Kinderzimmer Sunbury-on-Thames

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children excitedly enter the nursery and are warmly welcomed by friendly staff, who take the time to greet each child. They show a strong sense of security as they rush in with huge smiles, eager to start their busy day. Staff quickly engage with children as they settle into the motivating and stimulating indoor activities that await them. This demonstrates that children feel safe and valued.

Leaders and staff create an ambitious and broad curriculum. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. In the rooms, staff thoughtfully plan enriching activities that reflect the children's interests, spark their curiosity and support their next steps in learning. For example, during the story 'Handa's Surprise', staff focus on exploring features of the different animals and fruits. Overall, staff value children's contributions in two-way conversations, which helps to enrich children's language.

Supporting children's personal, social and emotional development is a clear priority. Children have opportunities to express themselves, make choices and take ownership of their learning. Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour and act as positive role models. From an early age, children learn to share, take turns and show respect for others. Their developing social skills are evident when they approach and interact with new people. This helps to prepare children well for the next stage in their education, including their move to school.

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

• Despite a period of change and the introduction of a new management team, the nursery maintains a good standard of care and education. Experienced senior leaders support the new management team effectively and demonstrate an accurate oversight of the nursery's strengths and priorities for improvement. They are passionate about their vision and the enhancements they are embedding into daily practice. Collectively, the leaders have robustly reviewed and monitored the procedures for managing children's safe eating routines, particularly for those with food allergies and intolerances.
• Staff are skilled at swiftly identifying emerging gaps in children's learning. They work closely with parents and other professionals to agree appropriate next steps, and they put different strategies in place to help children move forward. Staff support children with SEND with sensitivity and understanding, for instance by recognising when they need quiet time from a busy room. Leaders attend school meetings with school staff and parents to share important information about these children, in order to aid a smooth move on to school.
• Overall, staff support communication and language skills effectively. In the baby room, staff read stories with expression and introduce carefully chosen key words for them to hear. Toddler-room staff build on this by incorporating language interventions, while in the pre-school room, children are encouraged to use mathematical language as they explore concepts such as increasing and decreasing numbers on digital scales. However, at times, staff's teaching strategies do not fully challenge or extend the skills of more confident talkers. For example, some staff ask a series of questions without allowing children sufficient time to process and respond in more detail.
• Children develop their physical skills and enjoy spending time in the fresh air. The garden is equipped with resources suitable for older children to promote their balance, stamina and coordination, such as tricycles. The outdoor activities available often remain the same for all ages. It is evident that some younger children show greater independence in their play when indoors, compared to outdoors. While there are some suitable resources for younger children outside, such as child-size brooms, there are fewer appealing options tailored to their specific needs, abilities and interests. For example, older babies show a keen interest in using the tricycles, but are unable to do so for their own safety.
• Children of all ages develop independence effectively. At mealtimes, babies are encouraged to feed themselves with spoons, while toddlers and pre-school children learn to use knives and forks in the designated dining room. Well-established routines support children to wash and dry their hands thoroughly, sit at their table and scrape their plates after eating. In this way, children build confidence and strengthen their self-care skills.
• Parents greatly value the regular communication they receive from staff, including verbal feedback, updates through the online application and detailed progress reports. They praise staff's knowledge of care routines and often seek guidance, such as on toilet training. These strong partnerships support consistency in children's care and learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's knowledge in order to consistently implement appropriate teaching strategies that extend children's thinking and further promote their communication and language skills
• enrich the outdoor environment to provide children, particularly younger ones, with a wider, more stimulating range of age-appropriate learning experiences.