Honey Pot Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and thrive at this exceptional nursery. They develop wonderful relationships with staff. Both leaders and staff share a passion to implement a curriculum that is highly effective in supporting children's emotional well-being. Children who are new to the setting settle quickly, as highly trained staff respond with warmth and sensitivity to their needs and interests. Individually tailored settling-in procedures help children to feel confident and make secure bonds with staff. Staff consistently talk to children as they play alongside them and support their emotional well-being. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure by exploring their new environment with enthusiasm.

Staff are exceptionally skilled at following the lead of the children and provide exciting and inspiring activities that are linked to children's interests. Children are inspired to learn and are excited and enthusiastic. They show exceptional perseverance as they keep on trying with activities, from start to finish. For example, children beam with pride as they successfully chop potatoes into small pieces as they follow the recipe for vegetable soup.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff model positive behaviour and have high expectations for all children. Training for behaviour expectations of different age groups of children supports staff knowledge in this area. Older children correctly use a wide range of vocabulary to show their feelings.

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

• Leaders and staff plan and deliver an ambitious curriculum that covers all areas of children's learning and development. The quality of education is outstanding. The impact on what children know, understand and remember is highly effective. All staff know what they want children to learn to support them in their 'aims and aspirations'. This is firmly and consistently in place throughout the nursery. All children are supported to make rapid progress from their starting points.
• Through involvement in a national scheme, children learn about caring for the environment. Children join an 'eco committee', where they learn about key issues, such as ocean pollution, and implement ways to take positive action in their community. Children organise regular litter-picking events and have involved their families in a bio-diversity project by making 'bug hotels' at home. They enjoy numerous activities that help them to feel part of their community.
• Leaders place a very strong emphasis on promoting the welfare of staff and minimising any issues with workload. Staff praise the leadership team and feel extremely well supported in their roles. They are extremely positive about the supervision sessions and support provided to improve the quality of their teaching. All staff have a thorough understanding of how children learn and what they need to learn next.
• A key strength of the nursery is the support it has in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff communicate exceptionally well with parents and other professionals to ensure that children's needs are consistently met. Practical targets and superbly tailored teaching enable children to make excellent progress from their starting points.
• Children participate in a wealth of activities that support them in developing their physical skills. For example, they benefit from the physical challenges of the outdoor garden. They use large muscles to climb, run, balance, cycle, pour and dig. Children are also beginning to learn how to assess their own risks as they navigate the climbing wall and rope ladders.
• Children exceed in their understanding of rhythm, rhyme and letter sounds through promoting their love of stories and rhymes. In addition, through the use of additional funding to provide music and movement sessions, children are helped to gain early reading and writing skills needed for the next stage in their learning.
• Partnerships with parents are tremendous. Parents feel fully involved in their children's learning and feel that the nursery values their contributions to their children's learning. Leaders respond quickly to parents' suggestions and work alongside them to provide unique experiences that value the different cultures and beliefs of the families they work with. For example, all children enjoy learning about the European tradition of St Nicholas during the festive period. This supports all children and families to feel valued at the setting.