Bright Skies Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children happily arrive at the provision as they are warmly greeted at the door by staff.

Children remain safe as they enjoy playing in the well-resourced environment. Parents continue to no longer access the provision due to COVID-19 restrictions. However, parents report how staff keep them fully informed about their children's ongoing care, learning and development.

Management report how they have noticed an impact on children's social and communication skills following the pandemic. They employ their own special educational needs coordinator, who assistants staff to ensure each child's particular needs are met. Indi...vidual education plans and smaller group time activities help children with potential delays in their development to catch up with their peers.

Children engage in an interesting range of hands-on learning experiences, delivered through indoor and outdoor play. Staff plan opportunities to support children's independence and self-care skills in preparation for school. For example, babies are encouraged to learn how to feed themselves.

As children progress through the nursery, staff encourage children to develop these skills until they can confidently use a knife and fork. Pre-school children line up with their own plates at lunchtime, choose what they would like to eat, and carefully return to the table with their chosen meals. Planned physical education sessions in the pre-school room provide further opportunities for children to learn how to independently undress and dress themselves.

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

Management share their vision of what they would like children to learn and develop as they move through the nursery. This helps staff to build on children's prior knowledge and skills. For example, children move from a lidded cup to an open-top cup, to eventually pouring their own drinks as they progress through the nursery.

Baby room staff understand how providing children with opportunities to play with play dough helps children to develop the muscles in their fingers. They know that as children build up these muscles, this will eventually support them with their pencil control and early writing. As children get older, staff encourage the toddlers to become involved in making the play dough.

Staff use the opportunity to support children's turn taking and counting skills as they count out the ingredients.Staff use themes to provide children with new learning experiences. However, occasionally, staff lose sight of what they want children to learn as they try to link children's play back to the planned theme.

This results in children's learning not consistently being extended by staff. For example, babies are encouraged to make dinosaur prints with paint. While babies enjoy the experience, some of them enjoy feeling the texture of paint on their hands as they rub the paint all over and begin to make prints.

While staff allow the children to do this, they do not fully utilise the opportunity to extend children's learning. This is because they continue to try and encourage the children to come back to using the dinosaur to make prints on the paper.As staff monitor children's progress, they quickly identify children who are at risk of falling behind in their development.

Initial early interventions, such as small group time activities, are provided by staff to support children's social and communication skills. If these targeted activities do not help children to catch up with their peers, outside agency support is requested. Staff follow the guidance of professionals to offer further targeted support to meet children's needs.

Children's communication skills are generally supported well by staff. Children of all ages enjoy listening to stories. Older children skilfully recall popular stories as they go on a 'bear hunt' with staff.

Staff introduce babies to new words as they play. As children get older, they are encouraged to put two or more words together and to form simple and eventually more-complex sentences. However, staff sometimes do not allow younger children enough time to repeat the words they have heard.

With older children, staff sometimes do not allow children enough time to think about what they have been asked, as staff ask questions in quick succession.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Clear recruitment and induction procedures are followed to ensure children are cared for by a suitable, experienced staff team.

Staff are vigilant for possible indicators of abuse and understand the procedures to follow if they have a concern about a child or a staff member. Regular staff meetings, supervisions of staff and staff training ensure that staff keep up to date with child protection issues and concerns.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nensure staff consistently have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn so that all activities are fully purposeful and challenging support all staff to allow children enough time to think and respond so they can repeat words and/or share their own knowledge and thoughts.