The Hospital Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff meet children at the door and give them a warm welcome as they settle into the calm nursery and move on to eagerly choose activities. Children form strong relationships with the staff team and show that they feel safe and secure by actively looking for familiar staff to give them support when needed. Staff have high expectations of children, but balance this well with support and encouragement. For example, when children learn to balance along a beam, they start by holding hands with an adult. They quickly progress to walking next to the adult, who offers a steady hand, ready if needed. Children's smile shows that they are proud of their achievement. This helps them to develop their confidence as well as their physical skills.

Children behave well and follow the rules of the nursery. Older children talk to their friends and sort out minor disputes. When staff become involved, they calmly encourage children to sort out problems for themselves and ask children for suggestions to solve problems. Staff and children treat each other with respect. This support and guidance enables children to develop valuable social skills for their future.

Older children develop their physical skills as they manoeuvre bikes around the garden. They communicate clearly with their friends to work out the best direction to travel. The youngest children show delight, smiling and clapping, as different sensory objects are pulled out of a box for them to explore with awe and wonder. They then pass them along to other children and learn about sharing. Toddlers carefully match coloured pom-pom buttons onto gingerbread men, counting how many they have and how many more they need.

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

• The curriculum for communication and language is strong. Staff have meaningful conversations with children while they complete activities and during lunch. As a result, children talk confidently about their own experiences and ask questions to find out more about their own interests. Children talk about dinosaurs while they complete puzzles, they discuss what dinosaurs eat and how they hatch from their eggs. Younger children learn new words and listen to the clear communication from staff as they follow instructions to 'shake' and 'squeeze' objects.
• Children show increasing levels of independence. At lunchtime, younger children try to feed themselves, with well-placed support available when they need it. Older children confidently serve their own lunch from platters on the table, asking staff politely before they do so.
• Staff are well deployed to ensure that they can give care and attention to children who need it. They support children who are preparing to move on to a new room, and those with additional needs very well. As a result, children settle quickly into new rooms and become settled within new routines.
• The nursery remained open during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic for vulnerable children and children of key workers to attend. Staff set up an outdoor classroom to enable more children to return. They focussed on providing targeted support for children who were preparing for the transition to school. This support enabled a smoother transition to primary school.
• Parents speak very highly of the nursery and praise the communication from staff and managers. Staff use electronic communication to share information about activities and the progress children are making with parents and carers. As a result, parents said that they feel included in their child's early education.
• Staff regularly assess how children progress to ensure that any child who is falling behind is given the support they need to catch up. They plan activities to support the next steps of the children. However, there are occasions when some staff are unclear what they want children to learn. During some activities, the aim becomes lost because staff focus on a theme rather than the learning intention.
• Children are at the heart of the nursery. Staff work well with families and professionals to support children's development. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported. For example, staff use visual aids effectively to support children with communication difficulties.
• Managers provide staff with regular training and opportunities to evaluate their practice. Managers identify strengths and areas for improvement. However, they do not always monitor and review staff practice. For example, they do not consistently ask staff working with younger children why they have planned some group activities, or what it is they want the children to learn from them.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus consistently on what children need to know at each stage so that all activities support their learning fully, particularly with the youngest children
• improve the arrangements for supporting staff to improve and evaluate how they implement the curriculum.