Home from Home Day Nursery Academy Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in the well-organised nursery. They enthusiastically follow their interests while they explore and investigate the resources and environment. Using their skills and knowledge of how children learn, staff help to inspire and encourage children throughout the day. Staff use their acute knowledge of children's individual learning needs and preferences of where and how they learn best of all. This helps to focus their challenges and teaching to support children's rapid progress effectively. For example, staff encourage children to use chalks to create shapes on a large scale in the outside space. This supports young children's development in early writing and mathematics.

Children are exceptionally well supported to begin to recognise their feelings and emotions. Staff teach them strategies to help them regulate their reactions through structured activities such as yoga. Children recall the breathing techniques they have been taught when they feel their emotions building, helping them to regulate their bodies and feelings. Children spontaneously think about how they can resolve minor disputes themselves. For example, they find sand timers to facilitate sharing. Staff remind children to explain to their peers why they have placed the timer near them, allowing children to articulate their desire to take turns and to share in a positive way. This contributes to the harmonious and industrious environment.

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

• Babies and very young children have plenty of space to move around. Babies crawl to enticing baskets and resources and sit on the laps of the nurturing staff while they share books together. Staff repeat the babbles and early words babies make, helping them understand the concept of two-way communication. Young children move their bodies in delight while staff sing lively nursery rhymes. They join in with familiar words and actions and wait in anticipation for the next song. Older children help to recall traditional tales and favourite stories. They use props to help them remember the sequence of events, embellishing the story with exciting adjectives. By the time children leave for school, they are articulate, confident and highly independent learners.
• Staff work exceptionally well together. They hold frequent meetings and 'huddles' to discuss how they are going to incorporate targeted teaching methods to meet the learning needs of each child. This helps to put the well-planned and sequenced curriculum at the heart of the nursery. Providers have high expectations of staff. They have established highly robust systems for professional development that build autonomy and a deep understanding of how children learn effectively. As a result, all staff take responsibility to help ensure children make rapid progress in a safe and stimulating environment.
• Staff sensitively ensure transitions into and through the nursery help children feel safe and secure. Before children and babies join the nursery, staff visit them at home. They find out from parents about children's daily routines and interests and become a familiar face for children to recognise when they first arrive at nursery. Babies follow the care patterns they have already established at home, contributing to their security. When staff feel children are ready to move through to another group, key persons take them to spend time in their new environment. Staff provide resources and activities that can be found in their new room within the surroundings that children already know, allowing them to extend their learning experiences in different ways. As a result, by the time children make the final move to their new room, they are ready to embrace even more challenges.
• Partnerships with parents are very strong. Parents are welcome to join a committee along with staff. They share ideas and express their experiences in the nursery. These contribute to the continual adaptations and enhancements staff make. Parents report that they feel valued and recognise the role they play in continuing to support their children's learning at home. Providers send regular newsletters, which complement the information parents also receive through a secure electronic system and through the conversations they have with key persons.
• Staff demonstrate the respect they have for children through their conversations and actions. Unless absolutely necessary, babies and young children find a natural conclusion in their explorations or activities before they are invited to have a 'freshen up' with a change of nappy. Older children are supported to make decisions for themselves about when they need to eat or rest, helping them make independent choices about their care. They understand why they need to wash their hands and brush their teeth, contributing to positive attitudes towards health and hygiene.
• Children enjoy routine trips and exciting outings staff take them on. Regular visits to a community craft club for the elderly enable children to interact with people of an older generation. Staff make the most of local spaces and national exhibitions, helping to trigger further learning. The trips are purposeful and tailored to the group of children. For example, while babies are immersed in the sensory aspect of 'the moon' visiting the cathedral, older children focus on the accompanying artwork within the exhibition.