Highmeadows Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy and are greeted warmly by the management team. They enjoy their time at nursery and are eager to share their experiences with staff. Older children are encouraged to change into their 'uniform' which builds on their growing independence skills and prepares them for future experiences at school. Babies are offered reassurance and cuddles when separating from their parents. This helps them to settle quickly.

Children's individual needs and specific learning are well considered. Staff quickly respond to children who may require additional support and to children who may need further challenge in their learning. The curriculum is focused on supporting children's communication and giving them the tools which help them understand their feelings and teach them how to be resilient.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the nursery remained open and provided high levels of support for children and their families. Parents commented on this as being very supportive at a 'tough time'. They praise staff for their dedication. Children form close relationships with staff who know them very well. Parents feel well informed about their children's care and education. Staff share daily information with parents on whiteboards which gives them an overview of the different experiences their children have had throughout the day.

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

• Staff working in the baby room build strong attachments to the children. The baby room leader has a good understanding of child development and supports less-experienced staff in their understanding of key skills babies need. Therefore, babies progress well. Children progress particularly well in their physical and communication skills from their starting points to where they are now developmentally.
• Mathematics skills and language are embedded throughout the nursery. Children learn simple fractions through cutting and staff encourage mathematical language such as 'half' and 'full'. Pre-school children are challenged in their learning and develop key knowledge which prepares them for future learning.
• Staff focus on children's speech and language through songs and stories. Younger children join in with nursery rhymes and actions and have access to a wide range of stories. Older children vote for the story of the month and this is threaded through the curriculum and planning for children's learning experiences. Children proudly talk about the beans they have planted and discuss how big they might grow.
• Children behave well. Staff use a range of strategies to help children learn how to regulate their emotions. Children learn to calm themselves and relax during various mindfulness activities. They use strategies to encourage children to understand feelings, relaxation and affirmations. Children show a good understanding of what it is to be unique and share this with staff and children.
• Relationships with parents are good. Parents feel well supported and talk about how safe they feel their children are. The nursery ensures that children have had good experiences despite the pandemic. For example, a socially distanced graduation party was arranged for the children where they proudly celebrated their achievements alongside parents, staff and the chief executive from the hospital.
• Generally staff and managers gather information from home to follow children's interests and use this to extend children's learning. However, this is not consistently applied across the nursery. In particular, this has not been fully embedded in the toddler room. As a result, learning experiences are not consistently high for all children.
• The management team completes peer observations and supervisions with staff and supports them to grow in confidence. However, areas of improvement for staff are not always clearly identified to develop their practice and key training is not always identified. As a result, not all staff are clear on their next steps in their professional development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to effectively use information about children to plan challenging learning opportunities in the toddler room to strengthen the experiences for all children
• enhance peer observations and supervision meetings to focus professional development opportunities more sharply on providing staff with clear targets that will enable them to provide the highest level of education to children.