Banana Moon Day Nursery Ashmore Park

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement The manager and staff focus on building positive relationships with children and their families. They carefully consider the transition arrangements when children first start and when they move to the next room. This helps children to form bonds with staff.

They show they feel happy, safe and secure in their care. Babies understand the daily routines and quickly settle off to sleep. They generally awake content and enjoy cuddles from staff before they make confident choices about what they will play.

The manager has identified a progressive curriculum across the nursery that focuses on helping children to build on their k...nowledge and skills over time. However, weaknesses in the planning for children in toddlers and pre-school mean that the curriculum is not implemented well enough. Staff do not consistently use what they know about children to challenge them effectively according to what each child already knows and can do.

Consequently, pre-school children are frequently disengaged and lack purpose to their play. This leads to a slightly disorderly environment at times and means that children do not make the progress they are capable of in readiness for school. This said, staff identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and work with parents and outside agencies to develop personalised learning programmes for them.

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

The quality of teaching is variable. Staff working in babies make effective use of their observations and assessments of children's progress to develop personalised learning programmes for each child. They have a clear rationale for the learning experiences provided with clear links to the individual needs of children.

However, staff working in toddlers and pre-school place a greater emphasis on using children's interests to plan activities. They give little consideration to children's individual learning needs to inform their teaching. This means that the learning experiences in these rooms do not offer children effective challenge to engage them all sufficiently.

Through monitoring, the manager has identified some aspects of staff practice that needed developing. She has supported staff to make effective changes to the practice in the baby room. However, monitoring and self-evaluation has not been successful in identifying and addressing all weaknesses.

The learning environment for babies is matched well to their needs which motivates them to play, explore and make new discoveries. This includes opportunities both indoors and outdoors to build their physical strength and develop their self-awareness. Staff enhance the outdoor environment effectively for toddlers, such as to build on their interest with rhymes and counting.

Indoors, staff set up tabletop activities and children have access to some books, role-play and creative opportunities. However, the indoor learning environment for toddlers provides them with a limited range of choice that does not consistently promote the different areas of learning.The manager and staff value the relationships they have with parents.

Parents speak positively about the service provided and how their children are happy to attend. They appreciate the regular communication about their child and the opportunities to go into the nursery for stay and play sessions. The manager provides parents with access to resources they can use at home to support children's oral health and promote a love of books.

The SENCo works with staff to support children with SEND. This includes making adaptations to their communication methods with children. Staff access a range of strategies including using signs and visual prompts to help children to communicate their needs and wishes.

Overall, staff provide children with effective models for children's communication skills, especially in the baby room. Songs and rhymes are a regular feature of the teaching in the toddler room where staff engage all children well in a range of singing games. Staff working with pre-school children use resources, such as fruit and vegetables to spark discussion.

Staff supervise children well as they play. This includes at mealtimes and regular checks on children while they are asleep. Staff understand about safe sleep practice.

They are attentive to children's care needs, including noticing when they need to be changed into dry clothes. Staff provide babies with nurturing interactions during nappy changing and follow effective hygiene practice to promote children's health.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date improve staffs' use of children's observations and assessments to plan what individual children need to learn next and engage all children in purposeful, challenging play experiences 10/09/2024 make sure that monitoring and supervision of staff is successful in providing guidance, coaching and training so that staff consistently meet the learning needs of all children.10/09/2024 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: plan the indoor learning environment for toddlers to fully reflect the ambitions of the curriculum.