Toad Hall Nursery Langley

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children happily skip into this inclusive nursery, greeted by the smiling and friendly staff. They settle quickly, find their friends and readily engage in the wide range of exciting activities on offer. Strong key person arrangements ensure children feel valued, safe and secure. Staff are immensely nurturing and positive in their interactions with children. Children show a true sense of belonging, which is further demonstrated as they proudly share and talk about their family photographs with friends and new visitors.

The capable leaders demonstrate an excellent knowledge and understanding of their carefully designed curriculum. They have high expectations for all children. These aspirations are reflected in the programme for children's learning, which builds on what children know and can do overtime. All children make good progress from their starting points, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The ambitious curriculum prepares children well for their next stage in education.

Staff are extremely positive role models. They gently remind children to use manners and give them the time and space to negotiate sharing and taking turns. This effectively helps children to manage their behaviour and develop gracious friendships. Staff get to know children well and work diligently to meet their care needs. They establish clear routines throughout the day. This means that children know what to expect next, leading to an atmosphere of respect and consideration towards others.

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

• There is a concentrated focus on supporting children's language and communication across the provision. A language-rich environment is evident as babies' babble, toddlers begin to express themselves with words, and preschool children hold lively two-way conversations about topics that interest them, such as formula one events and fast racing cars. Children with SEND benefit from successful targeted interventions to help close any gaps in their learning, such as speech delay. Staff skilfully use visual aids to further support children's increasing comprehension and language acquisition.
• Children are curious, enthusiastic and motivated learners. The highly stimulating learning environments are well-matched to children's interests, ages and stages of development. For instance, babies have lots of fun throwing hay in the air and watching it land. Toddlers show great control when using containers to collect toy spiders that are floating in water. Preschool children learn to measure how far their cars travel when dropped from sloped tubing. Children show resilience and confidence as they practise, consolidate and refine their skills.
• Promoting children's self-care skills is a key feature at this setting. At mealtimes, babies persevere at feeding themselves with a spoon, under the close guidance of staff. Toddlers use a spoon and fork with increasing control. Preschool children master using a knife to help scoop the food onto their forks. In addition, children are encouraged by staff to self-serve their nutritious and home-cooked meals. This helps them understand about suitable portion sizes and eating a balanced diet. From an early age, staff promote good hygiene routines, such as all children brushing their teeth after their lunch. In this way, children learn how to stay fit and well.
• The nursery is at the heart of the community, rich with children and families from a variety of cultures and different walks of life. This is illustrated as soon as children enter the nursery, where they can press recorded sound buttons that show how to say hello in a variety of languages. Staff use many opportunities to value children's home experiences and festivals they celebrate, such as Diwali. This encourages children to compare the differences and similarities between their own cultural experiences and those of others.
• Leaders are reflective and committed to the continual improvement of the provision. Teaching is generally good across the rooms, leading to children's steady and ongoing progress. Leaders organise whole staff and individual meetings to enhance staff's existing knowledge and skills. They provide regular feedback on ways to further improve staff's teaching skills. However, leaders do not always monitor individual staff practice precisely enough to ensure children's learning and development is fully maximised. Consequently, some staff do require a more personalised coaching and mentoring programme to fully embed high-quality teaching across all the age groups.
• Partnerships with parents are open, trusted and effective. Staff take every opportunity to keep parents informed of their children's busy day at nursery, as well as their ongoing progress and next steps in learning. Leaders organise regular 'stay and play' sessions where they invite parents to join in with children's activities. This gives them ideas of things to do at home to continue their children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve individual staff's professional development programmes and consistently monitor the impact of their teaching on children even more closely.