New Horizons Day Care

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, engaged and show that they feel safe and secure. They show that they build good bonds with staff. Children follow instructions to sit for circle time and seek out staff when they need help or reassurance. Staff act as good role models for children. They are kind and approachable. Children build good levels of self-esteem, receiving lots of praise for their efforts and achievements. Staff provide a calm environment, with clear expectations for children's behaviour. Children benefit from this consistent approach. They gain the language they need to explain their feelings, needs and wants.

Children show increasing levels of attention, show curiosity in the world around them and display positive attitudes to learning. They confidently share their ideas to resolve problems and learn to take turns as they test out their ideas. Children eagerly use salt, sugar and water to try to melt ice before they use hammers to chip the ice away and release toy dinosaurs. They confidently answer staff's questions about how to use hammers safely and why they should wear goggles. Children learn about distance and use mathematical language to compare lengths. They consider the safety of other children as they practise running jumps outside. Staff use chalk to mark the distance jumped and children eagerly consider who jumped the furthest.

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

• Since the last inspection, the provider has recruited a qualified and experienced manager and made some staff changes. Together, working with the local authority, they have established a clear curriculum that helps children build on their knowledge and skills to prepare them for the eventual move to school. The ethos and curriculum are shared well with staff, who plan effectively for each child's individual stage of development.
• The manager and staff work well as a team. They are committed to providing children with meaningful and purposeful hands-on learning experiences. They take time to get to know the children well and reflect children's emerging interests in the activities they plan. Staff know what children need to learn next and share this information with parents. They provide parents with ideas to support children's ongoing learning at home. This united approach helps children to practise new skills and learning so that they are remembered securely.
• Staff understand the importance of reading stories to children. They read with good expression that captivates children's interest. Children listen well, answer questions about the story and show that previous learning is embedded. For example, they remember previous learning about volcanoes as they describe the changes to lava as it cools.
• Children hear staff use and introduce lots of new words that help them build a wide vocabulary. For example, building on children's interest in dinosaurs, staff introduce a 'dinosaur invasion' activity. They make links to the ingredients children use to make play dough, to help them think about what they could use to release the dinosaurs from the ice.
• Parents are very positive about the nursery and staff. They state that they feel well informed about their child's day and what they need to learn next. Parents comment positively about the improvements made over the last 12 months and remark on what their child tells them about the activities they have enjoyed. They notice the progress their children make in building their self-confidence and independence.
• Staff have greatly improved how they support children's behaviour. However, at times, they do not acknowledge children's emotions and they direct children to share toys or resources, without sometimes understanding what has happened when there are rare minor disagreements. At other times, they overmanage turn-taking with groups of children. This reduces opportunities for children to gain independence in cooperating with others and resolving conflict.
• Staff adapt their interactions appropriately to support children who speak English as an additional language. They use pictures and single words to help build children's understanding. However, children do not hear or use their home language in the nursery. This hinders their progress in making connections with what they know and in developing confidence to speak in English.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance staff's understanding of how to help children develop greater self-control to cooperate with their peers and manage disagreements peaceably
• enhance support for children who speak English as an additional language to hear and use their home languages in nursery, to boost their understanding and confidence to speak English.