Partou Chiltern Avenue Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly greeted by kind and caring staff. There are strong bonds between the staff and children. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Staff have high expectations for children's learning and behaviour. They use children's life events to support their emotions. For instance, staff talk with children about how they care for their new baby sisters and brothers. This helps children learn about empathy and kindness.

Staff support children's health and well-being very well. Staff in the baby room work with parents from the outset to closely follow their individual routines. Babies are happy in the care of familiar adults. Staff speak softly and sensitively to all babies to help with communication. Babies' language skills benefit from hearing the spoken word and songs throughout the day. Sleeping arrangements are safe and effective, meaning babies and toddlers get the rest they need. Nutritious meals are prepared by the nursery chef and dietary requirements are carefully implemented by the staff team.

Children develop their imagination skills through play. For example, older children develop their role-play skills as they pretend to make different foods. Children eagerly invite staff to join in their play. Staff ensure that children have resources to support their growing interests as they use factual cooking books.

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

• The manager has developed an ambitious curriculum that builds on children's knowledge as they progress through the nursery. They place a high focus on personal, social and emotional development, which helps prepare children for their transition to school.
• The manager and staff proudly talk about providing children with real-life experiences which teach them about their local community. For instance, they organise weekly visits to the local library. This develops the children's love of books. Furthermore, children meet the elderly at a nearby care home. This helps children build connections and learn about the world around them.
• Overall, staff successfully engage with children during their play to build on what they want them to learn next and to develop their interests further. However, during certain times of the day, staff are not always deployed effectively, particularly in the toddler room. Occasionally, children receive less support from staff to extend their play and learning. This means that the youngest children begin to wander or become restless.
• Children behave well. Staff provide children with clear expectations from a young age. Children's self-esteem is enhanced effectively by staff, as they provide children with a good amount of praise and encouragement.
• Staff support children's communication and language well. Children enjoy listening to stories and joining in with songs and rhymes. Babies wiggle and move as they listen to nursery rhymes. Older children demonstrate their developing communication and language skills as they talk to visitors in the nursery.
• Children learn the importance of a healthy lifestyle from a young age. The chef works closely with the staff and parents to cater to children's dietary needs and preferences. Babies thoroughly enjoy the range of healthy snacks, including fruit and soft foods. Older children are physically active; they run in the garden with their friends and paint with brushes on the fences using water. Children become confident in physical activity and enjoy eating healthily.
• Partnership with parents is good. They value the support staff give them to help their child make progress in their learning. Settling-in sessions help parents get to know their child's key person. Parents report that they are fully informed of their children's development through regular reports and daily feedback. They say their children are making excellent progress in their social development and speech.
• The manager's self-evaluation is mostly accurate and identifies areas for further development. She implements a programme of supervision and training to help develop the practice and knowledge of staff. However, staff's teaching and practice is not consistent across the nursery. This means some children do not always benefit from the activities that staff plan.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the monitoring and coaching of staff to enhance the delivery of the curriculum and to support individual staff to strengthen their interactions with children.