Earls Court Community Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Staff have excellent relationships with children. They take great care to find out about babies' home care routines and learn about the interests of all children in order to provide highly enjoyable activities and familiar routines. Children settle exceptionally well.

They are extremely confident and very highly motivated to learn. Children gain highly effective independence skills. For example, older children show younger ones how to put away their bed linen after their afternoon rest.

They help to prepare and serve themselves food and drink at meal and snack times. Children have excellent understanding of how ...to behave in safe ways. For instance, while playing in the garden, they assessed the safety risks involved as they built low plank platforms to walk across, under the supervision of staff.

Children use tools and materials with great care and caution. They understand the rigorous road safety routines, saying that they wear high-visibility jackets 'so cars can see us'. Children behave in very positive ways.

For example, staff have high expectations and teach children to try to resolve disagreements themselves, which they do well. Children have excellent understanding of the group rules, and older children often remind younger ones of expectations for behaviour. Older children share and take turns very well, and staff support younger children to gain these skills.

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

Staff support children's early literacy skills in excellent ways. For example, they use ambitious vocabulary during creative activities to teach children new words, such as 'fragrant', 'medicinal', and 'exquisite'. Staff support children's early writing skills in exciting and stimulating ways.

For example, as 'nursery pen pals', children create their own stories and post them to other nurseries. Staff use boxes containing interesting and stimulating objects to promote discussion and support children's language skills fully.Staff teach children to understand and manage their feelings very successfully.

For instance, they teach them sign language and new words to describe their feelings. Staff discuss with the children why they feel different emotions and how they can manage their feelings well. Children have excellent, innovative opportunities to learn about and respect other people from different cultures and religions.

For example, staff created a live outdoor music festival which involved parents, staff and musicians playing instruments and singing songs from around the world.Staff support children's understanding of the world in exceptional ways. For example, children take part in 'reverse engineering' activities where, under close supervision, they deconstruct mechanical objects to see how they are made.

Staff ensure that the children have lots of opportunities to plant and grow vegetables, which they use to make meals and snacks. This helps children to understand how things grow and where food comes from.Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities very successfully.

They have highly effective links with parents and others involved in children's care and learning, and have regular meetings to exchange a range of useful information. Staff make detailed support plans with clear, specific goals, which are reviewed regularly to promote best outcomes for children.Staff have excellent partnerships with parents.

They offer innovative opportunities for parents to support their children's learning. They keep parents very well informed of their children's progress in highly effective and flexible ways.The manager provides an exceptional level of support to staff.

She meets with staff regularly to have in-depth discussions around their work performance, and readily and accurately identifies their training and support needs. For instance, staff attended a course on supporting children's early mathematical skills, which led to great improvements in this area. Staff have free access to a confidential employee helpline.

Staff work extremely successfully to help children develop a very healthy lifestyle. For instance, they provide an excellent nutritious menu of meals and snacks containing no salt or sugar. Staff ensure that children have excellent regular opportunities to climb, run, jump and balance, using a broad variety of apparatus and resources to support their physical development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have excellent knowledge of potential indicators of concern related to a child's welfare. They have a rigorous understanding of procedures to follow to deal with their concerns.

Staff have regular and comprehensive training to keep their skills and knowledge up to date. The manager is vigilant in safeguarding and has implemented excellent systems to ensure that vulnerable children are readily identified and supported, where needed. There is a comprehensive recruitment procedure which involves thorough background checks on staff to ensure suitability for their roles.