Hopscotch Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enjoy the time they spend at the nursery.

They form happy and positive relationships with kind and caring staff, who know them well. Children display a strong sense of belonging. Staff are attentive and respond warmly to children's individual needs.

For example, they provide them with cuddles when needed and reassurance and praise throughout the day. There are clear procedures for settling children and building relationships with parents and carers from the very beginning. For example, the youngest children follow routines from home to ease their transition.

This helps children to feel safe and secure... within the nursery. Children show they enjoy being at the nursery. There are lots of smiles and laughter as they play together.

Staff encourage children to develop their own friendships. They offer lots of warm praise and celebrate children's achievements. Staff have high aspirations for children and plan a clear curriculum designed to teach children a range of skills.

This supports children's next steps in learning. For example, staff encourage children to be independent from the earliest days by making choices. Children consider risks and their safety during their play.

Children show increasing confidence in managing their own needs.

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

The provider is committed to providing a curriculum that enables children to smoothly move on to their next stage in education. On entry to the nursery, staff gather information from parents to find out what children already know and can do.

They use this information to plan for children's next steps in learning. Staff use regular assessments to quickly identify gaps in children's progress. They use additional funding effectively to provide targeted resources and experiences that some children require to learn and develop.

On the whole, staff support children's communication and language well. During most activities, they talk to children, ask them questions and listen to their responses. Staff read stories with expression and children listen attentively and predict what might happen next.

However, as listening and joining in stories is children's choice, many children do not choose to take part. This limits the learning opportunities that good-quality storytelling offers to children to extend their growing vocabulary and understand the context of a story.Staff support children to develop their mathematical skills well.

They plan activities that enable children to explore different mathematical concepts, such as counting and comparing size and capacity. Children eagerly count and use numbers during their everyday activities. For instance, when reading a story, they count how many legs the odd pet has and compare this to how many legs they have.

This helps children to make good progress in their mathematical learning.Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength of the nursery. Staff have a detailed understanding of what children need to learn next and what their specific targets are.

Regular meetings with families ensure that all information is shared and referrals to external agencies are made at the earliest opportunity. There is a separate soft-play room, where children can spend time or need time to regulate their emotions. Children with SEND make good progress.

Staff build excellent relationships with parents. They provide an inclusive environment where all children and their families are welcomed. Staff ensure that parents are kept up to date about children's ongoing care and the progress they make.

Parents comment positively about the quality of the care and education their children receive and the family support that has been invaluable to them.The provider takes time to identify any training needs that staff may require through discussion and observations of their practice. This ensures that staff have the skills and knowledge to provide a quality learning environment for children.

Safe recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that only suitable people work with children. However, the nursery's induction procedures are not robust enough to ensure that new staff quickly understand all their new roles and responsibilities thoroughly. This includes, room specific tasks such as personal care routines and food and milk preparations.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nensure that all children have daily opportunities to listen and take part in good quality storytelling, songs and rhymes to support their growing vocabulary and communication skills strengthen induction procedures to provide staff with the skills and knowledge to carry out their roles and responsibilities thoroughly.

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