Hephzibah Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very happy and settle into the familiar routines. They receive a warm welcome from the caring staff team. This supports children to settle in quickly, and they happily say goodbye to their parents. Children have developed close bonds with staff and often go to them for comfort or reassurance. Children are active and keep themselves occupied at the nursery. They choose from a large range of stimulating and exciting resources. Children particularly enjoy role play where they dress up as doctors. They listen to the 'heartbeat' of their dolls or that of their friends or staff and issue medicine to make them better. This shows that children understand the important role of a doctor. Staff support children to develop an understanding of people who help us in the community.

Children's language development is well supported. Children develop an interest in books, as staff make themselves available to read to small groups or individual children throughout the day. Children show great enthusiasm to share books they bring from home. They thoroughly enjoy playing the role of teacher, reading their books to their friends. Children's behaviour is good. They learn about the nursery rules and boundaries and know what is expected of them. Overall, children are kind and friendly towards each other.

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

• The manager is an inspirational leader and is very dedicated to supporting the staff team. She strives to ensure that the environment is a happy place to come to work and recognises that her staff's well-being is of the utmost importance. This creates a supportive and caring setting where staff enjoy their work with the children.
• Partnership working with the local authority is strong. The manager truly wants the very best outcomes for the children and families. She provides lots of guidance to parents and uses local community resources to signpost parents to these available support networks.
• Staff know their key children well and have a good awareness of how children learn. They provide many opportunities for them to experience a wide range of play, both inside and out in the garden. Staff observe and assess children's progress regularly so they know where children are at in their development. However, the curriculum is not completely focused on each child's unique individual needs to fully support them to meet their next steps in learning.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. The manager liaises closely with parents and other professionals to ensure the right support is offered quickly. There is good support for children who speak English as an additional language. Some staff speak additional languages, and they obtain key words when children start, which helps the children to feel secure and comfortable.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery, saying that staff are friendly and that their children are welcomed and well cared for. Communication is good, and parents receive daily updates on how their child has been. They are kept well informed about their child's progress and can share their observations of their child's progress. Parents are invited into the nursery often. For example, they are invited to share their experiences of a particular festival or to read stories to the children.
• Children's independence and self-care skills are encouraged throughout the day. Children are gently reminded to remember to use tissues to wipe their noses. They know to wash their hands at appropriate times of the day. They enjoy helping to lay the table for lunch and putting their friends' place mats, plates and cutlery out.
• Overall, children are familiar with the routines of the day. However, occasionally, staff do not ensure that all children understand that it is time to move on to the next activity or routine task. For example, when children joined together for story time, some children were not made aware of this and continued to play, missing out on the beginning of the story.
• Children have good opportunities to develop their physical skills. They enjoy playing in the well-resourced garden. They enjoy running around and climbing up the ladder of the climbing frame. Staff adapted the indoor provision during the day when there was strong wind outside, making the room into an obstacle course to enable children to be physically active and release some energy.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the use of planning so that activities consistently support each child to meet their individual next steps in learning
• manage transitions more effectively to minimise disruption and to help children know what is next.