Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Sidcup

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff greet children warmly as they arrive at the nursery. This helps children to separate from their parents with ease and settle into their learning. Staff support children to become familiar with routines well. For example, children confidently put their coats away and engage in the rich variety of activities on offer. Staff use their knowledge of their key children to plan a curriculum that considers children's interests and enables them to practise their developing skills across all areas of the curriculum. Staff join children in their play and support them to develop positive attitudes towards their learning.

Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. They act as positive role models and consistently remind children of the rules in the nursery. Children demonstrate good behaviour. They benefit from the wide range of experiences that staff plan to teach children to develop respect and understanding of diversity. Children have access to a range of books that broaden their knowledge of people with different backgrounds to themselves. This supports children to develop respect for others and builds their self-esteem well.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive good support. Managers work closely with parents and staff to plan a bespoke curriculum that meets children's developing needs effectively. All children achieve positive outcomes and are prepared well for the next stage in their learning.

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

• Children's language and communication development is a key priority across the nursery. Managers and staff have completed additional training to know how to fully support children. They have rigorous systems in place to identify the specific stage of children's development effectively. Staff deliver focused small-group and one-to-one activities to support children to learn to express themselves and develop their listening skills well. Children benefit from core texts that they revisit regularly. This supports children to learn new vocabulary and communicate effectively.
• Staff encourage children to develop their independence skills well. Children serve their own food at lunchtime and clean their cutlery and plate independently. Staff encourage babies to use face towels to clean their faces after mealtimes. Staff invest time to remind children to clean their noses and manage their self-care well. They regularly offer praise to celebrate children's independence. This helps children to develop their self-confidence well.
• Managers and staff develop strong links with parents and external professionals. Parents speak highly of the progress their children have made since joining the nursery. They explain that their children have come on leaps and bounds.
• Managers work with external professionals to devise bespoke plans, with the support of parents, and plan a provision that enables children with SEND to make good progress from their starting points in development.
• The key-person system is effective. Staff know their children well and plan a curriculum that supports children to make good progress. They plan trips to support children to broaden their understanding and knowledge. For example, children benefit from trips, such as to a science museum, to build on their learning related to space. This supports children to develop their understanding of the world and outer space well.
• Staff support children to develop their physical skills well. Babies thoroughly enjoy learning to roll different-textured balls on ramps. Older children learn to use scissors safely and enjoy exploring nature and cutting herbs in the 'natural' garden. Staff encourage children to create obstacle courses and consider how they can make it more challenging. They show delight as they complete the obstacle courses. This helps children to develop their core strength, coordination and large-muscle skills well.
• Overall, staff plan a range of opportunities to support to children learn about different mathematical concepts. For example, staff help children to refer to their prior learning of shapes to describe how to stir a mixture, saying phrases such as 'round and round like a circle.' However, at times, staff do not consistently encourage children to use language related to capacity to extend children's learning further, such as when children measure the ingredients to make play dough.
• Staff's morale is high. Managers are supportive and offer staff individualised training to help them develop their ongoing professional practice. They work in partnership with children and parents to evaluate the provision on offer to enhance the prospect of children reaching their full potential.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the teaching of different mathematical concepts, with a key focus on developing children's language around capacity.