Southall Park Children's Centre

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a safe and supportive environment that enables children to flourish. This has a significant benefit for children's emotional well-being. Children develop strong attachments with staff, settle quickly and feel secure. Staff have high expectations for children and place a strong focus on their independence. They encourage children to help with tasks such as tidying up, and provide plenty of praise. Children thrive on this and are keen to do well. Staff consistently promote positive behaviour. They are respectful, kind and encourage children to identify feelings such as when they are happy, sad or angry. This helps children to explore and regulate their emotions. Children behave well and play happily with their peers.

Leaders and staff provide a broad curriculum and are ambitious for all children. They identify where there are gaps in children's learning and ensure that they prioritise these areas. For instance, a high proportion of children who attend the nursery speak English as an additional language. Therefore, staff weave opportunities for children to hear and use a broad range of words into the routines and activities. They include visual prompts such as picture cards and simple signs to further aid children's communication. As a result, children make good progress with their language development.

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

• Leaders are passionate about providing children with a positive start to their education. They have worked hard to address weaknesses identified at the last inspection. Leaders have strengthened support and coaching for staff, helping them to implement the curriculum effectively across the nursery.
• Staff say that they feel valued and enjoy their work. They appreciate the opportunities for professional development and explain how this helps them to enrich the curriculum for children. For example, staff have developed fun ways to teach children about healthy eating and how to care for their teeth.
• Staff provide a curriculum that builds on what children know and can do, helping to prepare them for their next stage in learning. For instance, staff encourage and support children to take care of their own personal needs. Therefore, children quickly master skills such as handwashing and serving their own food and drinks. Staff recognise the importance of these key skills to support children's eventual transition to school.
• There is good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work together with parents and carers and relevant professionals to ensure that additional help is provided in a timely manner. Children who require more support with their learning have targeted support plans in place.
• Staff value each child's unique background and experiences. They ensure that this diversity is reflected throughout the nursery. For instance, the home-corner area includes children's family photos and utensils from different countries and cultures. Children enjoy sharing their traditions such as rolling chapatis from dough or showing staff and peers how to dance to Bhangra music. This helps children to develop a positive appreciation of their similarities and differences.
• Staff plan activities around children's current interests and fascinations. This draws children in and ensures they learn from the things that they enjoy. For example, children are keenly interested in a story about a hungry caterpillar. Therefore, staff use this book to inspire children's artwork and provoke discussions on healthy eating. These positive experiences help to promote children's enthusiasm for learning.
• Staff provide consistent support for children's behaviour. They foster good manners and encourage children to be kind and helpful. Children develop friendships and are thoughtful towards others. For example, older children notice when younger peers need encouragement to join in with dancing and offer a friendly and supportive hand.
• Leaders understand the importance of effective partnership working. They get to know parents well and provide additional support and advice where needed. This includes signposting parents to other local services and guiding them on issues such as children's safety online. However, leaders do not consistently check that key persons share information on children's learning effectively with all parents to enable a consistent approach between home and the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen communication between children's key persons and parents further to ensure a shared approach to supporting children's next steps in learning.