Ladybird Nursery Penge East

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a safe and stimulating environment. They organise an extensive range of high-quality natural resources that ignite children's curiosity and investigative skills. Staff support children's interests well as they plan exciting activities, both indoors and outdoors. For example, indoors, babies enjoy sensory play as they explore sand and foam as part of their beach play. Outdoors, older children eagerly find pictures representing the letter of the week, supporting their early reading skills. These activities captivate children's interest and lead to high levels of engagement in learning. Staff observe children closely and get to know them well. They value children's ideas and home experiences. For example, family visits to the beach inspire learning in the babies' room. This makes learning meaningful and memorable for children.

The behaviour of children is good. Staff help children to understand the rules of play, facilitating activities that encourage turn taking. Staff offer children lots of praise and encouragement, helping them to develop resilience. Staff support children to understand how they are feeling and to express these emotions. Children benefit from a broad curriculum that includes enrichment activities to further enhance learning.

The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is good. Staff are quick to identify children who may need additional support and work with families and the local authority.

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

• Leaders, alongside their staff team, have a clear and ambitious vision of what they want children to achieve. As a result, children benefit from a broad curriculum that includes enrichment activities to further enhance learning. Staff understand the importance of continually building on skills children have already learned, preparing them for future success. All children make progress, including those from a disadvantaged background and those with SEND.
• Staff interact skilfully with children to build and extend their language and learning. For example, they talk with children about their interests and support them to develop their ideas. Staff introduce new words to the youngest children as they join their play. Older children engage in meaningful conversations with staff. Toddlers eagerly demonstrate different ways to communicate as they use gesture during song time. However, at times, children hear informal words to describe objects. When this happens, it does not extend children's language to an even higher level.
• Although staff provide activities to develop mathematical concepts such as counting and sorting natural resources, they do not effectively introduce mathematical concepts and language as children play. For example, as children make tea at the water activity with different-sized pots, cups and scoops, staff miss opportunities to explore and deepen children's understanding further of different mathematical concepts such as capacity, measuring and size.
• Staff provide children with lots of opportunities to progress their physical development. For example, children develop their gross motor skills as they run, use the climbing wall and ride tricycles. Babies make marks and patterns using paintbrushes in shaving foam and sand. Pre-school children practise writing letters. This supports their fine and gross motor development.
• Staff have developed very positive relationships with parents. They ensure that parents receive regular updates about their child's development and achievements through online communication, in addition to conversations at drop-off and collection. Parents speak fondly about the staff that care for their children. They comment that they are well informed about their child's day and their child's developmental progress. They say that their children are happy and enjoy attending the setting.
• Staff at the setting feel well supported by leaders. They have regular opportunities to meet with managers and discuss their career progression and any concerns they may have. Staff attend regular training to ensure that they can continue their own professional development.
• Leaders evaluate and reflect on the setting's practice. They are aware of the setting's strengths and areas that they would like to develop. Leaders work with the local authority to undertake projects to enhance the skills for staff and the experiences for children. Leaders strongly focus on supporting staff.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to give children more opportunities to hear words correctly and recognise familiar words and names
• strengthen staff's practice on how to develop children's knowledge and understanding of mathematical concepts such as shape, space and measure.