Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Southam

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and staff have made the necessary improvements in this nursery to raise the quality of education and the safeguarding and welfare of children. Children enjoy attending and are happy and contented in this nursery.

They settle quickly in to play with their friends, following a warm welcome from staff on arrival. Staff are kind and caring towards them. This helps children to feel safe and secure in their care.

All children, including those in need of additional support, make independent choices about the toys and resources they play with. For example, babies explore a mix of dry cereals and learn about the sou...nds they make when they crush them in their fingers. Older children make prints in cornflour while they play with a winter scene that staff have created for them.

Other children enjoy the challenge of completing jigsaw puzzles by themselves. They confidently ask staff for help when needed and smile as they receive praise for their achievements.Toddlers begin to understand and recognise feelings and emotions.

This is because staff align these emotions with colours. They say they are feeling 'yellow', meaning happy and show their big smiles. Children behave well.

Children respond well to staff reminders to be kind to others and to use their good manners. All children make consistent progress from their starting points. They gain the skills and understanding they need to prepare them for the next stage of learning.

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

Managers have implemented a curriculum that shows clear intentions for learning that is sequenced for children to continually build on what they know and can do. Staff understand and implement the curriculum through their interactions with children.Staff make use of information gained from parents when children first start, to decide what children are ready to learn next.

However, not all information is shared between staff about what some children need to learn now. This means that, at times, staff interactions may not focus sharply enough to include the learning for these children to help them to make more rapid progress in their development.Children develop increasing independence.

For example, the youngest children feed themselves and drink from unlidded cups when ready. Older children learn to manage their personal tasks, tidy away toys and use cutlery correctly. Children are keen to practise these tasks and receive lots of praise for their achievements.

This helps to raise their self-esteem and confidence in their abilities.Staff are quick to identify possible concerns about children's development. They liaise with parents effectively and, where needed, seek additional support from outside agencies to ensure that children receive the help they need to continue their development.

Communication and language are promoted well. Staff use clear speech, good eye contact and two-way conversation when speaking with younger babies. Babies smile and babble in response and staff reply.

All children have fun while singing a range of songs and following the actions. Staff leave gaps as they sing these rhymes and children giggle as they say the missing words. Some staff have completed additional training to support communication and language development.

However, the support programmes have not yet been fully implemented to help improve outcomes for all children.All children enjoy their time outdoors. Staff prepare a variety of activities that help to develop children's physical skills.

For example, children focus on practising their coordination to scoop earth with digger trucks, while others use spoons to fill muffin tins to prepare mud pies to go into their 'oven'. Younger children reach up high with their brushes dipped in water to make marks on a blackboard.Managers have developed a reflective culture amongst the staff team.

Staff are encouraged to take ownership of their learning and access training and research that interests them. Managers ensure that mandatory training is completed by all staff and that other support is tailored for individual staff to support their professional development. Staff say they feel leaders and managers support them well.

Parents speak highly of the nursery and the staff. They say they are happy with the information they receive about their children's learning progress both online and when they collect. Parents comment particularly on how confident their children have become since attending.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers and staff understand their responsibilities to protect children from harm. Staff have a secure understanding of signs that indicate that a child may be at risk of abuse.

They know the local reporting procedures to report their concerns. This includes if concerns arise about the conduct of a colleague. Recruitment procedures are robust and follow safe recruitment practices.

These include the background checks that must be carried out to check that staff are suitable to work in the nursery. The nursery environments are routinely checked to ensure that it is safe for children to attend.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nensure that staff working with groups of children understand their learning needs to enable them to focus their interactions more to help children make the most possible progress nimplement the support programmes from recent training for communication and language development to help improve outcomes for all children's learning.