Wandsworth Bridge Nursery and Pre School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thoroughly enjoy an excellent range of highly stimulating activities, and they are deeply engrossed in learning. When one child was asked what they like to do best at the nursery, they replied, 'I like everything here.' Children form excellent bonds with all staff, not just their key persons, who know and support all children's needs very well.

The curriculum is deeply enriching and wholly comprehensive. All children make excellent progress in preparation for school. Staff help children to gain a thorough understanding of the world. For example, they create a wormery in the garden and teach children how this helps to provide nutrients to the soil and plants. Staff teach children how the wild meadow created in the outdoor area provides food and shelter for insects and birds. Babies benefit from a wide range of sensory experiences to support all areas of their learning. They excitedly explore the texture of wet scarves and develop good small-muscle control as they skilfully pull scarves through large netting. Children have excellent safety awareness. They learn to assess risks for themselves. For instance, they think about how high they can safely climb on outdoor equipment, with staff supervision. Children behave in very positive ways. They show kindness to each other, and older children remind their younger peers of appropriate ways to behave.

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

• Children engage deeply in innovative, exciting creative activities. For instance, they squeal with delight as they combine ingredients with bicarbonate of soda to create an exploding chemical reaction. When they add colour to the mixture, children say, 'It looks like fire'. They explore a very wide range of textures and materials, including three-dimensional materials, to support their creative skills in excellent ways.
• Children have exceptional mathematical skills. They count confidently forwards and backwards to 10 and beyond. Children perform simple addition as they sing number songs and rhymes. They have excellent knowledge of different shape names, including three-dimensional shapes.
• Children gain excellent communication, language and literacy skills. For example, staff support children to create their own stories, which they re-enact and make into books. This feeds their imagination and language exceptionally well. Staff organise a range of highly effective, very focused, small-group activities and use props to stimulate discussion and language extremely successfully.
• Staff teach children about difference in highly effective ways. Parents from different cultures come into the nursery to share their traditions and national dishes. Staff discuss and help children to learn about a very wide range of religious and cultural festivals with children, such as Hanukkah and Eid.
• Children have exceptional independence skills. Even young children under two years of age wipe their noses and dispose of used tissues hygienically. They serve themselves at mealtimes. Older children put on their coats and shoes independently.
• Staff teach children about good oral hygiene very successfully. They read stories and have discussions with children about foods and ways to keep teeth and gums healthy. Children brush their teeth after meals. Managers and staff have developed very good links with a dental trust, which provides excellent resources for staff to support children's learning in this area.
• Staff have exceptionally good partnerships with parents and develop highly innovative schemes to support children's learning. For example, following the pandemic, staff provided extra support for children's physical development by setting up a bicycle loan scheme. This helped to promote excellent physical skills. Staff use a wide range of highly effective ways to keep parents informed of children's progress.
• The manager provides excellent levels of support to staff. She ensures that staff have an exceptional range of training opportunities in the company's academy to meet every type of career aspiration. For instance, the manager is currently completing a diploma in early years management to promote excellent outcomes for children. The manager meets with staff to discuss and support work issues very effectively. She promotes staff well-being in excellent ways, such as providing free pampering self-care products.
• The management team reviews all aspects of the nursery and precisely identifies strengths and weaknesses. Managers set ambitious goals to promote excellent outcomes for children. For instance, they aim to continue to work on the outdoor area to enhance the development of children under two years of age.
• Children gain excellent physical skills. They thoroughly enjoy practising and developing a wide range of physical skills, including balancing and jumping, in the very well-resourced outdoor area. Staff organise a broad range of highly stimulating outdoor games to support their physical development further.
• Children benefit from established, comprehensive healthy routines. They eat appetising, very nutritious meals and snacks, freshly prepared by a well-qualified chef. Staff develop children's knowledge and understanding of the importance of eating a healthy diet extremely well.