Leys Children’s Centre Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children thrive and enjoy learning in the highly stimulating nursery environment. They play with high energy, enthusiasm and fascination. Babies confidently decide what they want to play with.

Older children dress and undress themselves independently as they play. They attempt their coat fastenings with persistent determination. Children behave well and play cooperatively as staff expectations are high.

They remain engrossed during hunts for minibeasts and examine insect features. Children develop good coordination as they play with bats and balls and travel through tunnels. Younger children balance and hop effortlessl...y as they leap off and on to jumping pads inside.

Babies demonstrate well-developed small muscle control as they use rolling pins to spread play dough. They handle books with extreme care. Younger children responsibly help to wipe tables clean during tidy-up times.

Children have high standards of personal hygiene. They wash their hands thoroughly after playing and before eating. Older babies carefully wipe their own noses and dispose of their used tissues.

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

The leaders' curriculum is broad, with a wide range of exciting and engaging activities. Leaders ensure children learn about their community through local trips and visits to the local park. Children have an extensive knowledge of multicultural food as they comfortably chop and snack on exotic fruit and vegetables.

They clearly explain how vegetables grow and why it is important to eat beetroot, papaya and sweet peppers. During adult-led activities, children learn the importance of adopting good oral hygiene practices. All children have very close bonds with their key person.

Children with additional needs are supported extremely well by the special educational needs coordinator. She ensures staff consistently support children to label and manage their feelings. Children manage changes in the daily routine well as staff encourage the use of resources such as transitional objects to support individual children's understanding.

Key persons make regular comprehensive observations and assessments of children. Children's activities closely match their interests and what they need to learn next. Hence, older children learn to match numbers to quantities, hold writing tools correctly and recognise their names.

They learn problem-solving skills as they investigate the speed cars travel down slopes of different heights, for example.Parent partnerships are very strong. Parents say staff and leaders are highly supportive towards their individual circumstances.

Leaders ensure parents are involved in their children's learning. Parents have been trained in the nursery's reading approach. This helps to support children's conversations and language skills.

The nursery manager is an innovative leader with a good understanding of the local community and its families. She attends external partnership meetings to share and gain advice. Her drive and passion has led to the implementation of services such as a much-needed resource for families to donate and exchange essential everyday items.

Staff receive regular supervision and training. They feel they are very well supported by leaders and are happy in their roles. Staff said they have manageable workloads and they enjoy many additional employee benefits.

The manager has fully addressed the previous inspection's recommendation. Hence, children enjoy plenty of opportunities to develop and build on their play when outdoors. For example, children purposefully use available clipboards to tick numbers of each type of minibeast.

The manager knows the strengths of the nursery's provision. These include a well-embedded curriculum that is full of enrichment visits, to theatres, museums and the local nature reserve.Staff skilfully emphasise key vocabulary for babies and young children to copy as they interact.

Hence, babies and toddlers quickly learn new words as they play. However, opportunities for older, most-able children are not always maximised to enable them to fully extend their growing vocabulary.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff know what signs suggest a child might be suffering from possible abuse. They have a clear reporting procedure to follow should they have concerns about a child. Staff attend regular safeguarding training.

There is a well-embedded procedure to follow in the event of any incident. All staff have a full understanding of what to do to ensure children remain safe. They know that unauthorised persons are prohibited from having access to children in their care.

Leaders value children's safety. For example, they have ensured children have a secure understanding of the setting's fire-evacuation procedure.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nincrease opportunities for older, most-able children to extend their already good vocabulary even further.