Holland Park Pre-Prep and Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at the nursery happy, and are confident to say goodbye to their parents. They are excited to join their friends and engage in the wide range of play and learning experiences available. Children demonstrate positive behaviour and get on well with one another. They have formed close relationships with staff as they approach them for a cuddle or to talk about their day. For example, they are confident to discuss their experience of visiting the doctor to get a vaccination. Children are keen to ask questions about what happened during their visit. Staff skilfully encourage and extend these impromptu discussions to support children's interests and to extend their knowledge and understanding of the roles of medical professionals.

Children who need extra help with their learning progress very well from their starting points. This is because staff have high expectations for all children. They are duly focussed on planning individual next steps to support them in making the progress they need. For example, children develop confidence in speaking and listening, as staff spend time engaging in purposeful and well-planned communication activities. The impact is that children gain confidence in expressing themselves. This helps to prepare them well for their future learning and their move to school.

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

• The management team has a clear vision for future developments at the nursery. They are committed to supporting all children. They work in partnership with parents and professionals to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. This is confirmed by the very positive feedback from parents who express their appreciation for all the support their children receive to help them make good progress.
• Managers are duly focused on supporting staff's well-being and provide them with valuable professional development to extend their knowledge and skills. They are aware of staff's strengths and aspects of their practice that can be developed further. However, recent monitoring has not been precise enough to identify that some adult-led experiences do not fully support all children's learning.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and the caring staff. They comment on how well their children are developing and enjoy hearing them talk about their friends. Parents express they feel well informed about how to support their children's learning at home. They value opportunities to join their children on planned visits, such as visiting the Tate Modern and found these to be valuable learning opportunities.
• Staff plan exciting phonics sessions with children. The children are keen to share their knowledge of letter sounds; they are able to recognise familiar print to support their early reading. Children enthusiastically use their fingers to trace letter shapes on the interactive white board. They are learning to wait their turn, as staff reassure them that everyone is going to have a go. Staff overall promote positive role models to children. This supports children to learn to work cooperatively and develop positive attitudes to learning.
• Children are developing important independent skills as they confidently make choices about their play. They enjoy serving their own lunch and helping themselves to more food when they are still hungry. Children enjoy healthy meals and snacks. However, staff's management of lunchtime routines does not maximise children's opportunities to develop their learning further. Particularly with regards to engaging in conversations with children during these important social experiences.
• Staff effectively teach children to respect their environment as they talk with them about the importance of recycling. Children know they need to recycle paper and materials as they learn to place the different items in the correct bin.
• Children enjoy being active as they develop good physical skills. They are excited to play in the outdoor areas, where they learn to skilfully walk on small stilts. Children establish good coordination and spacial awareness as they ride bikes, climb and build with large blocks.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen planning of adult-planned activities in order to focus teaching more precisely on the targeted learning intentions for all children
• review and enhance some parts of the daily routines to maximise the learning for all children.