Cheeky Monkeys

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy, confident and settled at the nursery. Staff know children very well and provide a safe and stimulating learning environment for children of all ages.

Staff in both nursery rooms know the children they care for very well. They are keenly aware of individual children's next steps in learning and skilfully provide activities that capture children's interest and promote these areas. Babies are cared for in a comfortable, cosy room, from which they have access to their own outdoor play area.

Babies are active and curious; the furniture and toys are at a low level so that they can see what is on offer and... can reach it easily. They delight in creative mark making and feeling the texture of paints and other media in their play. Older children also have free access to an outdoor play area, which they use alongside the well-planned main playroom.

Staff use the outdoor area and the local area well. They make sure older children who prefer to be outdoors have opportunities to hear stories, read books, make marks and experience mathematical and scientific concepts. For example, children mix soil and water to make mud and then paint on fences with their muddy mixture.

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

Babies show they feel secure in the care of the baby room staff. They go to staff for comfort or to ask for activities. For example, a baby gestured that she wanted to use the 'song box' that contains props to use as they sing their favourite songs.

Staff freely supported this request. Babies join in with the songs, repeating words and finishing songs with words they enjoy saying, such as 'pop'.Staff in both rooms take every opportunity to speak to children to develop their language and communication skills.

However, at times they use words such as 'doggies', 'birdies' or 'quack quacks', which do not support children to properly develop their vocabulary.Staff are good at helping children to develop their confidence to explore and move around independently. As babies become mobile staff teach them how to go up and down the step to their outdoor area safely.

Older children learn how to balance on beams they have made themselves from planks and blocks.Managers have a strong understanding of how children learn. They work alongside staff and model good teaching.

Staff receive prompt feedback on their work. Recent changes to the staff supervision and monitoring systems have been well received. However, they are not embedded fully so managers do not know how effective they are in the long term.

Children are keen to be involved in play. They are attracted to the activities that staff engage with. Staff know this and skilfully deploy themselves to the areas of the nursery that children have not used during a session.

Staff manage the next steps for several different children effectively. For example, at the mathematics table, staff had cotton reels, paper and pens. They built towers, counted and sorted with the youngest children.

The older children looked at, recognised and named numerals up to five, made good attempts at writing them and placed the correct number of reels with each numeral.Managers are reflective. In partnership with other professionals they take time to review the nursery and its operation.

Staff and children are also consulted and encouraged to share their ideas for improving the nursery. For example, the routine and environment in the older children's room was reviewed. Staff created dedicated play areas such as a literacy area, a construction area and a creative area with a range of media and materials.

This has resulted in children engaging in purposeful play throughout the day.Staff understand that children come to them with a wide range of experiences. They work hard to extend children's skills and knowledge.

For example, children are specially chosen to go on the weekly visit to the local senior citizens' home to have a social time with the older generation.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers and staff have a good understanding of the setting's policy and procedure for safeguarding children.

They know who to speak to if they have a concern about a child's welfare or if they think a colleague is a risk to children. Managers have made sure that staff know what might indicate a child is being exposed to extreme views or radicalisation, and other wider safeguarding issues.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: make sure that staff do not use baby language so that children learn the proper words for things, such as a dog or a duck nembed the processes for staff monitoring and supervision to raise the quality of teaching to a higher level.

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