Best Friends Private Day Nursery and Pre-school

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are eager to enter this welcoming and vibrant nursery. The atmosphere buzzes with their excitement and laughter.

The nursery is a hub of adventure and children thoroughly enjoy their time there. Children are safe, content and happy. They settle well and form secure friendships.

Staff are good role models and provide children with clear expectations for their behaviour. Children confidently talk about their feelings and emotions. They are kind towards others and show positive attitudes towards their learning.

Children have good levels of independence. They tidy toys away, dress themselves and help to s...erve food at mealtimes.Staff support children's large-muscle skills well.

Children access soft-play equipment and confidently use climbing apparatus. They learn how to balance outdoors while completing an assault course. Older children delight in exploring the scent of flowers.

They make 'magic potions' and were keen to show the inspector their artwork. Toddlers enact roles of superheroes and are enthralled while exploring gloop. Babies enjoy playing with musical instruments and cuddle into staff while looking at books.

Children develop the necessary skills in readiness for their next steps in learning.

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

The manager, ably supported by an experienced leadership team, has made significant improvements since the last Ofsted inspection. Her vision of creating 'resilient' and 'caring' children is what makes this nursery so special.

Improvement plans are sharply focused and include the views of parents, children and staff. The manager aspires for the nursery to be outstanding.Overall, leaders provide children with an ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum.

However, some less-experienced staff who work with younger children do not fully understand what leaders intend them to teach to children. This means that some activities are not matched to children's current level of development. For example, some staff expect younger children to partake in early writing activities.

This means that, on occasion, younger children lose interest in their learning.The support in place for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children who speak English as an additional language is excellent. Leaders act swiftly to get the support children need.

External intervention plans are shared with parents. This helps gaps in learning to close quickly. Children with SEND and those children who speak English as an additional language make good progress.

In the main, staff support children's communication and language skills well. They introduce new vocabulary and listen to children with interest. However, on occasion, some staff ask children questions in quick succession during their play and do not give them enough time to respond.

This does not support children's communication, language and critical thinking skills to the highest level.Staff teach children well about rules and boundaries. They are familiar with routines.

However, the organisation of transition times for older children are not as well planned as they could be. For example, the transition time to lunchtime for older children is too long and activities do not maintain children's interests. This results in some children being disengaged from their learning.

Partnership working is good. Links with parents are robust and they comment that the nursery is 'fabulous'. Parents attend meetings, get regular newsletters and have daily discussions with staff.

Links with the local authority are highly effective. Leaders establish good links with the local community and other childcare professionals.Care practices are good.

Staff teach children about healthy living and about the importance of exercise. Children relish taking part in fitness lessons and learn about the effects exercise has on their bodies. They talk about the rhythm of their heartbeats and why they become out of breath after running.

Leaders give staff well-being high priority. The manager supports staff well. She carries out supervision sessions and appraisal meetings.

Staff report that the nursery is like a 'family'. Staff morale is high and their workload is manageable.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Robust recruitment and vetting procedures are in place for staff. Leaders ensure that all staff working with children are suitable. Risk assessments are effective and all areas of the nursery are safe.

Staff are trained in first aid and are deployed well. They know how to deal with accidents and injuries. Leaders ensure that staff attend child protection training.

Staff are aware of the referral procedure and know the steps to take if they have a concern about the conduct of a colleague. They teach children about e-safety and how to keep themselves safe while they are away from the nursery.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide more targeted support for less-experienced staff, to help them understand what leaders intend children to learn nallow children more time to respond to questions, to promote their communication, language and critical thinking skills to a higher level better organise transition of routines for older children, to keep them engaged and motivated to learn.