Kinderzimmer Berkhamsted

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

An exceptionally well-arranged curriculum and learning environment are in place, that have the needs of every child at their heart. Staff carefully plan learning opportunities to encourage children's curiosity and exploration. Babies explore cornflour using their hands and feet, immersing themselves fully in the sensory experiences on offer. Staff continuously evaluate and adapt the learning environment, responding rapidly to children's changing interests. They introduce resources to babies on different levels in their room. This motivates babies who are becoming mobile to persevere to reach the resources which interest them most and helps them to develop their physical strength at the same time.

Staff engagement with children is highly effective and purposeful. The experienced staff team recognises when children need support or would benefit from less intervention. As a result, children become deeply engaged in their learning. For instance, staff monitor children as they take time to consider how to negotiate a steep slope in the garden safely by themselves. They praise children once they successfully complete this task and prompt children to do it again to master the skill fully. This helps to maximise what children gain from the activities they complete, as they confidently lead their own play and learning.

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

• The nursery has recently opened. Despite this, staff have a clear understanding of the vision that leaders have for the provision. They have quickly embedded systems to ensure that all children's progress is carefully monitored, to provide any required intervention as early as possible. As a result, all children make rapid progress from their initial starting points.
• Children settle quickly and demonstrate that they are happy. Babies confidently approach visiting adults, bringing them containers to engage them in their play. Key persons, along with the wider staff team, know the children exceptionally well. They are fully aware of each individual child's needs and use their strong knowledge of child development to ensure that children get the most from the learning experiences on offer.
• Children become highly effective communicators. Staff who work with babies follow their cues instinctively. They introduce new words as children play, and older babies quickly begin to join words together to communicate their understanding. Older children lead informal singing sessions, where staff join in and follow their lead. Staff sit with children and discuss what they can see out of the window, allowing children to lead these naturally occurring conversations. Staff ask thought-provoking questions, allowing children plenty of time to think deeply before they respond.
• Leaders have worked hard to establish the nursery within the local community, and a sympathetic transformation to the listed building the nursery operates from has resulted in an award of recognition. The dedicated manager has formed positive working relationships with other services. For instance, children have exclusive access to the local library outside of normal operating hours, so that they can fully explore the books at their own pace. As a result, children who attend fully benefit from a wide range of opportunities and experiences outside of the nursery.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to learn from one another, such as mixed-age groups completing activities together. Children form strong friendships and thrive on helping one another. For instance, they help their friends across the obstacle course in the garden, holding their hands as they balance across more challenging beams. Children not only help their friends, but staff as well. Toddlers keenly ask staff for cloths to help clean tables and watch the older children complete this task. This helps them to understand how to complete the task successfully themselves.
• Staff instinctively adapt their interactions to follow children's leads. They focus on the process instead of the end result, and adapt their planning as activities evolve. For example, younger children experiment with food colouring during a play dough activity and staff provide paper so that the children can follow their interest in making patterns using the different colours. This contributes to the high levels of focus and engagement children display.
• There is a real focus on the well-being of staff, children and parents. The highly reflective leadership team oversees the nursery and provides staff with exceptional support and a full and robust induction into their roles. The inspirational manager encourages staff to reflect and evaluate their own practice regularly. Recruitment processes are robust, and involve the whole staff team, making staff feel highly valued.