Heathfield House Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The friendly and caring staff greet children warmly as they arrive at this nursery.

Children separate from their parents happily, which demonstrates how safe and secure they feel. Parents agree that the nursery has a 'welcoming and homely feel'.Children flourish and develop high levels of self-esteem and confidence.

Young children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure as they explore the environment. Staff working with babies and toddlers are wonderfully gentle and nurturing in their approach. Older children benefit from enthusiastic and animated practitioners who are highly skilled at interacting with them as the...y play.

The well-qualified manager leads a dedicated and experienced team. Together they strive for excellence and share a strong ethos that places children at the heart of everything they do. They are often called upon by the local authority to share their good practice with other settings.

For example, the manager is a communication and language champion for the local network of nurseries.

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

Staff engage children in high-quality interactions that support their communication and language skills. They value what children say and skillfully extend conversations and activities to enhance children's learning and development even further.

Staff offer constant praise and encouragement, which helps children to succeed and feel fulfilled in all they do. Children are confident to undertake tasks independently, such as pouring their own drink and serving their own lunch. When children face challenges, staff are highly effective in supporting them to persevere.

For example, a child struggling to dress a doll persisted with encouragement. Children keep trying and develop a can-do attitude.Staff well-being is highly regarded by the management team.

Staff are supported through targeted reviews and receive regular individualised and group training. The more experienced staff mentor the less experienced staff in each room, sharing their expertise. Staff say that this is a lovely place to work and that they feel supported.

Leaders monitor the quality of education effectively and identify areas for improvement. They have good systems for tracking children's progress. Staff plan well for different groups of children and identify gaps in their learning effectively.

For example, pre-school staff introduced new small-world resources to encourage imaginative play. Staff are evaluative and meet regularly to discuss ways to develop and enhance the environment. For example, staff in the baby room work together to provide more mathematical opportunities.

Partnerships with parents are good. Parents commend staff on their caring nature. They state that they 'feel part of a big family'.

Parents explain that they receive verbal feedback on how their child has been each day. However, not all of the parents who spoke to the inspector were aware of the online tracking system to share children's progress and next steps.Staff provide a range of healthy and nutritious meals.

Staff are good role models and sit with the children to eat the same lunch as them. This approach helps to encourage children to try new things. Parents say that they are happy with the range of food their children eat at nursery.

The extremely dedicated special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is an asset to the setting. She has recently completed her SENCo award and shares her knowledge with staff and parents. She works effectively with other professionals to ensure children are able to access support from a range of external services.

As a result, this is an inclusive setting where children with special educational needs and/or disabilities thrive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff demonstrate a good understanding of their responsibilities to keep children safe.

They are aware of what may cause concern about a child's welfare. Staff are confident in the referral process, including what to do if they are concerned about the conduct of a colleague. Risk assessments are robust, and all areas of the premises are safe.

Staff also involve children in risk assessing. For example, in the pre-school room, children know how to handle the china tea set carefully and what to do if it does get broken. Staff are deployed well and supervise children with vigilance.

They attend safeguarding training and keep up to date with changes in policy. Recruitment procedures are thorough, and all staff are suitable to work with children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen arrangements for sharing next steps with parents so they can continue and extend their child's learning at home.