Partou Hoddesdon Day Nursery & Pre-School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy moving around this bright, airy setting. They choose from a range of activities that are planned according to their interests. As a result, children soon become involved in their play.

Toddlers learn about taking turns. They giggle as they play 'peepo' and screech in excitement while they wait for the adult to place a lorry on top of the tower they are building. Younger children enjoy singing and dancing. Staff enthusiastically join in with action songs. This engages the children's attention and helps them discover different ways their bodies can move.

Even the youngest children begin to be aware of how to keep themselves safe. They hold on tightly while they carefully walk down the steps of the climbing frame. Older children challenge themselves and manage risks safely. They play on a set of platforms and know there can only be one child at a time on each platform. They wait for their friends to jump off and take great delight in showing how they can do somersaults when they land. Children thoughtfully move resources away from nearby 'because we didn't want anyone to hurt themselves'.

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

• The manager and her deputy manager form a strong leadership team. Together, they create a positive atmosphere for staff's well-being. There are valuable opportunities for staff to advance their careers in the nursery. A tailored mentoring programme equips them with additional skills they need for their new roles. However, there is not always sufficient focus on fully embedding training for the newer and less experienced staff, to strengthen the quality of practice even further.
• Staff build on children's communication skills very effectively. They talk about what children are doing to reinforce the meaning of new words. For example, they introduce 'scoop' while children play with diggers in the sand. Toddlers re-enact their own experiences and feed a doll sitting in a high chair. They repeat 'more', and staff comment that their baby wants 'more food'. This helps to extend children's vocabulary as they start putting words together.
• Children show an interest in books and stories. They bring books to staff to read, and snuggle up for a story. Older children use familiar stories to make connections to their own learning. They bring a favourite book about a caterpillar over to share while they look at a real chrysalis that is due to hatch into a butterfly. Children hear and practise more complex words such as 'emerge' and 'transform'.
• Staff skilfully use reference books to build on children's existing knowledge. They show children how to identify different bugs and read out related information.
• Children find other plastic insects and eagerly ask 'What is this called and what does it do?'. This demonstrates their motivation to find out and learn more.
• Children are developing their self-help skills as they progress through the nursery. Two-year-olds competently feed themselves. Older children are able to confidently serve their own food. They successfully use large serving spoons and tongs and pour their own drinks.
• There is a whole-setting focus on children's well-being. Staff recognise the importance of acknowledging children's emotions and offering children the skills they need to manage these. For example, they have considered the layout of the nursery and provide calm spaces where children can spend time in a quieter environment if needed. Staff sensitively ask 'How can I help you?,' when children are upset. They listen and gently talk through possible solutions in an age-appropriate way.
• The managers review changes put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include continuing to provide a popular lending library that encourages children and their parents to share favourite books. Parents are welcomed back into the setting to bring in and collect their children. They appreciate seeing their children happy and settled and value more time to talk to their key person about their children's learning and development.
• Parents speak highly of the staff team and comment on the support they receive, for example regarding potty training and children's anxieties. They say that their children are more confident and sociable due to attending the nursery.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Key persons know children's abilities and tailor interventions so that all children make progress. Staff consider how to use additional funding, based on children's needs and interests. This helps to maximise all children's experiences at nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to strengthen and embed support for the newer and less experienced staff, to improve their knowledge and skills further.