Hippitots Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this family-orientated nursery. Babies benefit from a small home-from-home environment, where staff focus on babies' individual care and learning needs. For example, staff gather detailed information from parents when they arrive. If babies arrive tired, they adapt their routine to provide opportunities for extended sleep. Children are very happy in the nursery. Older children thoroughly enjoy making 'cement' and building a museum outside. Two-year-old children demonstrate they are happy as they talk confidently to staff as they turn a cardboard box into a bus. Parents comment that their children are very happy in the nursery. Children behave well. They are polite and well mannered. At mealtimes, children say please and thank you. Three-year-old children politely ask older children for help with the masking tape. They remember to thank children for their help.

Staff have high expectations for children's achievement. Older children learn to write their name in preparation for school. They demonstrate an in-depth understanding of books, including an understanding that text is read from left to right and from top to bottom. Children are safe in the setting. Staff ensure that all children have suntan lotion on before going outside. Older children learn to negotiate stairs safely as they go out to play in the garden.

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

• Staff have thought carefully about the order in which children develop skills. An example of this is at lunchtime, when there is a clear progression throughout the nursery in the skills that children develop. For instance, babies begin to feed themselves with a spoon while older children serve themselves meals.
• Children are, generally, engaged in their learning. Older children thoroughly enjoy building their village. They concentrate well as they build a doctor's surgery and pizza shops from blocks. They explore how effective masking tape is at holding blocks together. Staff support children's learning effectively. They give suggestions about how they can extend play and ask thought-provoking questions for children to express their thoughts and ideas.
• Staff know children well and plan activities to support their interests. During the inspection, staff build on two-year-old children's interest in treasure. They bury treasure and explore it together to help children develop concentration.
• Children concentrate well, overall. For example, two-year-old children are deeply engaged as they explore the feel of sand. They watch intently as it flows through the holes of plant pots. However, there are occasions, particularly during large-group time activities, when a small number of children lose concentration.
• Staff work well with a range of professionals. They have very strong working relationships with schools to support children as they move on to reception classes. They talk to schools before and after children move to ensure they prepare children effectively, building on any suggestions for the next year. They liaise with professionals from health to identify ways that they can best support children and their families.
• Staff have a well-thought-out curriculum. They know what they want children to learn, and plan activities to develop this further. They adapt the activities to support the different learning needs of individual children. For example, pre-school staff give younger children suggestions about what they can use in the construction area, while other children follow their own ideas.
• Staff say that they are very well supported. They access a range of training to strengthen their knowledge further. They feel the team is open, welcoming and supportive. This means that they share good practice with each other and ask for advice to strengthen practice further. However, although the managers spend time in rooms to monitor staff practice, this is not yet sufficiently thorough enough. They do not identify and swiftly address the minor inconsistencies in staff practice.
• Children learn how they can keep themselves healthy. For example, they have plenty of fresh air and enjoy healthy, balanced meals. Staff teach children the importance of washing their hands before eating and after playing outside. They talk about how they can keep themselves safe in the sun.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen supervision sessions and monitoring procedures to swiftly identify and address the minor inconsistencies in staff practice
• help children to maintain high levels of engagement throughout the routines, particularly during group activities.