Highdale Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, sociable and highly independent. Staff greet children with the warmest of welcomes. Children rush in, find their friends, and start playing with the engaging toys and exciting learning opportunities staff provide. Children use these opportunities to gain new knowledge or to practise new skills. For example, young children persevere using a rolling pin to flatten dough. Older children develop strong abilities to solve problems as they attempt to build dens.

Managers have created an ambitious curriculum with a focus on children's personal, social and emotional development. Staff understand this focus and skilfully engage and interact with children at all times to help children develop a strong sense of self and to feel well supported and valued. Children thrive on these high-quality interactions. Staff know all children extremely well and continually monitor their learning and development. This means all children achieve their goals and make great strides in their learning ready for school.

The nursery is a hive of activity and business. Children are constantly absorbed in meaningful and challenging play. They are energetic and highly motivated inside and out in the garden. They show pure joy as they expertly use tape measures to find out how much their bean plants have grown. They confidently use mathematical language and show they understand concepts such as, big, small, tall, and short.

Children love books and stories. They eagerly ask staff to put up the book tent and go inside. They listen attentively as staff enthusiastically read stories. Children confidently use a wide range of vocabulary to retell stories using puppets and props. These experiences support the development children's early literacy skills.

Children benefit hugely from extensive opportunities to learn about their local community and the world around them. They visit the local fruit and vegetable shop and use real money to buy fresh produce to make smoothies. Children are learning how to look after their bodies and how to make healthy food choices.

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

• Staff have the highest expectations of what all children can achieve. They have created an incredibly positive and emotionally safe environment where simple rules and routines are sensitively reinforced. Children engage in activities for an extended length of time. For instance, older children cooperatively build dens with their friends. Younger children actively take part in song time, giggling as they pretend to be monkeys jumping on the bed. This builds children's concentration skills and gives them a strong foundation for future learning.
• Staff's interactions and engagement with children are inspirational. As a result, children demonstrate excellent conversational skills. Staff expertly use a range of teaching skills to check children's understanding of unfamiliar words and to regularly introduce new vocabulary. For example, staff skilfully explain the word 'dehydrate' to older children who ask why they need to have a drink at snack time. Children's language and communication skills develop rapidly.
• Staff highly value children's uniqueness and character and act as excellent role models. Children continuously show respect for both staff and their peers. They listen carefully to ideas and respond to each other. Children independently use sand timers to take turns and share toys.
• Managers have developed a curriculum that is inspirational and ambitious for all children. There is a strong focus on building children's confidence, supporting their emotional awareness and encouraging children to have a 'zest for life'. Children show this through their infectious enthusiasm and keenness to join in and 'have a go'.
• Staff skilfully help children learn to understand their emotions and to be aware of the feelings of others. Children consistently demonstrate their incredibly well-developed empathy skills. For instance, young children hug their friends and give them toys when they are a little upset.
• Staff plan and deliver a wealth of wonderful experiences and resources for children to explore. This encourages children to have 'awe and wonder of the world'. For example, children find bugs and insects in the garden and staff use this as an opportunity to extend children's knowledge. Staff teach children how to use magnifying glasses to look for similarities and differences between the different insects. This expands on children's natural curiosity and encourages them to want to find out more.
• Children are incredibly independent in all aspects of their play and self-care. Young children ably find their wellies and put on their coats and manage zips without adult support. Staff expertly teach them how to do this using the 'magic coat trick.' Children beam with pride in their achievements and show they have high self-esteem and belief in themselves.
• Staff go above and beyond to help parents support children's learning at home. They share their expertise and signpost parents to a range of available support and online resources. Parents comment on how happy children are to come each day. They talk about the exceptional care staff show children.