Sevenoaks Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

This family orientated nursery is at the heart of the community. Leaders strive to bring people together and offer support to all families and children that they can. They prioritise children feeing safe and secure and getting them ready to thrive in a learning environment, full of choices and fun.

Staff are dedicated to the nursery and genuinely care about the children. Children form close bonds to staff and regularly run to them for hugs or to engage them in playful interactions. Staff know children well and create an environment where children regularly smile, giggle and chat excitedly with both staff and their peers. Staff are clear and consistent with routines and boundaries for children. Children from a young age show they can independently follow routines and know what to expect next. This supports their sense of safety and well-being.

Staff respond well to the children's changing needs throughout the day. They alter practice and resources to keep children engaged and interested. Staff skilfully offer guidance and praise alongside children's chosen play. Children learn early on how to focus, persevere and achieve their goals. Staff provide regular group times such as singing for younger children and games and sports for older children. This helps children to build the fundamental skills such as listening and working together, preparing them well for their future learning.

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

• Staff are good at planning a curriculum that both encompasses children's interests and clearly targets what they need to learn next. Babies enjoy building towers as staff support them to learn and repeat colour names. Older children fully engage in playing turn taking group games and involving all their friends.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported by staff. Staff are quick to identify children who may require additional support and put this in place. They ensure the curriculum is accessible by providing small and achievable, focussed targets. Staff always ensure they offer a hand or a lap to help children feel safe and ready to engage in group learning and take part in each activity. However, staff are less good at engaging with other settings that these children attend. This does not fully promote continuity of care and education and support better progress for children.
• Staff use calm words of support and guidance to help children understand how to behave. They intervene quickly when children have disputes. Staff use pictures to help children understand how their friends feel and reinforce kind hands and taking care of each other.
• Children are motivated to join in learning and show high interest in the activities provided. Babies gather round staff and thoroughly enjoy clapping along and following actions to familiar songs and rhymes. Older children are encouraged to have a choice in the activities that staff provide and this increases their involvement and enjoyment. They exclaim in excitement as they explore colour mixing and shapes when painting.
• A strong key person system supports children to form secure attachments. Staff model good relationships well and how to treat each other with respect. The children are able to mirror these bonds with their peers and many older children have successful blossoming friendships. However, there are fewer opportunities for children to explore their similarities and differences in terms of their cultural heritage.
• Staff are good at supporting children to explore risks in a safe environment and understand how to keep themselves safe. For example, staff teach children about not having anything in their hands while they use the climbing frames and how to watch where they put their feet. Children remind each other to be careful taking turns on the equipment.
• The manager works well alongside the trustees to monitor practice and implement change. The manager is always striving to improve outcomes for children. For example, they have recently worked on the outside area and equipment for children. However, leaders have not fully developed their own knowledge of how to identify children eligible for certain funding to support outcomes for children.
• The manager is passionate and committed to the children and families at the nursery. She has built a good relationship with the staff, who report feeling supported and valued as part of a team. They work well together to provide a happy atmosphere. Staff show enthusiasm and commitment to the role, helping to provide good outcomes for all children.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• establish more productive links with other settings that children attend to promote continuity of care and a shared approach to children's learning
• enhance staff's understanding of how to promote the home cultures and backgrounds of children who attend, to support children's understanding and enhance their sense of uniqueness
• improve the process to identify children who may be eligible for additional funding to support their learning, such as the early years pupil premium.