Dryden Street Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and content. They skip into nursery, sing songs and leave their parents with ease. Children embrace staff with cuddles and cannot wait to play with their friends.

They behave well, follow instructions and are caring towards one another. Children display positive attitudes towards their learning. They develop the necessary skills in readiness for their next steps in learning, such as their move on to school.

Children have a strong sense of belonging and confidently talk about what makes them unique. They learn about the differences in the colour of their skin, eyes and hair. Older children confidently... talk about different families, such as having two mums or one dad.

Children relish learning about the world around them. They become enthralled while making a wormery. Children are eager to tell the inspector about Chinese New Year and how they celebrated with a special 'dragon party'.

Staff teach children about good hygiene practices and healthy eating. They talk to children about the importance of caring for their teeth and about keeping physically active. Children giggle with delight while making an assault course.

They cheer each other on while running and clap when their friends have mastered the skill of riding a bicycle. Staff provide children with healthy food and teach them about where food comes from. Children are fascinated about growing vegetables and talk about the importance of eating a balanced diet.

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

Leaders' vision of 'putting children first' is what makes this nursery so special. The manager and her deputy exhibit strong leadership skills. They want the best for children and aspire for the setting to be outstanding.

Self-evaluation is accurate and includes the views of children, staff and parents.Leaders have recently introduced a new curriculum, which is broad and ambitious. However, this has not had sufficient time to be fully embedded.

Leaders are aware that some staff do not know what they intend them to teach to children. This means that some activities are not pitched at the right level. For example, staff working with older children expect them to have knowledge of three-dimensional shapes before they are ready.

As a result, some children do not demonstrate high levels of engagement in their learning.Staff foster a love of reading to children and their families. Children take books home and talk about visits to the library.

Staff use role play to enact the roles of characters from stories. Children cannot contain their excitement while dressing up as their favourite characters. Staff teach children how to handle books with care and support them to gain an early awareness that print carries meaning.

In the main, the support in place for children who speak English as an additional language is good. However, leaders identify that they would like to be more consistent in the level of support that they offer to children who speak English as an additional language, in order for them to make even better progress.Leaders place high priority on staff well-being.

Staff report that working at the nursery is like 'one big family'. They commend leaders for listening to them and are proud to work at the nursery. Staff report that their workload is manageable.

Their morale is high and leaders truly value the experienced and dedicated staff team.Staff receive good levels of support during supervision sessions and appraisal meetings. Leaders share good practice with staff and ensure that staff keep up to date with training.

Staff report that they enjoy the training leaders provide and report that it positively impacts on outcomes for children. For example, training around outdoor learning has equipped staff with a better understanding of how to support younger children's large-muscle development.Partnership working is strong.

Links with external professionals and the local authority are good. Parents are invited to attend parents' evenings and receive regular newsletters. Parents commend staff on their loving and caring natures.

Care practices are good. Staff are loving towards children and spend time getting to know them during the settling-in period. Children form secure bonds with staff and settle very well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All areas of the premises are safe, secure and suitable for childcare. Risk assessments are effective and children are involved in these.

For example, they help to risk assess the outdoor area and apparatus before going out to play. Leaders ensure that recruitment procedures are robust and staff undergo stringent checks to ensure that they are suitable to work with children. Leaders have a secure understanding of the referral procedure.

They know how to report and deal with concerns. Leaders ensure that they work with external professionals to keep children safe. Staff are trained in child protection and understand the whistle-blowing procedure.

Staff are deployed well, and supervise children with vigilance. Ratios are complied with.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen staff's knowledge of the newly introduced curriculum, so that they understand more fully what leaders intend children to learn provide more targeted support for children who speak English as an additional language, to help them make even better progress.