Early Years @ Highfield - Whitehouse

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children are enthralled as they explore and investigate an exciting range of opportunities in the carefully organised indoor and outdoor environments. They develop extremely positive attitudes to their play and are eager to learn. They delight in leading other children to sing and copy actions as they pretend to be 'the teacher'.

They imitate staff as they offer a choice of 'song spatulas' to their friends to select the next rhyme. Children enjoy being very independent. They pour their own drinks and clear away their plates and cups after snack time.

Children tidy up their learning areas, using brushes to sweep ...up sand and put away toys in the correct places when they are finished. Children are extremely well settled. They build wonderful, warm relationships with staff and show high levels of confidence in social situations, such as group activities.

Children's behaviour is superb. They have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. From a young age, children learn to interact with their peers with respect and kindness.

Staff are excellent role models. They praise children consistently for their positive behaviour, such as actively taking turns and negotiating how to share equipment.

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

The setting manager and two supporting managers from the Highfield Company monitor and coach staff superbly.

For example, they use highly effective supervision and observations of teaching to set targets to continually develop staff practice. The setting regularly organises training with the Highfield Company. Staff report that this is a superb experience and enables them to share outstanding practice and exchange ideas.

Consequently, staff are equipped with exemplary skills and have a remarkable understanding of how children learn and develop.All children make rapid progress from their individual starting points and develop key skills for their future learning. For instance, parents comment that the setting has made their children 'mad about books' and that they have developed a love of reading and mark-making.

Children demonstrate this as they help staff to create a storyboard of the week's focus book, The Gingerbread Man. They recall the key characters and events, as well as the sequence of the story. Children illustrate it on huge sheets of paper and older children begin to write their own labels.

Children are proud of their knowledge and keen to add their own ideas to extend the story even further.The setting manager regularly reviews the progress of individuals and groups of children with her curriculum leader. They use this information to focus staff teaching and identify new resources or training to purchase.

Staff recently attended targeted training and now use specialist tools to assess children's speech development. They use this information to provide targeted interventions which promote children's confidence and skill in speaking very effectively.Mathematical learning opportunities are skilfully embedded throughout the nursery.

For example, young children are supported to count through songs, recognise shapes and investigate how new colours are made as they mix with spray bottles of paint. Older children help to count the number of children present and write the number on the board. They begin to understand how dates work and work out which day comes next when identifying the days of the week.

Parents are invited into the nursery to share their home language and culture with children. The nursery has close links within the local area, which further enhance children's knowledge and experiences of people and the community that they live in. For example, local police officers visit to promote children's understanding of the work they do and how children can go to police for help.

Children play boisterously in the outdoor environment. They have ample opportunities to be physically active and show good control in both small and large movements. Children are keen problem-solvers.

For instance, they try different ways of attaching a broom to a bike, to transport it across the outdoor area. Children also show a high level of curiosity in investigating the natural world. Together with staff, they examine ice and experiment with ways to make it melt and talk about how they could re-freeze it.

The setting works hard to achieve excellent partnerships with families. Parents speak highly of the setting. They comment on how incredibly impressed they are with the staff and variety of activities on offer.

Parents talk about the wonderful progress their children make and how they have grown in confidence since attending. The setting manager regularly seeks feedback from parents to enhance her improvement plans for the setting.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have an excellent understanding of what constitutes a safeguarding concern. They understand the procedures to follow if they have a concern about the welfare of a child or the behaviour of an adult. The manager ensures staff keep their knowledge up to date through attending training courses, accessing online training and holding regular staff meetings.

Several staff have attended additional, higher-level safeguarding training, which further promotes children's safety. When appointing new staff, the manager follows thorough recruitment processes. This ensures staff are suitable and have the necessary skills to effectively fulfil their roles in the setting.

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