Top Tots Day Nursery Hedgerow House Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive eager to play and happily leave their parents at the front door. Nurturing and caring staff support those children who are a little unsure and offer cuddles for reassurance. This helps to promote children's emotional security.

Children are well behaved, caring and considerate. They listen, follow instructions and are encouraged to share. For example, staff support children to take turns when running down a ramp that they have built in the garden. Children receive regular praise and encouragement in everything they do. This helps to develop their confidence and self-esteem.

Children are keen and confident to join in with activities and explore the resources, indoors and outdoors. For instance, young babies explore sensory objects, including a variety of materials and textures. Older children have fun working together. For example, they enjoy finding toy bugs that have been hidden in the sand tray and in the natural areas of the garden. These activities support children to develop a strong sense of curiosity.

Children are encouraged to develop their independence skills. For instance, at snack time, older children cut their fruit and pour themselves a drink. Throughout the nursery, children are supported to gain the skills they need to manage their own personal hygiene, such as wiping their nose, washing their hands and brushing their teeth.

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

• The manager works with staff and directors to identify ways to develop the nursery. Staff report that they feel supported by the manager. The leadership team identify staff training needs effectively through supervision meetings and mentoring. Leaders motivate and inspire staff to work as a team.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported well. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) and manager work closely with other professionals to ensure that the needs of children with SEND are met. Furthermore, the manager uses additional funding to provide specific resources to support individual children. Children with SEND make good progress.
• The role of the key person is embedded throughout the setting. Children have strong bonds with their key person. For example, when transitioning between rooms, the key person does a thorough handover to ensure continuity of care for the child. This supports children's social and emotional development and enables them to develop trusting relationships. However, staff do not obtain information from other settings children attend, which means the nursery does not have a full picture of the children's learning journey.
• Children go on regular outings in the local community. Staff link these outings to the curriculum and children's interests. For example, children were interested in sea-life creatures, and staff took the children to visit the local aquarium to learn about the creatures' habitats. These outings extend children's learning.
• Staff encourage children to practise their developing physical skills. For instance, babies are given opportunities to stand and pull themselves up in preparation for walking. Toddlers and older children join in with dancing and action rhymes, which helps to develop their large muscles. Children have plenty of opportunities to be active, which supports their physical health and emotional well-being.
• Children experience rich back-and-forth chatter with staff about what they are doing in their play. For example, children and staff talk in detail about the real fruit and vegetables they are playing with in the home corner. However, on some occasions, staff do not recognise when their own questioning interrupts conversations and prevents children from extending their thoughts and ideas. This holds back some children's learning and interrupts conversations.
• Parents report that they 'love' the nursery and that the communication with staff is excellent. They shared that the manager and staff ensure their children's individual needs are met, including children with SEND. Children's learning and development is shared with parents through daily conversations and at parents' evenings. Parents spoke positively about how they feel included in the nursery through activity sessions and fundraising events.
• Staff use effective teaching methods, such as pictures and simple sentences, to support children who speak English as an additional language. This helps children to develop their understanding of English.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to help them use questioning more effectively, to extend children's language and thinking
• strengthen the sharing of information with other settings that children attend in order to gain a full picture of the child's learning journey and all-round development.