Highbury Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and thrive in this stimulating and welcoming environment. Staff are friendly. Positive relationships between staff and children help them feel valued. Staff are attentive to the needs of all the children they care for. Children behave well. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They show respect and listen to what children say. They provide gentle reminders and explanations to help children learn about rules and boundaries. Children show respect for others, encouraging their friends to join in, and take turns.

Children are enthusiastic and active learners. They are eager to explore resources around them and to find out how things work. For example, older children keenly mix different coloured paints and observe how the colours change. Younger children explore with water and ice and babies enjoy looking at sensory books and playing with puppets. Children have built strong friendships and look forward to playing with one another. Staff are caring and praise children as they learn new knowledge and skills.

Children have plenty of opportunities to develop their language and learn new words. They listen to stories and sing familiar songs. This means all children are making good progress in their language development.

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

• The curriculum is well planned and sequenced. Staff know the children very well and regularly observe and track their progress. They plan exciting activities based on children's interests, what they know and what they need to know next. Any gaps in learning are quickly identified. The curriculum is ambitious and challenging. However, staff do not always take the opportunity to challenge the most-able children further, to raise achievements even more.
• Settling-in procedures are effective and help children feel safe and secure. Staff work closely with parents to identify children's starting points and their capabilities. This helps the children to make a smooth move to the setting. As a result, children settle in well and develop confidence to explore the many interesting activities and resources the setting has to offer.
• Staff support all children's emotional well-being, offering praise and reassurance when children need it. They interact with children warmly during care routines, such as nappy changes and rest times. Children look forward to the healthy snacks and lunch. However, some routines for younger children are not as well managed as others in the setting. Children's play can be interrupted by carrying out task, such as washing hands, and they can spend a long time waiting.
• Children behave well and are curious to learn. Children persevere at tasks and activities even when they become difficult and receive huge praise from the staff. This promotes children's resilience and helps them to become motivated lifelong learners.
• Staff plan carefully to develop all children's physical skills. Babies crawl and cruise around furniture confidently. Toddlers and pre-school children have fun running, jumping, and learning to balance. This helps improve their big muscles. Children paint, squeeze play dough and use jugs to pour and fill water. This helps them strengthen the muscles in their hands.
• The manager and staff have high expectations and work hard to achieve the best outcomes for the children they care for. They work with parents to address any concerns with children's learning and development. All children, including those who speak English as an additional language, make good progress in relation to their starting points.
• Partnerships between parents, the staff and manager are good. They are given regular feedback through the nursery app and daily discussions. Staff regularly discuss development in children's learning and keep them up to date with developments. This ensures parents are involved in their children's learning.
• Staff talk positively about leaders, and the support they receive. Leaders work closely with staff to support their learning through training and development. Staff receive effective support and value regular supervision meetings.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to build on and provide further challenge to extend children's learning
• improve how transitions for younger children are arranged to ensure their learning needs are met at all times.