Sussex House Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive to a warm welcome and settle quickly to an exciting range of activities and experiences ready for them to discover. Staff are clear what they want children to learn and why. They model good teaching practice that supports children to gain valuable skills and knowledge.

Leaders and staff recognise the lasting impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's learning and development. Staff make good use of different strategies to help counteract this. They model good-quality language and link this to children's play experiences, to help them make connections. Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning as they listen intently during story times, often joining in with words they can recall. Toddlers engage wholeheartedly during singing time, chanting along to rhymes and songs. They giggle with delight as they pretend to be sleeping bunnies or roaring lions.

Staff offer warm and nurturing care in the baby room. They understand the importance of developing positive attachments. As such, babies feel safe and secure as attentive staff provide good-quality care to meet their individual needs.

Leaders and staff understand the importance of supporting children's well-being. They implement initiatives that equip children with the tools to help them understand different emotions they are experiencing. Staff use group discussion, books, puppets and visual prompts to help children express how they are feeling. This enables staff to tailor the support they offer to children, which contributes towards building their emotional resilience.

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

• Leaders work closely with their staff team to identify curriculum priorities. They seek information from parents about their children's needs, interests and development. Staff use this information alongside their own observations. This informs how staff plan and implement engaging experiences across all educational programmes. However, there are occasions when staff have some minor misunderstandings about how to plan for age-appropriate activities. Despite this, children benefit from a broad and balanced curriculum offer that helps prepare them for their next stages of learning.
• Staff support children to learn how they can contribute towards their own good physical health. For instance, staff conduct yoga sessions and gently remind children, through demonstration, the yoga poses they have learned previously. Children show high levels of concentration and determination as they engage in this session. They practise a variety of poses that help develop their physical skills. This supports children's core strength, muscle control and dexterity.
• Children proudly show their friends the poses they accomplish.
• Leaders and staff make the most of their location. They expose children to the vibrancy and diversity of the city. Staff take children on visits to help them learn about people that help us, the local community and the wider world. This helps children gain enriching experiences to learn about life beyond the nursery. Furthermore, staff seek information from parents about languages spoken at home and their cultural heritage. They plan experiences to support children to learn about customs and traditions celebrated by different families. This contributes towards valuing what makes children unique.
• Children behave well and have positive relationships with their peers and the adults that care for them. Staff skilfully introduce ideas and concepts into children's play to help them stay interested and engaged for extended periods of time. Very occasionally, some staff do not give children clear instructions or enough time to think and respond when asking them questions. Despite this, children demonstrate they are making good progress in their learning.
• Staff sensitively support children to learn about staying safe through golden rules. This helps children to understand how their behaviours impact on themselves and others. Staff share information with parents about how to keep their children safe when using online devices. Furthermore, staff ensure they supervise children when they use the computer at the nursery . However, they have yet to fully embed teaching children about how they can stay safe online.
• The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) works closely with staff, parents and outside professionals. The SENCo has good oversight of all children that have gaps in their development. She ensures referrals and targeted plans are implemented, so children receive early intervention. This has a positive impact on helping children reach their potential.
• Parents comment positively about how well the staff team know their children. They explain the quality of care provided contributes towards the progress their children make. Parents value the support and advice the whole staff team offer, so they can work in partnership to help children receive a positive early years experience.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen teaching practice even further, so that sequencing and priorities for learning are implemented well in the younger age group
• develop teaching techniques even further, so children are given clear instructions that are not confusing and allow children time to think and respond when asking them questions
• extend work on e-safety to equip children with age-appropriate knowledge linked to learning about online safety and safe screen time.