Harlequin Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children's physical and emotional well-being are prioritised consistently throughout the nursery. Staff provide a wide range of opportunities for children to experience outdoor activities and encourage them to make choices about where they would like to learn.

Children show high levels of independence from a very young age and develop very good levels of self-confidence. All children show they feel safe and secure in the nursery, including those who have recently started. Staff effectively meet their individual care needs and develop strong bonds with them and their families.

Staff have high expectations of all childre...n who attend, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Overall, they plan challenging and stimulating activities that promote children's development. Children are keen to join in with planned activities and explore the indoor and outdoor environment with curiosity.

Young children begin to take an active part in their own self-care and choose wellington boots and a coat to go outdoors. Older children begin to develop some of the skills they need for their eventual move to school. They accurately identify numerals up to 10 and have an excellent understanding of behavioural expectations and safety.

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

Staff actively promote children's positive behaviour through regular and specific praise. Children are well mannered, polite and helpful. They show kindness to others and respond to the needs of their peers.

For example, during group times, older children whisper, rather than shout, to maintain a calm environment.Staff work exceptionally hard to build highly effective partnerships with parents. For example, they hold open evenings to share the importance of home learning and encourage parents to take an active part in their child's development.

This has had a positive impact on children's love of stories and bedtime reading.Staff are well qualified, happy and enthusiastic. Managers observe staff to help them reflect on their practice and they hold regular individual supervision meetings.

Managers help staff to maintain a manageable workload. For example, staff have access to online professional development opportunities that they complete during working hours.Children develop strong physical skills and enjoy exploring the local community.

Older children recently observed construction work in the community and staff created activities to build on their knowledge of the world.Staff create a warm, caring atmosphere for babies. Young babies benefit from being held close to have their bottles and smile back at staff as they maintain eye contact.

Older babies enjoy splashing in the water and delight as they bang on the large drum outdoors.Older children are keen to participate in creative activities and staff provide a wide range of resources for them to choose from. Children show high levels of concentration as they persevere to develop their scissor skills and they communicate effectively, talking about their pictures.

The provider and manager demonstrate a clear understanding of children's overall development and use information effectively to help staff plan purposeful activities. However, there are occasions when staff who work with older children miss opportunities to spontaneously extend learning. In addition, staff who work with younger children do not tailor their teaching to fully develop all children's language skills.

Staff promote children's good health and encourage children to be physically active. Families have taken part in a 'healthy movers' project and shared how they exercise at home. Children thoroughly enjoy healthy, nutritious meals and have a good awareness of hygiene.

The manager has developed effective partnership working with other professionals who are involved with children. For example, speech and language therapists are invited into the nursery to support children and create individual learning plans. This helps to promote continuity for children and has a positive impact on their progress.

The provider, manager and staff team are reflective and keen to strive towards excellence. They gather feedback from parents and staff to help them understand the needs of the community. Parents speak very highly of the nursery and say children have a 'very happy and educational time'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Safeguarding is effective. The provider and manager ensure staff are trained to recognise signs of potential abuse and neglect.

Staff have a good understanding of wider child protection issues, such as the signs of female genital mutilation. The manager follows safer recruitment procedures and verifies staff's suitability to work with children. She regularly monitors staff's health and well-being.

Staff complete daily assessments to minimise risks to children. They encourage children to be aware of their own safety and support parents to keep children safe online.

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 teaching to help babies and young children develop their existing communication and language skills and build strong foundations for the future reflect on how effectively staff who work with older children provide consistently high rates of challenge when supporting children's play and learning.