Kids Inc Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children have fun and progress well. Babies form strong bonds with their key person. They develop the confidence to explore their environment, quickly learning that there is a cuddle waiting for them when they need comfort or reassurance. One-year-old children receive the same nurturing care as they engage in activities specifically planned to help them develop their social skills. They happily play alongside other children, for example as they explore the properties of resources such as cornflour mixed with water.

Older children develop independence in their learning and join in with activities enthusiastically. They engage in animated conversations with their friends and with staff. Children concentrate well, for example as they construct buildings and roadways. Children enjoy looking at books and staff skilfully build on this interest. For example, a recent fascination with a book about volcanoes led to an activity to make a model volcano and discussions about features such as lava.

Children are friendly, polite and behave very well. Staff use positive and consistent methods to support children to understand what is expected of them, and offer gentle reminders when necessary. Children learn, from an early age, to listen to others, share and take turns. This helps them to develop important social skills and to prepare them for their future learning.

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

• Leadership and management is inspirational. The newly established senior management team has extremely high aspirations. Regional managers have spent time evaluating all aspects of the nursery's practices and the impact they have on staff and children. They have developed a very accurate knowledge of the strengths and areas where improvement is needed. They are currently implementing a precisely targeted package of support that reflects the unique needs of the nursery.
• All staff, including apprentices, receive a great deal of support to continually develop their professional skills and knowledge. They benefit from an extensive range of training opportunities and receive regular one-to-one supervision.
• Staff work very well together, creating an efficient service that is centred around promoting the well-being of children. Staff communicate highly effectively within each room and throughout the nursery. The personalities, preferences and developmental needs of each child are fully understood and their moves between rooms are managed sensitively.
• The member of staff who coordinates the care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities has a detailed knowledge of the very specific needs of each child. She works closely with their key person, parents and outside agencies to agree and constantly update individual care plans.
• Children play and learn in an environment that is rich in language. Staff working with all age groups speak clearly to children as they play, introducing new vocabulary and modelling good grammar.
• While teaching is strong overall, some areas of learning are promoted more effectively than others. Children enjoy regular opportunities to engage in physical play. The babies in particular benefit from using a range of resources that help to develop their mobility. The layout of the nursery means that rooms used by older children do not have easy access to the outdoor play space. There is a timetable to ensure all children spend time outside each day. However, this has not been organised as effectively as possible to make the very best use of this popular space.
• Children's creativity is promoted through games such as role play. Staff teach children a lot of skills to support their expressive art and design, including using scissors, mixing paint effects and using a variety of tools to make marks. However, staff sometimes plan art activities a little too rigidly. This results in children creating artwork that all looks similar rather than using the techniques they have learned to express their own ideas. This is an area that has been identified for improvement by the senior management team.
• Changes have been made to the way in which information about children's progress is shared with their parents. For example, staff write a letter to each child that summarises their learning and sets out what is planned for them in the immediate future. These have proved very popular with parents, who feed back that the letters offer a personal touch that shows how well staff know their children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the organisations of some aspects of the daily routine to maximise the support for children who like to spend time outdoors and to enhance further the opportunities for older children to engage in active play
• support staff to understand how to enable children to use the artistic skills and techniques they learn to explore their own ideas and to express themselves in their artwork.