Happy Days Day Nursery Abbey Meads Swindon

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Leaders have a clear vision for the nursery. They continually reflect on what is working well and what could be improved. This helps them continuously improve the quality of care and education children receive.

Children are happy, have strong relationships with staff and enjoy their time at the nursery. Children get on well with one another. They play together harmoniously and socialise well.

Staff work in partnership with parents very well. Parents are extremely happy with the care and learning opportunities that their children receive, and they benefit from the opportunities staff give them to extend their children's... learning even further at home. For example, they regularly borrow interesting activity packs and story books to enjoy with their child at home.

Staff support children's learning and development well. For example, the curriculum provided is geared to children's individual needs and interests. This helps them to achieve their next steps and maintains their interest.

Staff incorporate opportunities to enhance children's personal, social and emotional development into a range of everyday activities. This is helping children develop particularly well in this area. Children have a positive attitude towards learning.

For example, they show good levels of concentration in group activities and they are motivated to join in with activities planned for them.

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

Leaders have ensured improvements since the last inspection. They have made sure improvements have been rapid and effective.

Leaders and staff have worked hard to address all of the weaknesses identified in the previous inspection and continually work hard to embed good teaching and consistency across the setting. This ensures all of the children benefit from quality care and learning during their time at the nursery.Staff ensure they maintain a two-way exchange of information with parents.

This helps them stay up to date about children's changing needs and means that parents are kept well informed about what their children have been learning and enjoying during their day at nursery.Staff plan a wide range of purposeful and stimulating activities for children outdoors. They make good use of the nursery gardens and the new 'secret garden' area.

This gives children opportunities to learn in a variety of different outdoor environments. For example, they learn about nature and wildlife in the 'secret garden' as they look for living things and grow things. Children of all ages are extremely motivated in their play outdoors and many children have developed a preference for learning outdoors.

Staff are good role models for children. They help them understand how to behave and why rules are in place. For example, they use positive strategies to manage behaviour and praise children regularly to boost their self-esteem and celebrate the things they do well.

This helps children follow routines, stay within boundaries and take turns effectively.Staff promote children's communication and language development well. For example, through giving them commentary of their play and teaching them new words to expand their vocabularies.

However, they do not always gear their questioning techniques to the children's stage of development. This means at times, children do not understand a question or do not have sufficient time to think and respond.Young children benefit from a wide range of opportunities to use their senses.

For example, they delight in play with a range of objects made of different textures and materials. This encourages them to explore and play imaginatively, and holds their attention very well.Staff help older children develop good literacy skills in preparation for school.

For example, they encourage children to recognise their own name in print and teach them letter sounds through a range of fun activities.Staff promote equality and diversity well through their everyday practice and through the carefully planned inclusive environments and resources. They gather information from parents about children's home languages and are proactive in learning about children's individual cultures.

This helps children learn what makes them different, as well as celebrating what makes them unique. However, staff miss some opportunities to make the most of the information they gather from parents. For example, they do not always know the pronunciation of words in other languages.

This limits the opportunities they have to use them with children alongside English.Leaders promote staff professional development well. Staff have good opportunities to gain qualifications and attend training.

They regularly attend a range of courses that enhance their knowledge and improve their teaching skills.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff and leaders attend regular safeguarding and child protection training.

They are aware of a range of wider safeguarding issues and the possible signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. Staff are clear on the procedures they must follow should they become concerned about the welfare of a child in their care. Staff are knowledgeable about the nursery policies and procedures and implement them well.

Staff risk assess effectively to ensure the environments indoors and outdoors are safe and secure for children. The vast majority of staff are first-aid trained, and this allows them to respond quickly and efficiently to emergencies and accidents.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nincrease children's thinking skills and promote further their language development by using skilful questioning techniques and giving children time to think and respond nimprove opportunities for staff to make better use of the information they gather from parents about children's home languages, to further promote children's learning of English alongside their home language.