Bright Horizons Swanscombe Day Nursery and Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are very confident, aware of their surroundings, reassured, content and feel welcomed into the nursery. They take pride in their achievements, sharing these with their peers.

They show a great eagerness to learn. Staff provide a positive learning environment, where children confidently develop to at their own pace.Children show an increasing level of independence in their daily routines and in their play.

At lunchtime older children serve themselves, making decisions as to how much food they need. Younger children decide whether to play inside or outside and confidently transfer resources from one environment ...to the other. Babies freely explore their rooms and outside play areas, taking in the displays hanging from the ceiling that promote their interest in their play environment.

Children's physical development is promoted well. Staff provide an environment that supports children's changing and developing capabilities. They challenge and extend their skills as they progress throughout the nursery.

Babies are encouraged to crawl and roll. Toddlers learn to take their first tentative steps toward the arms of familiar staff. Older children use large movements to control equipment, for example pedalling bikes, rolling balls and negotiating hills and steps.

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

Management recognise staff strengths and weaknesses. They balance staff skills, experiences and qualifications to develop a cohesive team of eager, enthusiastic and encouraged staff. Staff are reassured through an effective support structure.

This results in confident, knowledgeable staff, who develop positive knowledge and skills to meet children's needs.Children's communication and language is positively encouraged throughout the nursery. Babies receive reassuring eye contact and constantly babble.

This helps to develop close bonds and attachments with the staff and gives them the confidence to communicate. Older children learn to share conversations, taking turns to talk to each other. They effectively use Makaton signs to enhance their communication and to confidently help them express their own needs.

They develop skills to extend their communication through gestures, expression and the spoken word. Children show awe and wonder through their expressions and use of vocabulary, showing delight in their achievements.Children confidently explore with mark making.

In pre-school, children use writing for a purpose. They develop muscle tone to extend their skills from large movement, such as chalking on the floor, to precise movements and marks with drawing and writing. Older children make marks for a purpose.

For example, they self-register by writing their own name and label their work.Children of all ages are inquisitive and curious. They want to know more and are eager to learn.

They ask questions, show intrigue as to why things happen and how things work. They are eager to challenge their abilities. Staff are quick to respond to this, showing effective skills at challenging and extend children's thinking through effective questioning and the use of further resources.

Staff have a positive attitude towards improvement. Management work tirelessly with staff to continually improve practice. They evaluate the environment as well as staff's skills.

New skills are introduced to the nursery to help meet children's individual learning needs. For example, staff develop clear understandings of specific learning traits and successfully use these to support children's next steps. However, staff do not consistently use information, such as children's progress check at age two when moving to their next room, to check that any identified gaps in their learning have been successfully met.

Parents make positive comments about the care and attention given to their children's daily routines and their ongoing learning. They access an electronic system to inform them about what their children have been doing throughout their day. Parents feel reassured that their children are safe and secure within the nursery.

Parents receive some information and advice as to how to support children's learning at home through structured, adult-led activities. However, this does not fully support parents' understanding of how children learn through play and through everyday routines and does not strengthen the child-initiated learning practice that is visible and successful in the nursery.Staff work effectively with other professionals.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive consistent approaches to their care and learning, working alongside specialists. Pre-school staff develop close liaisons with local schools to help make the transition to school as seamless as possible.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Children's safety is paramount in the nursery. Staff have a very robust knowledge of their responsibilities to keep children safe from harm. They are confident to carry out procedures effectively to promote children's welfare.

Staff receive updated information on a regular basis and their knowledge is thoroughly tested through scenarios and questions. Staff have a secure knowledge of the signs and symptoms of child abuse. Children play in a safe and secure environment.

Staff use daily checks and monitor the environment to evaluate the suitability of the play areas. They make suitable changes as children's physical abilities increase.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nuse information, such as the progress check at age two, more effectively to fully promote children's learning and to identify and close any gaps in their development more proactively and efficiently support parent's understanding of how to continue children's learning at home and share the successful practice within the nursery, to help promote a bigger impact on children's learning.

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