Sunshine Fruits Nursery Camberwell

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The nursery provides a calm and nurturing environment where children flourish and feel secure. Staff place a high value on children's emotional well-being and get to know all children well from the start. This helps children to build strong bonds with their key person, settle quickly and develop a sense of belonging. Staff encourage children to make choices and try things for themselves. They provide praise and encouragement, which raises children's self-esteem and extends their independence.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children. They provide an ambitious and challenging curriculum, which extends children's curiosity and builds on their existing knowledge. For example, babies show their excitement as they sing and wait to see what is in a box. Toddlers show excellent concentration as they self-select and complete activities that help to develop their fine motor skills, such as using scissors and spanners to undo nuts. Pre-school children demonstrate writing their names and achieve complex sums by counting in tens and units.

Staff support children to recognise a range of emotions and learn respect for their peers. They role model behaviour they expect, and praise kindness and good manners. Children show a positive attitude to their learning, follow instructions and behave well.

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

• Leaders are ambitious and inspire the dedicated staff team to provide high-quality care and education for all children. This includes children with additional needs or those from disadvantaged backgrounds. They plan a broad curriculum that builds on children's interests, and provides them with the knowledge and skills they need for their next stage of learning and subsequent move on to school.
• Staff observe children as they play and identify children's next steps in learning. They complete regular assessments that highlight children's achievements and show any gaps in their learning. Staff address these swiftly, and leaders put support plans in place when needed to help children with any concerns. This ensures that all children make good progress.
• Partnerships with parents and carers are a strength of the nursery. Parents speak highly of the caring staff and the diverse range of learning experiences their children receive. Communication is good, and parents acknowledge the regular updates they receive about their children's progress. Staff share children's next steps in learning and ideas to continue children's learning at home. Parents state that their children are happy to attend and have improved their communication and self-help skills since attending.
• Staff promote children's communication and language skills well. They babble with babies and encourage two-way interactions. Staff repeat sounds and teach children new vocabulary as they sing and share stories. They skilfully ask children questions that extend their thinking and allow them time to answer. Staff encourage children to share their ideas and extend their sentences.
• Staff engage well with children during activities. They increase their understanding of mathematical language and concepts. For example, babies find hidden toy snakes in spaghetti and repeat numbers with staff. Toddlers learn about three-dimensional shapes and sizes. Older children sequence objects and count with confidence. However, staff do not organise some larger group activities to ensure that all children maintain interest, which affects children's learning.
• The nursery prides itself on embedding a culture of diversity and inclusion. Staff support children to learn their home languages alongside learning English. Parents are welcomed into the nursery to share their different faiths and cultures. Staff explore different festivals throughout the year with children, which helps children to gain an understanding of others and their own uniqueness.
• Children benefit from the nutritious freshly cooked meals, which encourage them to eat vegetables. Staff promote children's physical development alongside extra-curricular activities, such as tennis, music and movement and forest school. They support children to extend their balance and coordination skills further. Children follow good hygiene routines.
• Leaders have robust recruitment procedures in place and ensure that all staff understand their roles and responsibilities. Regular staff supervision and monitoring of practice ensures that high standards are maintained. Leaders seek the views of parents to help evaluate the service the nursery provides and make further improvements. Staff receive regular training and feel their well-being is supported effectively.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and strengthen the organisation for group activities to ensure that all children can continue to learn.