The Nurtury Day Nursery & Preschool

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The exceptional staff team creates a remarkably welcoming and nurturing environment for all children. Children arrive full of excitement. They settle quickly to a healthy breakfast to help boost their energy, ready for a day full of inspiring opportunities. This helps to deepen their learning and to make the best possible progress. Staff form extremely close relationships with every child to help them to have a very positive sense of belonging within this outstanding nursery. Children show that they feel safe and secure.

Staff are excellent role models and they have extremely high expectations for children's behaviour. They are tremendously consistent in their approach. For example, staff use a wide range of strategies to reward children's positive behaviour, including to recognise each other's feelings and emotions, through storytelling and puppets. This contributes to children demonstrating superb behaviour.

The highly dedicated leaders and passionate staff team carefully plan and implement a highly ambitious, rich and sequenced curriculum. All children experience extremely enjoyable activities to meet their individual learning needs and to inspire them to learn. Children access a remarkably impressive outdoor area to help to challenge their physical abilities. Children show delight as staff encourage them to notice their footprints in a large sandpit. They eagerly scoop soil into a big carved pumpkin and excitedly bang large outdoor chimes with metal spoons. Children flourish in this highly engaging nursery.

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

• Leaders are excellent. They are passionate about providing high quality, inclusive care and education to all children. Staff morale is exceptionally high and they feel very well supported. They are committed to professional development, such as to promote children's positive behaviour. Leaders and staff show an impressive knowledge of child development and what they want children to learn.
• Partnership with parents is a strength of the nursery. Parents say that they are 'ecstatic' with the care of their children and that the nursery has a 'family and homely feel', which enables their children to flourish. They appreciate the variety of cultures and festivals celebrated. Including opportunities for their children to visit the local community, such as to a local market to help to develop children's sense of community.
• Staff provide support and advice for parents to enhance and continue their children's learning at home. For example, leaders offer webinars on oral health and support for children's early literacy skills. They arrange African drumbeat sessions, and family barbeques during the summer, to engage them even further. Furthermore, staff share lots of information about children's progress. For instance, through online photos and observations, and regular assessment reports for a consistent approach.
• Staff place an extremely strong focus on supporting children's communication and language skills. Children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported tremendously well. Staff use strategies, visual cues and body language to understand each child's needs and wants. All children make excellent progress.
• Children develop an extremely keen interest in books and stories. Staff plan superb opportunities that immerse children in stories, books and puppets. Children enthusiastically remember favourite parts of stories as they play and learn together, such as 'Jack and the Beanstalk'. Children show exceptionally positive attitudes to learning.
• Staff surround children with a wonderful variety of cultural books to help to promote children's uniqueness. Children keenly point to pictures and listen to stories read by staff with high levels of attention. They take books home so that they can continue this love of books with their families.
• Staff encourage children's positive attitudes to a healthy lifestyle. For example, children benefit from superb experiences outdoors, learn how to clean their teeth correctly, and enjoy freshly prepared nutritional, organic meals.
• Leaders know that not all children arrive with the same experiences as others. They plan excellent extra-curricular opportunities to help to deepen children's learning and enjoyment, meet their individual learning needs and to give them the very best start to their early education. For example, children learn to count and sing songs in French with a French teacher, they enjoy trips to museums and a local swimming pool, where some children achieve awards in swimming. All children achieve the best possible outcomes in their learning.