Henry's Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in the setting. They confidently talk and play with one another and with the familiar nursery staff. Children of all ages enjoy choosing activities from the selection available both indoors and outdoors. Staff are skilful in noticing and supporting any children who need additional help to become engaged in play and learning. They are attentive to children, and ensure their care needs are well supported. Staff form warm relationships with the children in their care and children are comfortable to seek them out for comfort, assistance and conversation.

Children behave very well in the setting. They enjoy playing cooperatively together. For example, older babies exchange play food items and negotiate going in and out of a playhouse. Pre-school children discuss their drawings as they sit alongside each other, and engage in imaginative play with toy dragons. When staff do intervene to support cooperative play, children listen to their suggestions and respond positively. Children are encouraged to develop their independence and self-help skills as they progress through the setting. For example, early walkers fetch their own shoes ready to go outside, and two-to-three-year olds fetch their coats and are encouraged to try and put them on. Pre-school children put on their own coats and begin to learn to do them up.

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

• Staff observe and assess children's play and learning, and planning is based on these observations. Staff undertake termly reviews of children's progress. This enables them to identify and support any gaps in children's learning. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those in receipt of additional funding, make good progress.
• The daily routine for two-to-four-year-olds incorporates both group activities and self-chosen play. During self-chosen play, children become fully engaged in activities for long periods of time and have the opportunity to explore materials. For example, two-year-old children explore a puddle by pushing a vehicle through and noticing its tracks, before cautiously stepping into the puddle. Pre-school children spend time painting. They notice the colour changing as it is mixed, investigate the texture of the paint and experiment with the shapes they make. However, planning for adult-led group activities is not effective enough to ensure all children are fully engaged and challenged.
• There are daily opportunities for babies and children to look at books and be read to. Very young children choose to look at books and pretend to read to their toys. Older children sing the repetitive refrain from a favourite book as they make worms with playdough.
• Staff skilfully incorporate mathematical language into a variety of activities. For example, babies hear positional language as they put toys 'in' and 'out' of a small house. Two-year-olds begin to use language for size as they use small and large cutters in play dough.
• Staff support children's early language development well. They model and repeat words to the youngest children. Older children demonstrate their growing vocabularies as they engage in two-way conversations with staff.
• Children are well prepared for the next stage in their education. The focus on developing self-help skills and independence supports their self-confidence to develop well.
• There are daily opportunities for physical activity in the garden. Staff teach children about healthy eating through incidental discussions, for example while they make a play dough cake. Children thoroughly enjoy eating the appetising and healthy lunch provided. The nursery menu has recently been reviewed to ensure it meets current requirements. All food is freshly prepared on site.
• Leaders and managers have some systems in place to monitor provision. They have made changes to reduce staff workload, and they ensure staff have regular supervisions and appraisals. However, current systems to monitor staff practice are not fully effective in supporting staff to improve their teaching.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Parents provide positive and constructive feedback about the setting. Leaders and managers adapt practice in response to this. For example, they recently re-introduced daily diaries for all children. Parents particularly value the good communication about their children's experiences and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• improve processes for monitoring staff practice to more effectively support staff to improve the quality of their teaching
• review the planning of group activities to ensure they provide opportunities for learning which will fully engage and challenge all children.