Cherubs Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are very well cared for and thoroughly enjoy their time spent at this particularly welcoming and homely nursery.

Staff are warm and attentive, promoting wonderful relationships and strong attachments. As a result, children's physical and emotional well-being is high and they show that they feel safe and secure. For example, they confidently engage with new visitors to the nursery and invite them to join in with their play.

Children are keen, curious learners. They show excellent concentration skills from a young age, particularly when joining in with planned activities.Staff have high expectations of children'...s behaviour.

They offer consistent messages though a range of strategies, to help children understand the impact of their actions. For example, staff use visual aids in the form of small picture cards that depict the 'nursery promises'. These include children using kind hands and words.

Children respond well to these strategies and, as a result, they behave very well.Staff know their key children very well and plan effectively for their progress. They monitor children's learning and plan suitably challenging experiences to build on what children already know and can do.

However, on occasions, teaching is not always flexible to ensure learning intentions are always met.

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

The nursery is bright and engaging and provides children with a good range of choice in their play. Children enjoy the free-flow outdoor space where they delight in playing hide and seek with staff.

They use excellent climbing skills to reach different parts of the garden and good spatial awareness to decide on suitable places to hide. Children squeal in delight as staff find them.Staff have a good understanding of how children learn and, overall, support their learning very well.

However, on occasions, staff do not adapt their teaching as necessary to take account of children's changing needs and group dynamics. This means learning intentions are not always fully met.Children thoroughly enjoy art activities and exploring with paint.

Staff encourage younger children's expressions as they use their hands to move the paint around the paper. Staff draw children's attention to the paint changing colour, offering an excellent narrative and supporting children's expressive art and communication skills very well.Children learn the importance of good health and hygiene through activities and the everyday routine.

For example, staff regularly remind children to wash their hands and ask them if they know why, to check their understanding. Children enjoy healthy, nutritious snacks and meals.The management team is passionate and committed, and creates an extremely positive working environment for the staff team.

There is a strong team spirit among the extremely long-standing staff. Systems of supervision and professional development help to ensure staff remain skilled and knowledgeable and are aware of their roles and responsibilities.Staff working with babies ensure their care needs are well known and met.

They seek information from parents to help create a familiar routine and environment. For example, staff ensure children have their favourite items for sleep time. Babies enjoy warm interactions from staff, as part of the 'five to thrive' approach used in the nursery.

Staff introduced this approach with support from their local authority and following training based on healthy brain development.The key-person system is well established and staff are clear on their roles in supporting children's physical and emotional well-being. Staff seize opportunities at nappy changing times to engage in playful interactions.

Staff working with older children provide good opportunities for them to independently manage their toileting needs, but are close by for support when needed.Some areas of partnership working with parents are particularly strong. For example, staff value the impact of parents continuing learning at home.

They encourage this through frequent sharing of activity ideas and planning information. However, information gained from parents when children first start is not always used effectively to help inform initial assessments and create a collaborative approach from the start.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff implement robust policies and procedures to promote children's safety and welfare. Staff are deployed well around the nursery and supervise children very well. The manager has received training on safe recruitment and follows comprehensive procedures to ensure those employed to work with children are suitable.

Managers ensure staff are alert to safeguarding matters and potential signs of abuse through frequent training and very regular information sharing. Recent training in online safety has helped staff develop an informative display to help parents ensure children are safe at home when accessing internet-based games.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: make use of information gained from parents to better inform early assessments of children's learning, creating a collaborative approach from the very beginning help staff to consider the impact of changes to children's needs during activities and adapt teaching to ensure learning intentions are fully met.