Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Enfield

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive and are warmly welcomed by staff at this well-run nursery. Key persons know their individual children well and have close nurturing relationships with them. Staff embrace a shared understanding and commitment to promoting children's independence skills. They habitually stand back and give lots of encouragement for children to try tasks themselves. Children enthusiastically put on their own coats and shoes. Younger children clear their own plates responsibly after eating. Staff are deployed well across the nursery. They regularly communicate their movements via two-way radio. This ensures staff know each other's whereabouts and children are always fully supervised. Staff are respectful and caring. Babies and young children confidently approach them for cuddles. Staff seek babies' permission to change their nappies.

Children readily access plenty of engaging learning activities. For example, children enjoy investigating and comparing weight using pasta, real fruit, and vegetables. They learn the names of different sea creatures as they play in the coloured water. Children explore their body movements during yoga exercise sessions. Younger children enjoy lots of free exploration, imaginary play, mark making, and dancing. Children behave very well. Staff consistently communicate and model high expectations for behaviour. Children emulate them and treat each other and the resources with respect and care.

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

• Older children enjoy being helpful. They eagerly volunteer their assistance to transport resources back inside. Young children quickly learn self-help skills. Babies confidently use spoons to feed themselves. They drink from individual beakers. Babies dismount the staircase determinedly with staff to access outdoor play times. Children are quickly potty trained and manage their own toileting needs well.
• Overall, children develop good speaking skills. This is because staff consistently label objects and actions as they play with children. Children repeat adults' clearly spoken words. Babies enthusiastically join in with actions to songs. They babble and gesture happily during back and forth interactions with adults. However, at times, adults do not make the best use of opportunities to strengthen most-able children's ability to remember newly introduced vocabulary.
• Children demonstrate good early mathematics skills. They confidently represent quantities with their fingers during their play and interactions. They recognise triangles and semi-circles as they uncover buried shapes. Outside, they display good muscle control and physical dexterity. Children run, climb and balance along equipment energetically.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress at the nursery. The nursery's special needs coordinator is a knowledgeable practitioner. She ensures children have individual plans with clear targets, which are shared with parents. She has shared effective strategies with staff to use that help children reach their targets. Strong partnerships with external agencies ensure staff receive professional guidance and further support.
• Children learn to regulate their feelings and label their emotions well. This is because the adults make expert use of visual aids. They encourage children to point to emotion faces that represent how they feel when they are upset. As children mature, staff draw their attention to the facial expressions of characters in books and stories to help them recognise the feelings of others.
• Parents are happy with the care their children receive at the nursery. They describe staff as being helpful and supportive. They feel their children make very good progress in their speaking and social skills.
• Staff feel valued in their roles and enjoy extra rewards and incentives. The manager is committed to building a strong cohesive staff team. She uses observations and routine supervision sessions to identify staff's strengths and areas of development. Where necessary, she adopts a tailored approach to supporting staff. This helps to improve their knowledge and confidence in their roles.
• The nursery manager consults both parents and staff when evaluating the setting's strengths and areas for development. She considers children's views and what they need to enhance their learning and experiences. Her future plans include developing part of the upper area into a sensory room. She envisions this will serve as a space where children can retreat to and calmly play in.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen teaching for most-able children, so they remember newly introduced words and improve their already good speaking skills even further.