support all staff to consistently model correct language when repeating words back to children
• clarify the curriculum intent so that all staff fully understand and can implement this consistently, particularly during focus activities.