Little Elms Daycare Beckenham 2

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide children with a warm welcome as they arrive at the nursery. Children are happy to attend and enthusiastically choose what they want to play with. Staff support children's emotional well-being, which helps them to feel safe and secure. They plan a broad and balanced curriculum through engaging activities, which enables children to make good progress in their learning and development.

New babies are gently settled and supported by staff. Staff get to know babies' home routines and follow these at the nursery to ensure consistent care is provided. Babies build confidence as they explore their environment and develop their mobility skills. They show fascination as they play with the sand and explore the texture. Staff encourage children to make sandcastles and give a running commentary as children play, which supports their communication and language development.

All children enjoy daily outdoor play opportunities where they explore, are creative and develop their physical abilities. Younger children excitedly play with colourful floaty scarves. They laugh and giggle as they hold them up to look through them. Staff enthusiastically sing songs to encourage children to use their imagination and explore movement. Older children develop coordination as they balance and confidently navigate space.

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

• The new management team is dedicated and has a clear vision for the future of the nursery. Evaluation processes have identified where changes are required to support better outcomes for children. For example, the creation of an additional pre-school unit means the learning environment is better organised and calmer to meet all children's needs more effectively. Additional funding is used well to support the learning experiences for children, including those who may be disadvantaged.
• Staff build close bonds with children. They are kind and caring and interact well with children. Staff encourage babies to explore musical instruments. They have fun as they shake maracas and move their bodies in response. Older children are keen to share their ideas during a cooking activity, where they explore textures as they mix and prod. They talk about their home-cooking experiences and staff introduce new concepts, such as measuring in 'millilitres'.
• All children are developing a love of books and reading as staff make story time an enjoyable experience. Children select books independently and spend time studying the pages before turning them over. Younger children snuggle up to staff as they read to them and talk about the pictures. During shared reading, older children anticipate what might happen next. Staff take time to introduce new language, which supports children's vocabulary. Furthermore, parents are encouraged to develop children's love for stories at home by accessing the book-lending library.
• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is good. Assessment is used well to promptly identify any delays in children's development at an early stage. Staff work closely with other professionals to provide targeted support for children to help close gaps in their learning. Additionally, staff successfully use pictorial prompts and sign language to support children's language and communication.
• Staff enjoy working at the nursery and say that their well-being is supported by leaders and managers. They have opportunities to develop their skills through training or by completing additional qualifications. Although there are some arrangements in place for the supervision of staff and monitoring of practice, these are not fully embedded. This means teaching skills are sometimes variable and targeted support for staff is not always consistent.
• Parents speak positively about the nursery. They say their children enjoy attending, and they have made good progress in their learning. Parents enjoy hearing their children sing songs that they have learned at the nursery. They like the daily feedback they are given and enjoy receiving photos of their children's achievements.
• Children have positive attitudes to learning. They are sociable and confidently talk to visitors about what they like doing at the nursery. Children are supported by staff to manage their feelings and behaviour. They learn to share, take turns and care for the environment by helping to tidy away the toys.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build on the arrangements for the supervision and monitoring of staff to help raise teaching to a consistently high standard across the nursery.