St Albans Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages enjoy being at this nursery. They arrive eager to start playing and receive a warm welcome from the staff at the door. Staff encourage children to put their belongings away and put their indoor shoes on by themselves. This helps children to practise being independent and develop a sense of self-confidence.

Children are able to move resources around the room to support their play. This supports their imaginations. For example, children take play dough into the home corner and uses it to stick two pieces of food together to make a 'sandwich'. Toddlers create houses for animals out of bricks. Babies explore moving items with magnets and carry these around the room. Children have fun exploring the varied activities on offer.

Staff are caring and know children well. They have high expectations for children's behaviour. Staff give clear and consistent instructions to help children to understand what is expected of them. They use pictures and signs to reinforce this. Consequently, children know the rules and behave well. Staff thoughtfully select books for story time. Older children join in with repetitive phrases. Staff share the songs and the books that have been read with parents. Children develop a love of books.

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

• Leaders and managers implement a curriculum that is well sequenced and broad. Staff learn what children already know and can do from parents and build on this to help children to develop new skills. For example, they include a daily sensory activity in the baby room, as they know that some children struggle with new textures. This helps babies to become familiar with a range of different materials and encourages them to use their senses to explore the world around them.
• Staff support children to identify and label their emotions. They acknowledge children's feelings and use pictures to help children to name their emotions. Staff remind children effectively how they can calm themselves down, for instance telling them to 'smell the flowers and blow out the candle'. This helps children to manage their emotions and learn how to regulate themselves.
• Leaders and managers continually evaluate the nursery to drive improvements. The manager offers staff regular supervision sessions, observations, mentoring and peer observations to help to improve their practice. However, the manager does not always focus precisely enough on enhancing individual staff's existing skills and teaching. For example, some staff do not fully support children's creativity.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well supported. Staff make timely referrals when they identify children who may need additional support. The nursery is enrolled on a scheme that helps staff to understand how to support children's speech and language development well. Staff use targeted talking times, small-group activities and add commentary to children's play. As a result, children learn new words rapidly.
• Staff manage children's transitions into the nursery and across the different rooms well. They are proud of the relationships they build with the children and their families. For instance, staff send home 'All About Me' booklets about the staff and also display these in each room. This helps children to feel emotionally secure. As a result, children quickly feel settled and confident in their new environment.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery. They appreciate the nurturing staff and say that their children see the nursery as 'their second home'. Parents enjoy events, such as coffee mornings, and being invited into the nursery to read stories with their children. They say that their children learn a lot at nursery. For instance, parents comment that their children name which foods are bad for teeth after a dentist visited the nursery. This helps children to develop their self-care skills and promotes their future good health.
• Staff report that they feel valued and supported. They comment that the leaders and managers have an open-door policy and there are high levels of well-being. This leads to a calm atmosphere that supports children's emotional well-being.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to reflect on their practice to further enhance their teaching skills.