Muswell Hill Day Nursery and Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff develop warm and caring relationships with children and their families. Children are happy to attend the nursery and quickly engage in activities on arrival each day.

Babies have plenty of space to support their physical development and quickly gain confidence to explore the exciting environment. Older children receive constant encouragement and praise when they attempt to do things for themselves. This helps to build their independence and self-esteem.

Leaders and managers are ambitious for children's learning. The curriculum is structured well to help children develop the skills they will need when they start school. For example, children use tweezers to develop their fine motor control in their hands in preparation for drawing and writing skills.

Children engage in a well-balanced curriculum with a clear focus on building children's independence across the nursery. Babies begin feeding themselves with a spoon, toddlers self-serve their food, and the oldest children choose what they would like to eat for lunch and serve themselves. Staff listen to all children and encourage them to make choices. This helps children to develop a strong sense of independence and responsibility, which helps to prepare them for the next stages in their learning journey.

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

• Leaders and managers are ambitious and committed to providing quality care and education. Staff feel well supported and receive regular opportunities to speak with their manager and room leaders, which helps them to develop their knowledge.
• Staff use observations and assessments effectively to identify children's next steps. Children enjoy opportunities to learn how to weigh and count ingredients to make flapjacks. They negotiate taking turns and listen to each other as they contribute to the discussion. Children learn to recall past experiences such as cooking at home, which strengthens their learning.
• Staff support children to learn about similarities and differences between themselves and others. The setting has first-hand experience of supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language. It acknowledges the significance of working closely with external professionals to ensure that children get appropriate support.
• Children behave well and are engaged in the activities available to them. Babies settle quickly and make strong attachments with staff. They confidently move around the baby room babbling and smiling to each other and staff. Staff value each child's individual needs and work hard with parents to achieve consistency with each child's sleeping and dietary needs.
• Children demonstrate that they have a positive attitude to learning. They show interest in what staff have to say and listen well to instructions when needed. On occasion, staff use words that are too sophisticated for the age group of children, without offering explanation. This makes activities less meaningful and harder to understand.
• Children enjoy a wide range of resources to support their interests and next steps. However, better care is needed to ensure that play resources that are not fit for purpose are removed or repaired immediately. For example, some books in the nursery library are ripped and have pages and covers missing. This does not encourage children to develop a love of books and to value reading time.
• Children follow good hygiene routines. For example, they wash their hands after outdoor play and before mealtimes. Staff support young children well to learn this skill. Children are encouraged to independently wipe their own noses. They learn how to keep their bodies healthy. For example, children drink water in nursery and have freshly prepared snacks and meals, which are nutritious and healthy.
• Parents value the communication and warmth from staff. They are impressed with the progress that their children make at the nursery. Parents praise the open conversations that they can have with staff and that leaders take their views and ideas into consideration. Staff use an online app to communicate with parents. Staff share information with them about how they can support their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support children's understanding of new words by providing the meaning and how we use the word
• support and encourage children's love of books and reading by providing a range of good quality and well-maintained age-appropriate books.