Highgate Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and have fun in the nursery. Younger children laugh with their friends when they run under a parachute that staff hold. Pre-school children are very confident communicators. They show their imagination when they tell visitors about an elf they have at home and how it comes to life at night-time. Pre-school children show excitement to play games with their friends. They understand the rules of the game, such as to touch another child's arm to release them if they stand still. Toddlers show kindness to others in the woodland area. When their friend falls on their bottom, they are encouraged to offer a helping hand to pull them up to standing.

Children enjoy the time they spend outdoors, either in the nursery garden or when staff take them to woodland. They are supported to secure their knowledge of language that describes size, for example when they are asked to compare the sizes of sticks they find. Children take and manage risks in a safe environment. Younger children negotiate different-level surfaces in the garden. Toddlers negotiate rougher terrain when they climb over sticks and leaves in a woodland area. Staff support pre-school children to learn about the seasons. Children sit and listen well when staff ask them to recall previous learning about autumn. Children say, 'The leaves fall down.'

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

• The manager has a clear intent for the curriculum which includes encouraging children to be independent. Younger children are given a supportive hand from staff to balance when they are asked to push their feet into boots. Toddlers are asked to peel their banana at snack time. Pre-school children take off their coats and shoes by themselves.
• Parents are kept informed of their children's achievements. They receive photos of activities children enjoy and are invited to attend meetings with staff to discuss their children's learning. Staff liaise with parents to help identify how best to support their children to progress in their development. This helps to provide a united approach to helping children achieve.
• Overall, staff encourage children's self-care skills well. Pre-school children get a tissue to blow their nose themselves. They are keen to be a 'helper' and work with their friends and staff to set tables for lunch. When children are at the nursery, they follow hand hygiene routines well. However, when staff take them into the woodland area, they do not consistently help children to understand the importance of following good hand hygiene routines.
• The manager supports her staff through supervision and staff meetings. Staff are encouraged to extend their professional development. They attend training courses to extend their knowledge of how to support children's communication and language skills. This helps to develop their understanding of how, for example, to give children time to answer the questions they ask them. This contributes to children's thinking skills.
• Staff model using good manners, helping to encourage children to be polite. Children are given plenty of praise to help raise their self-esteem. For example, staff say, 'Well done,' when toddlers use scissors safely to cut tissue paper.
• Staff offer children a healthy range of snacks, meals and drinks. They give parents information about the importance of registering their children with a dentist. However, staff do not fully support children to understand the importance of oral health.
• The manager and staff find out about children's home life and plan opportunities to broaden these experiences. For example, all children have opportunities to join staff in a woodland to explore and learn about the natural environment. Children receive plenty of physical exercise and fresh air, for example when they move logs to find worms.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to follow their interests in animals. Younger children enjoy listening to staff sing a song about a rabbit when they look at the nursery rabbit. Pre-school children collect eggs from the nursery chickens. Furthermore, staff take children to learn about other animals in the community, such as horses and cows.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's knowledge of how to support children to develop their understanding of the importance of oral health
• support staff to help children understand the importance of following hand hygiene routines, particularly when they are in the woodland area.