Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Watford

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm and caring environment for children. They recognise the cues of babies and younger children, such as when they become tired. Babies respond positively to the gentle reassurance of staff and settle quickly to sleep, demonstrating that they feel safe and secure in their surroundings.

Children behave well and enjoy the activities on offer. The oldest children demonstrate good levels of focus and concentrate on the tasks they complete. For instance, they sit and mix ingredients together to make dough for lengthy periods of time. Staff deal with any minor disagreements swiftly, gently reminding children of the need to be kind to one another. Children respond well to this support and form strong bonds with those around them.

Children across the nursery develop their language and communication skills. Staff speak to babies, who babble back to staff in turn. This builds on their emerging understanding of how to use and control their voices. Toddlers build their vocabulary as they play imagination games in the garden with staff. Children who speak English as an additional language hear the correct pronunciation of words as staff repeat words back to them clearly. This helps them to become effective communicators.

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

• Leaders have a clear vision for all children's learning, and this is relevant to each child's individual age and stage of development. They quickly identify children who may require additional support and monitor them closely. Staff plan appropriate activities for children, using what they know about their interests and abilities. This helps them to provide children with meaningful opportunities to build further on their learning.
• Staff promote children's independence from a young age. They encourage babies to use age-appropriate cutlery to begin to feed themselves. Toddlers receive appropriate support in dealing with their personal care needs. For instance, they wash their hands independently. This helps to prepare them for the next stage in their learning.
• Leaders and managers work hard to ensure that there are sufficient staff on site to always meet children's needs. However, on occasion, staff are not deployed as effectively as possible. For instance, during breakfast time, staff are busy completing tasks and some children are left to play without adult interaction. This means that children are not able to fully benefit from the strong interactions of staff at all times throughout their day.
• Staff well-being is important to leaders, and staff speak highly of the support they receive. Leaders demonstrate their appreciation for the hard work that staff complete. For instance, they provided lunch for staff during the recent Mental Health Awareness Week. Leaders recognise the recent changes to the staff team and have planned opportunities for team-building. This helps staff to feel appreciated and motivated in their roles.
• Parents are happy with the care the nursery staff provide. They speak about the range of information that staff gather from them before children start. They speak positively about the visits children make before they start attending. This helps children to settle in. Since the last inspection, there has been a high turnover of staff, including room leaders and a newly appointed manager. These new staff members have not yet had the opportunity to build meaningful professional relationships with parents. This means that information-sharing about children's learning and development is not yet as strong as it could be.
• Staff receive an appropriate induction into their roles. This helps them to understand what leaders expect of them. They have regular supervision meetings with the manager and have access to appropriate training. Staff take the initiative to complete training. For instance, when they move rooms, they complete training to refresh their knowledge of working with a different age range of children. This helps them to carry out their roles effectively.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review staff deployment to help staff make the most of all opportunities to build on children's learning
• support newer members of staff to develop professional relationships with parents to promote the already good sharing of information about children's learning and development even further.