Little Elms Daycare Beckenham 1

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy, settled and feel safe in this inclusive nursery. They are confident, self-assured and show high levels of independence.

For example, babies move around confidently in the play areas, exploring their surroundings and finding out how things work. They giggle with excitement and smile with glee as they splash water and find bubbles. Babies seek out familiar adults for cuddles of reassurance when they become distressed.

Some older children talk confidently and use a good range of vocabulary in their everyday speech. Children behave well and are highly considerate of each other. For instance, two-year-ol...d children play nicely together, passing on objects and sharing resources while painting their artwork.

Children are responsible and can remember what they have been taught. Older children help to tidy away resources and use a dustpan and brush with ease to sweep up sand. They explain confidently why they need to keep the play areas clean and tidy.

Overall, the management team and staff set high expectations for all children's learning. They provide an engaging curriculum to help children acquire essential skills for their next stage of learning. For instance, older children learn about the concept of time while discussing what they have been up to during the week.

All children, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress in their learning.

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

Children display good levels of emotional development. Staff use their knowledge of behaviour management well to help children learn what is expected of them.

Staff encourage children to share and take turns. Moreover, they use effective explanations and distractions to help children of all ages learn to choose between right and wrong. This approach contributes positively to the way children behave.

The key-person system is very effective. Children form close relationships with staff and build secure attachments. Staff have a good knowledge of what children can do and cannot do.

They use this information well to plan and meet children's individual learning needs. Overall, children are prepared well for their eventual move on to school.Leaders are reflective in their ongoing evaluation of the nursery.

They are aware of the setting's strengths and areas to improve. They have identified that the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic has had a significant impact on staff's mental and emotional well-being. Therefore, leaders have implemented several programmes aimed at supporting staff's mental health to help them manage their work effectively and boost their morale.

Overall, leaders and staff monitor the development of individual children efficiently to identify any gaps in their learning. They act promptly to organise extra support, working effectively with outside agencies to help those children with additional learning needs. However, they have not fully explored how they can access and utilise additional funding to help ensure better outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The management team and staff prepare children well for life in modern Britain. They provide activities and resources that reflect the experiences and backgrounds of children. Children learn about different family set-ups, cultures and ethnicity through reading and creative activities.

This helps children to appreciate diversity and accept people who are different from them.Partnerships with parents are effective. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed some limitations on how staff communicate with parents, staff have adapted well.

They make good use of technology to keep parents informed about their children's care and learning. In addition, the staff team seeks and acts on the views of parents to help drive improvements. Parents express their satisfaction at the service they receive and report that their children are well looked after.

Overall, children benefit from a well-designed curriculum. The members of the management team have a clear intent of what they want children to learn and why. They have a strong desire to develop children's communication and language development to help them become confident speakers.

However, on occasions, the curriculum intent for communication and language is not implemented well by all staff. For example, some staff do not pronounce words correctly when teaching children and fail to allow children sufficient time to think and answer questions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The management team and staff implement robust policies to help safeguard children's welfare. They have a suitable understanding of child protection, including the procedure to follow if they have any welfare concerns about a child's welfare. Staff have regular training to help improve their understanding of broader safeguarding issues, such as the 'Prevent' duty, county lines and child exploitation.

Staff carry out regular checks of all areas of the premises to remove any potential hazards to children's safety. They follow thorough infection control procedures to help minimise the risk of cross infection in the nursery and assure children's safety.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen systems to monitor the progress of the different groups of children with greater emphasis on identifying those who may be eligible for additional funding, to help ensure better outcomes for children from disadvantaged backgrounds nimprove further the monitoring of the quality of education across all of the setting, with specific regard to how staff implement the curriculum intent for communication and language for children aged two to three years old.

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