Cliffe House Nursery school

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are very happy in this warm and welcoming environment.

They arrive happily and separate well from their parents. Children form strong bonds with staff. This helps them to feel settled and secure.

Children behave well and staff praise them for their achievements. They help children to talk about how they feel and understand they should be proud of their efforts and achievements. Staff help children develop good levels of self-esteem.

Children concentrate for sustained periods of time on activities they thoroughly enjoy. Older children are motivated and keen to learn new things. For example, they relish... learning new words and their meanings.

Children confidently use new words in context. Staff support them to develop a secure knowledge that information can be found from books. For example, children comment they know a dictionary contains words and can tell them what the words mean.

Children develop their early writing skills well. For instance, they form recognisable letters when they competently write their names. Staff provide children with good opportunities to develop their senses.

For example, younger children relish exploring a wide variety of materials and their textures. Older children delight in exploring the effect of mixing paint colours and talk about what is happening.

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

Staff have a strong overall understanding of how children learn and develop.

They know their key children very well. Staff evaluate the impact of activities on children's progress effectively. The manager makes good use of children's assessment information.

She regularly monitors the progress children make to ensure all areas of learning are met. All children make good progress from their starting points.Partnerships with parents are very effective.

Leaders and staff use various strategies to keep them informed about their child's progress. They involve them in their child's learning and share ideas about extending learning at home. Parents are very complimentary about the nursery.

They express how happy and settled their children are and appreciate the good progress their children make.Staff place a clear emphasis on developing children's critical thinking skills. They help children to make links between different areas of their learning to reinforce their knowledge.

For example, staff challenged children to make predictions of what may happen when they experimented mixing ingredients together. This helped strengthen children's understanding of the word 'coagulation'.Staff support children well to build their language and communication skills.

For instance, they ask questions and model language effectively for children.Staff engage enthusiastically in children's play and help develop their early mathematical understanding. For instance, they encouraged children to weigh mud using scales and follow a recipe to make pretend buns in their mud kitchen.

Children and their families are supported very well. Leaders and staff work in effective partnerships with other professionals to support children's care and learning needs, in order to help them make good progress. The manager and staff develop strong partnerships with other settings children attend, to share information and work together cooperatively.

Children are very considerate of their friends' needs. For example, younger children recognise when their friends are upset and offer reassurance with kind and gentle gestures. Children learn to share their toys well with each other.

However, staff miss some opportunities to help children to understand when it will be their turn to play with more popular resources.Children develop a positive awareness of similarities and differences between themselves and other people. They celebrate a wide range of cultural festivals and fundraise to help others less fortunate than themselves.

The nursery is led by a manager who is passionate about providing the best possible care and learning opportunities for all children. She values the staff team and has a high regard for their welfare and professional development. This helps to ensure staff feel valued and supported On occasions, staff do not make the most of large-group story times to engage and interest all children, in order to promote their learning further.

This means some children become restless and unsettled.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff have a secure knowledge of how to keep children safe.

The manager ensures staff access regular training to keep their knowledge up to date. Additionally, staff know the procedures to follow if they have concerns about a member of staff. The manager follows safe recruitment guidelines.

She implements a robust recruitment, induction and supervision process to ensure staff are suitable to work with children. The manager and staff carry out risk assessments to ensure the nursery is safe and that risks to children are minimised.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the organisation of large-group story sessions to interest and engage all children consistently help children to begin to develop an understanding of the needs of others while they play and learn together.