Kangaroo Pouch Day Nursery At Hateley Heath

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happily at the nursery. They are keen to come in and explore with their friends. Children readily go to staff for cuddles and have built close relationships with them.

This helps children to feel safe and secure in their care. Children have great fun and enjoy exerting their energy outdoors. They join in music and movement sessions with enthusiastic staff and play on their chosen equipment, to climb up and slide down.

Others ride on a range of wheeled toys, and babies focus to push large circular shapes onto rods. This helps children to develop their increasing coordination and balance. Children behave ...well.

Staff use positive strategies to remind them to use their good manners and kind hands, and to take turns. Children are keen learners and enjoy the activities that are planned for them. For example, they continue to build further on their skills and help their peers to move their bodies into the yoga positions they know.

Older children lead their play and learning. They use resources of dice and crocodile counters to develop their own games together, and are eager to explain the rules of the game to staff. Children gain the skills and knowledge they need for their future learning and the eventual move on to school.

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

The curriculum is well designed to ensure children continually build on their prior learning to make consistent progress. Staff make good use of the information gained from parents when children first start, about what children already know and can do. They use this information to plan activities and experiences to support each child's learning needs, helping them to move towards what they need to learn next.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those who need additional support receive the support they need to make consistently good progress from their starting points. Staff liaise effectively with parents and other agencies to ensure they understand children's needs and provide the right support so that children make consistent progress from their starting points.Generally, independence is promoted well for all children.

Children confidently access resources for themselves and learn to manage tasks for themselves, such as serving their food and pouring their drinks. That said, younger children are not yet supported early enough to manage their own personal care routines so they develop the skills that they are capable of even further.Communication and language is promoted well.

All children engage in regular stories, rhymes and conversations with staff. Staff use their skill to ask open-ended questions and provide children with ample time to think and respond with their own ideas. Staff use additional packages of support to help focus their teaching closely to what children need to develop.

As a result, children become competent and confident talkers.Children are eager to share what they know and recall from outings and prior events. For example, they talk about their recent trip to the zoo and how they saw crocodiles and various monkeys.

Children learn about their local area and have opportunities to visit local amenities, such as the nearby parks, shops and the library. They enjoy taking books home to share with their families.Managers provide an effective programme of support for staff to strengthen their knowledge and skills, to increase the effectiveness of their practice with children.

Staff take ownership of their own learning and attend additional training in areas that interest them and benefit their work, to enhance the provision for children.Children learn about the similarities and differences in others in our communities through the celebration of a range of festivals, stories, and discussions about how we are all unique. This helps children to develop their tolerance and understanding of how others may differ, outside their own experiences.

Parents speak highly of the nursery and staff. They particularly comment on the quality of the information they receive about their child's care and learning. Parents share that they know what their children are currently learning and that they are provided with information about how they can continue this support at home.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers and staff understand their responsibilities to ensure that children are protected from the risk of harm effectively. They have a strong knowledge of signs and symptoms which indicate a child may be at risk of abuse.

All staff know the local safeguarding procedures to follow if they have concerns about the welfare of a child, including if an allegation is made against a staff member. They know how to escalate their concerns if they are required to do so. Recruitment procedures are robust.

This includes the background checks that must be carried out to ensure that staff are suitable to work in the nursery. Routine checks are made throughout the environment to ensure it is safe for children to attend.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support young children to develop their independence further to carry out their own personal care routines at the earlier stages when they are ready to do so.