Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Orpington

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages and abilities are settled, confident and very happy. They are motivated by the wide range of interesting resources and safely use them. For instance, they build and negotiate obstacles, using crates and planks. Children are eager to join in with the motivating activities that staff carefully plan for them. For example, older children categorise animals depending on their natural habitats, such as placing whales in the ocean and sheep in the field. Younger children enjoy exploring their senses. For instance, they investigate how different materials feel. This includes exploring foam and sand.

Staff are positive role models, and all children know what is expected of them. Children behave well and are polite and kind to each other. They share and take turns and play happily together. Children of all ages develop good physical skills. For example, they confidently learn about the different ways they can move their bodies in musical activities. Older children learn new skills, such as throwing and catching, as they enjoy weekly activities taught by a sports coach. Children develop good thinking and speaking skills. Older children are confident to share their ideas and thoughts. Younger children respond positively to a wide range of singing activities. They enjoy taking it in turns to choose songs from picture cards and happily sing the songs together as a group.

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

• There is a highly effective staff leadership team, who are well supported by the ambitious provider. They have a clear aim and have high expectations of staff. They closely monitor the the good quality of education and care that staff provide children. The managers routinely observe staff teaching children and provide them with constructive and helpful feedback, overall. All staff feel well supported. The team work well together, and the staff morale is high. This helps provide children with a positive and enabling learning environment.
• Staff evaluate their practice together well. They discuss daily what was successful and what they would do differently next time to enhance practice even further. Staff use their findings to support their future performance.
• All staff attend regular and beneficial training. They have recently learned about the different ways to manage any difficult behavior and understand how children manage their emotions. This has helped staff support children to express their feelings in effective ways.
• The managers ensure that the recruitment process is robust. They ensure that all safety checks are completed. All new staff, including apprentices, know what is expected of them. For example, they are allocated a mentor to support them to fully understand their roles and responsibilities.
• All staff, including the managers, establish positive partnerships with parents, who speak very highly of them. For instance, they comment that their children learn new skills almost every day. Staff keep them well involved and informed in their children's learning and achievements. They share helpful ideas and tips with parents to help them support their children at home. For example, they share bags that they send home that contain books about toilet training and new babies in the family.
• Overall, staff's teaching skills and knowledge are good. However, there are minor inconsistencies in practice. This includes promoting babies' communication skills during nappy changing times and helping older children to understand healthy eating. The managers do not target more precise support for individual staff to address the weaknesses and improve the overall implementation of the curriculum.
• The managers and staff establish very secure and trusting relationships with all children. They get to know their individual personalities, including what makes them unique. Children of all ages have a good sense of belonging and positive levels of well-being and self-esteem. They are excited to come into the setting and enjoy the company of staff.
• All children demonstrate a positive attitude towards their learning. Staff support all children to make good progress. This includes those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language. For example, staff use visual signs and sign language when communicating with them.
• All staff support children to develop a good understanding of other peoples' similarities and differences outside of their own communities and experiences. This includes traditions of other countries. For example, children learn about festivals, such as Diwali and Chinese New Year.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff even further to address minor weaknesses in teaching to improve the overall quality of education to an even higher level.