Sutton Day Nursery And The Sports Village Holiday Play Scheme

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children arrive happy and settle quickly into the nursery. Staff know the children and meet their individual needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported by staff.

They are beginning to make progress given their starting points. Staff work with parents to provide a consistent approach to behaviour management. They share reward charts used in the nursery, providing continuity of care for children.

Parents state that this has helped them at home to support children's behaviour. Teaching is variable throughout the nursery. At times, staff pay too much attention to carrying out tasks and ro...utines, which means that children miss out on learning opportunities as they play.

The manager has been working since she joined the nursery, to improve full-time staffing and the quality of teaching. However, this is yet to be fully embedded into practice. Staff make use of the evacuation cots to move younger children between play areas to help to keep them safe.

However, as they wait to leave the rooms, staff do not interact with children and they start to become restless. They spend less time learning and developing key skills for their next step for learning.

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

Leaders have been working on reducing the number of agency staff and employing full-time staff.

They carry out probation reviews and supervisions to review staff practice. Leaders assess further training needs to support these staff. However, this is still in its infancy and not yet had an impact on quality of teaching.

The security of setting is not as secure as it can be. Staff do not consistently check the identity of visitors into the setting. However, visitors are not able to gain access to the main nursery rooms as these are locked with a key fob entry.

This minimises the risks to children.Staff are not consistent with supporting children's language development. At times, some staff do not interact at all with children.

The quality of questioning also does not help support children's language development in an age-appropriate way.Staff feel supported by the new manager. They discuss how their well-being is supported and their workload is manageable.

They enjoy the training courses and feel this helps them to plan towards children's next steps of learning.The manager is fully aware of the needs of the children and the learning intentions for all age groups. Staff are also fully aware of these, however, at times due to the number of agency staff, it is not implemented as well as it could be.

Staff are aware of the backgrounds of children and make good use of extra funding to help support their learning and development. They are fully aware of the cost of living crisis and make sure that children have access to healthy and nutritious meals to aid their development.Staff work well with older children to prepare them for school and the next stage of their development.

They are independent learners, who can successfully dress and undress themselves and problem-solve.Younger children's emotional development is supported by staff. They receive cuddles of reassurance as they settle in.

Core staff maintain eye contact, talking to reassure children as they have their bottles or when tired. Once settled, babies happily go off to explore.Staff are fully aware of the importance of working with other agencies to meet the needs of the children.

They work closely with social workers and other early years providers, sharing children's targets and progress. This helps to provide continuity of care for children.Children are taught how to use different objects to paint.

They enjoy using freshly cut flowers and leaves as paintbrushes. They talk with staff about how, when mixed, the paints change colour. This helps to support their creative development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are not effective.At the time of the inspection, the inspector was let into the nursery and was able to walk around without her identity being checked. In addition, a door from the leisure centre opens via a sensor and anyone is able to gain access to the building via this door.

During the inspection, the manager did take immediate action in disabling the sensor preventing children from being able to trigger the door to open. However, it can still be opened from the outside, allowing others to enter the nursery. Staff have a clear understanding of signs and symptoms of child protection and whistle-blowing any concerns they have.

This helps to keep children safe from harm.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the Childcare Register, the provider must: Due date ensure that no one can enter the premises without the knowledge of a person who is caring for children on the premises.15/09/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review daily routines to ensure that children receive maximum opportunities to learn nimprove staff understanding of how to promote children's language development through meaningful conversations and questioning.