Highview Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy and eager to learn. Staff provide a homely and welcoming environment. They get to know children very well and form strong bonds with them. This helps children to feel safe, secure and promotes their emotional well-being. Staff role model good manners and respectful behaviours to one another. Children then copy this behaviour when interacting with their friends. They show a good understanding of the rules, such as not speaking over each other, and are quickly learning what is expected of them.

On the whole, staff implement a broad and balanced curriculum that supports all children to make progress. Communication and language development is a strong focus at the nursery. Staff model the correct language and introduce children to a range of vocabulary. Children use words, such as gigantic and tiny to describe what they see through the magnifying glass. Staff spend lots of time talking to children and engaging them in dialogue. They ask open-ended questions that promote children's thinking skills and are patient when waiting for a response. Children hold lengthy back-and-forth conversations about their home life, family members and what they enjoy doing at nursery. They are confident and articulate communicators.

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

• The manager has a good understanding of what she wants children to learn. Overall, she plans a well-sequenced curriculum that is flexible to support children's unique needs. However, some group activities do not have a sharp enough focus and are too long. Consequently, some children lose interest and disengage, hindering their learning experience.
• Staff consider what children already know and what they need to learn next when planning accurate next steps in learning. Robust monitoring procedures are in place to check for any gaps in children's development. Additional funding is used appropriately, to narrow these gaps, and help all children to make good progress.
• The support in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is well-embedded. The special educational needs and disability coordinator uses her knowledge to implement accurate target learning plans, to support children while they wait for outside referrals. She is passionate about her role and works tirelessly to ensure children receive the support they need. This helps to prepare children with SEND for the next stage in their learning.
• Literacy development is promoted strongly across the nursery. Children have continuous access to books and mark making equipment. They demonstrate good pencil control and are beginning for form some recognisable letters.
• Children access the nursery lending library each week and take part in reading tasks to further embed a love of reading for pleasure. They giggle with excitement as they act out scenes from their favourite story, demonstrating excellent recall.
• Managers implement unique ways to teach children about similarities and differences between themselves and others. Children use home-learning books to share information about their home life, family dynamics and cultures with their friends. This promotes discussion and helps children to learn about people that are different from themselves.
• Children are developing some lovely independence skills appropriate to their age. They confidently pour drinks, self-serve lunch and wash their own hands. However, staff do not consistently support children to learn about good hygiene routines. For instance, children are not taught about the importance of covering their mouths when coughing, to help prevent the potential spread of infection.
• Parent partnerships are strong. Parents are happy with the quality of care provided and value the hard work of staff. They are involved in children's learning from the start and receive updates about children's development. Staff share ideas of how learning can be extended at home and children discuss their home learning with their friends at nursery. This well-embedded two-way flow of information helps to ensure continuity in children's care and learning.
• The manager is knowledgeable and committed to her role. She works closely with the staff team to help guide and support them in their own roles. Staff receive a robust induction and ongoing coaching and mentoring. They access a range of professional development opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills further. This helps to ensure children receive a good quality of education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus group activities more sharply on the learning intentions to help children remain engaged for longer
• support staff to implement more consistent hygiene routines and teach children the importance of these, to help reduce the potential spread of infection.