Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Ealing

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff provide a broad curriculum and are ambitious for all children. They plan and deliver a good range of motivating play experiences to help children to build firm foundations for their future learning. This includes opportunities to practise useful skills, such as pouring water, which children readily transfer to real-life situations, such as mealtimes. This helps them to feel confident about what they can do. Staff explore and have fun alongside children, skilfully guiding their learning. For example, staff support babies as they investigate how to create and pop bubbles. They introduce new words, ask questions and provide plenty of praise. This helps to foster children's curiosity and desire to learn.

There is a well-established key-person system, which enables staff to provide personalised care and support to children. Staff follow younger children's routines from home. They provide lots of reassuring words and cuddles throughout the day. This helps children to feel safe and secure. They settle well and form affectionate bonds with staff. Staff have high expectations for children and, overall, support their behaviour well. They organise daily routines effectively and use prompts, such as the tidy-up time song, to encourage children to be helpful. Children enjoy praise from staff and are motivated to do well.

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

• There is a good focus on children's language and communication across the nursery. Staff introduce children to the names of objects and comment on their play, helping them to build broad vocabularies. Children of all ages are keen to participate in group activities that enhance their speaking and listening skills, such as song and story times. They make good progress in this area of their development. For example, older children confidently recall events from their favourite stories, using words such as 'sly fox' as they discuss the characters.
• Staff monitor children's progress and swiftly identify any gaps in their learning. They provide children with special educational needs and/or disabilities with individual plans. These are implemented and reviewed regularly to help them make good progress. Staff use agreed methods to support these children, such as the use of visual aids to help them to follow daily routines. However, they do not always consider that these strategies may benefit other children who need a bit more help with their learning, such as children whose language is delayed and those who speak English as an additional language.
• The curriculum offers plenty of opportunities for children to play independently. Staff give children time to explore and develop their own ideas, which encourages their positive attitudes to learning. For example, staff are watchful as babies and toddlers investigate different ways to go up and down the slide. They ensure that children are safe while allowing them to take risks. This enables children to become confident movers and to develop good physical strength and coordination.
• Staff help children to develop positive views about healthy lifestyles. For instance, they have conversations about healthy eating during mealtimes. This encourages children to sample a variety of foods and teaches them how their diet affects their bodies. Staff consistently support children to manage their own personal care and hygiene. Therefore, children become confident and independent with tasks such as feeding themselves, washing their hands and using the toilet. This sets them up well for starting school.
• Leaders provide regular supervision sessions and training for staff to develop their knowledge and skills. Recently, this has focused on creating a shared approach to supporting children's behaviour. Staff consistently model positive language, such as 'use kind hands', so that children are clear about how they should behave. However, when there are minor disputes between children, staff do not consistently help them to understand the strong feelings involved. They do not plan opportunities to teach children how to regulate their emotions and resolve disputes independently in the future.
• Parents and carers are extremely complimentary about the nursery. They praise the detailed communication from staff about their child's daily routines and experiences. Parents value opportunities to talk to staff about their children's care and development. They comment that this ensures a consistent approach to matters such as children's weaning and toilet training.
• The provider has taken appropriate steps to improve staff's knowledge of whistle-blowing procedures.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to provide consistent and effective support for children who need extra help with their learning to ensure that they make the best possible progress
• support staff to foster children's understanding of their own feelings to help children to begin to regulate their emotions and behaviour independently.