Bramblings, Parkgate Day Nursery and Pre school

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

This cosy nursery provides a home from home for children. Staff have warm relationships with the children and the atmosphere is bright and happy. Babies are very settled.

They enjoy cuddles and comfort, alongside a wide range of interesting activities. They are very confident and growing in independence. Older children enjoy playing with their room staff, who use children's interests as a starting point for learning.

Staff have developed play spaces to provide great learning opportunities. For example, the pre-school children now have access to their own garden, which provides an outdoor classroom for those who like le...arning outside. They have extensive opportunities to grow a range of vegetables and flowers.

Staff encourage children to develop an understanding of where food comes from and how it grows. Toddler-age children have access to numerous opportunities, including a varied range of messy play and toys, to stimulate their imagination.Children are encouraged to be very independent.

Babies feed themselves and have developed good physical skills. Toddler and pre-school children enjoy very social mealtimes. There is a healthy level of chatter and excitement at the interesting and tasty food.

Quite young children show high levels of maturity as they serve themselves and demonstrate very good physical and social skills. Children's behaviour is good; they are kind to their friends.

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

The manager and senior staff are committed to continual improvement of the nursery provision.

They encourage staff to regularly reflect on what they do and how they teach. They help staff identify where they can be even more effective. Staff undertake their own research and read articles to keep themselves up to date with the latest thinking on ways to teach and care for children.

Children develop very good communication skills. Even very young children in the baby room have meaningful conversations with staff, sometimes replying through gestures and actions. Routine activities such as mealtimes are turned into social occasions where discussions can take place and understanding is developed.

Staff strongly encourage children's mathematical development. They regularly use mathematical language throughout the day. Older children confidently count the number of dishes set out in the dining room and make comparisons between amounts on different tables.

Activities provided to support the improvement of pre-school children's hand strength, as part of the development of the ability to write, are also used to discuss mathematical concepts of 'full' and 'empty'.The staff actively look for ways to develop children's understanding of the world around them and people, families and communities beyond their own. They broaden children's experiences by providing meals and music which reflects different cultures.

The postcard wall provides a starting point for discussions and investigations about many places the children visit when on holiday.Parents like the friendly, warm and homely environment. They describe the nursery as fantastic and amazing and the staff as wonderful.

They feel staff expand on children's interests and their children come home 'brimming with new facts and ideas'.Staff use a range of methods to exchange information with parents about what children do when they are at nursery and how they are developing. However, some parents do not feel they have enough information from staff about how they can support their child's learning at home.

The manager reviews staff's workload and finds ways to ensure paperwork is effective but also kept to a minimum. Staff have time for administrative tasks during the working day and this is organised so there is no impact on staff's abilities to teach or care for children.Staff track children's progress and make plans for how they can support their learning.

However, staff do not consistently share information with colleagues robustly enough about children next steps in learning when they move rooms, to ensure everyone is aware of where teaching needs to be targeted in a child's first few weeks in a new room.Parents praise staff's support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They feel their children are well supported to fully integrate with the other children.

The manager seeks additional funding for adaptations, equipment and staffing where this is required to meet children's needs.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The nursery managers and staff have a very clear understanding of their individual responsibility to keep children safe and understand what would constitute a safeguarding concern.

They welcome opportunities to work as part of a multidisciplinary team to support families, protect children and provide better outcomes for them. Staff take personal responsibility to read briefings from child protection charities to ensure their awareness is up to date.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: develop further the exchange of information with parents about how they can appropriately support their child's learning at home nenhance the way information about children's next steps in learning is shared with all staff to help everyone challenge children to the highest level and support them to make rapid progress.