Kido Tooting

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are settled and secure at the nursery, as staff are kind and provide warm care. Staff organise the stimulating environment to encourage children to want to explore and investigate. Children benefit from a well-planned curriculum as staff ensure that their individual needs, interests and learning styles are accommodated. Young children splash and laugh in the water tray and learn to make friends. They swirl their hands around on paint on the table, pretending it is an ice rink. Older children are confident talkers, as staff are skilled at introducing new ideas and concepts. Children are engrossed as they experiment with mixing paint and excitedly anticipate what new colours they will create. Staff encourage children's thought processes and ensure that activities are inclusive. For example, staff name colours in children's home languages and support children to express themselves.

Children learn how to manage their feelings and behaviour, as staff take time to provide gentle explanations and guidance. The nursery places a high priority on supporting children's love of books. Children engage in regular story time sessions and are keen to contribute their ideas. Staff read stories in an animated way, which supports children's enjoyment. The book lending library is popular, where children can choose their favourite books to share at home with parents. Children develop the vital skills which they need to support their language and communication.

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

• The management team is dedicated and a good role model for staff. It ensures that staff, children and parents can contribute towards the evaluation process to support future improvements. Overall, action plans address where targeted support is required. However, the improvements identified for the younger children are not always implemented quickly enough. This means that transitions for younger children are not always planned well enough to continuously engage children in meaningful learning.
• Overall, staff plan activities that support children to make good progress in their learning. They place a strong focus on sensory play, where children explore a range of materials such as foam, glitter and dough. Children excitedly explore textures and fill containers. However, staff plan some activities for babies that are too advanced and not appropriate for them, which means they lose interest.
• Staff recognise the importance of supporting children's emotional well-being. They encourage children to make links between home and the nursery. Children take turns to borrow the travelling teddy bear and share their experiences with their friends. Staff sensitively support key events in children's lives, such as providing resource bags when there is to be a new baby in the family. Children are therefore gently supported to adapt to new family situations.
• Staff say they enjoy working at the nursery and feel their well-being is supported by the management team. They receive regular hands-on guidance and support from leaders and managers to evaluate their practice. Staff's professional development is encouraged through a good variety of training opportunities. Staff say recent behaviour management training has helped them to support children to manage their feelings more positively. This supports children to develop positive attitudes towards their behaviour.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive good levels of targeted support. Staff engage well with parents and other professionals to identify clear targets to support good outcomes. Staff use visual prompts and sign language effectively to help children to feel settled and understand the routines. As a result, children with SEND make good progress.
• Children learn about healthy lifestyles. They learn about which food is good for them and talk about whether fruits taste sweet or sour. All children have access to the outdoor environment daily. They navigate space well and use the resources available to develop their coordination and balance. This supports children's physical health and well-being.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are very happy with the care their children receive and say their children have made good progress at the nursery. They value the opportunity to attend parents' meetings to discuss their children's progress and to share achievements. Parents say they enjoy listening to their children talk about nursery life and have heard children sharing new words they have learned in Spanish.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the planning of transitions to continuously engage children in meaningful learning
• plan and provide more age-appropriate and stimulating experiences for the younger children that capture their interests.