Kinder Kidz Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this nursery to a warm and welcoming environment, where they feel safe and valued. Staff take time to get to know each child and build strong and trusting attachments with them. This helps the youngest or newest children settle quickly and begin to explore with confidence. Staff interactions and the robust key-person approach help children feel safe and ready to learn.

Children are encouraged by staff to make choices. For example, they choose their activities and the songs they like to sing. Children confidently express themselves and take part in a wide range of activities carefully planned by staff. For example, they engage in imaginative play with staff in the home corner as they make 'strawberry milkshakes' for their tea party. Staff actively promote independence. Children learn to care for themselves through familiar routines, such as washing their hands and pouring their own drinks.

Staff are sensitive to children's emotional needs. They offer comfort and reassurance when children are tired or unsettled. Staff celebrate individuality for all children through the recognition of children's cultural heritage and experiences. They also encourage children to self-register on their arrival, helping children build strong relationships with others and developing a sense of belonging.

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

• Leadership and management are reflective and proactive. The provider has made considerable improvements since the last inspection. Staff benefit from strong professional development, regular supervision and constructive support to improve practice. This has led to improvements in the curriculum design and quality of teaching.
• The nursery places individuality at the heart of its curriculum. Children's voices, home lives and cultural identities are celebrated and woven into everyday experiences. Initiatives such as the 'weekend bear' allow children to share their lives outside nursery. This helps to spark conversations about family and new experiences back at the nursery. The use of local community outings and family photographs ensures that children see themselves represented in their environment while also learning about the wider world.
• Relationships between staff and children are caring and responsive. Children feel a strong sense of belonging. For example, when new children are settling, staff take the time to reassure them. They follow children's personalised routines to create a sense of familiarity. This helps to form the secure attachments with their new key person.
• The curriculum is carefully planned, balancing children's interests with wider opportunities to broaden their knowledge and experiences. Staff start to build their knowledge of children from the moment they join, undertaking baseline assessments on children. This helps them to provide a range of learning experiences that builds on what children already know and can do. However, on occasion opportunities to extend children's thinking go unnoticed by staff. This means that children do not fully benefit from the available learning experiences.
• Language development is supported. Staff use visual cues, such as photos and objects, to help children communicate. This includes support for those with speech and language delays or who speak English as an additional language. However, sometimes during play, staff fall quiet as they supervise children. This means that valuable back-and-forth conversation stops flowing. Furthermore, children are not always provided with opportunities to broaden their vocabulary through the introduction of new and interesting words.
• Support for disadvantaged children is impressive. Children including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive personalised support. Staff know them well. They work in partnership with parents and professionals and use resources thoughtfully to remove barriers to learning.
• Outdoor play is enjoyed by children. Staff take them on daily trips to the local spaces, such as the playground. Children learn about road safety, checking for moving cars before crossing the road. Children who are assigned as 'daily helpers' carry out risk assessment alongside staff, making sure the playground is safe before use.
• Parents are very positive about the care and education their children receive. They describe the setting as nurturing and supportive, highlighting the clear communication and progress they see in their children. They appreciate the ideas for learning at home and welcome the shared approach to children's education.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to be able to extend children's communication and language more effectively
• help staff confidently extend children's critical thinking and problem-solving skills and enable children to develop their own ideas.