Cranleigh Lodge Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Throughout the nursery, children receive good support to be independent and safe. The youngest children gain confidence in exploring their surroundings and the different accessible toys. They learn to help tidy up and to put things away.

As children progress, they learn to start helping to dress themselves and get ready for outdoor play. They learn to put dirty, used tissues in the bin and to wash their hands. The younger pre-school aged children serve themselves their own lunches.

They handle the cutlery and bowls of food independently, with good encouragement from staff. Pre-school aged children use the toilet facili...ties unaided and wash their hands ready for lunch. Children gain good skills ready for the next stage of their learning, including going to school.

Children are very happy and secure, and have positive relationships with staff. They benefit from the high levels of support and encouragement from staff to act on their ideas and try new ways of doing things. Staff are positive role models and help the children sensitively to learn to share and take turns.

There are effective leadership and management processes that are highly supportive of staff. They say that they feel a valued member of the team and the support from management protects their emotional and physical well-being successfully.

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

Staff support children and parents positively to help new children settle.

They adapt arrangements to suit the children's needs, and follow familiar practices from home that make the children feel safe and secure. Children benefit from the familiar care routines and loving relationships with staff.Staff work effectively with parents to ensure children receive consistent care and learning experiences.

The good communication enables them to share what they know about the children each day, to adapt routines and activities to meet the children's individual needs. Parents value the input and support they receive from staff.Staff in the pre-school room provide good encouragement to children to explore different ways of achieving.

For example, to use glue to stick the blocks together to make their tower taller. Children making a rocket ship out of large boxes receive good support to construct and decorate their ship. Children become thoroughly engrossed in their imaginative play outdoors, using pallets, tyres, wood and tarpaulin to build a boat to 'escape from the sharks'.

The baby room offers the youngest children a calm and welcoming environment. Staff provide the babies with lots of reassurance and encouragement to explore. They put their training to good use, for example, to support children's developing communication and language, and their exploration of sensory items.

Staff read stories well in the toddler room that engages and captures children's interest in books. Staff include the children well in discussion, encouraging them to share their thoughts, needs and ideas, which children do so confidently.Staff provide good learning opportunities for the younger pre-school aged children.

The children play alongside each other, handling real money and food in their play shop. They use their language well to share their ideas. In yoga, they practise the different moves and show increasing control of their bodies.

There are good self-evaluation processes that effectively bring about change. The views of staff, parents and children contribute to the positive changes that take place, for example, to the puddings that babies receive, and the use of books and of outdoor play spaces.Although staff support children well with special educational needs and/or disabilities throughout the nursery, they do not support those children who learn English as an additional language as well as they could, to provide opportunities for them to see and hear their home languages.

The toddler room learning environments are not as inspiring or stimulating as other play spaces in the nursery, to engage and enthuse children more in their experiences.Staff provide good challenges overall, although at times, these are not as focused as they could be to extend children's learning even further. For example, to learn different mathematical concepts when making play dough, or to target children's individual needs more closely, ensuring all activities are appropriate for the age ranges, such as when children cut up food for the nursery rabbit.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff and management have a thorough knowledge of their roles and responsibilities to protect children from harm. Staff are clear about the different signs and symptoms across the areas of abuse and wider safeguarding issues.

They know to report their concerns immediately to the designated safeguarding lead. The lead is clear about her role to monitor the risks to children and report any concerns promptly. Staff provide a safe and secure play environment for children indoors and outside.

They supervise the children well to ensure their safety. There are secure processes to review staff's understanding of safeguarding matters through regular discussions and quizzes to test their knowledge.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend the support to those children who learn English as an additional language, so they benefit from hearing and seeing their home languages used at the setting develop the toddler room learning environments further, to provide more inspiring and stimulating learning spaces to engage and enthuse children more nensure that challenges throughout the nursery are more focused to extend children's learning even further, helping them to achieve their next steps and make rapid progress.