Mansion House Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children are warmly welcomed into this truly inspirational and magical nursery. They arrive happy, settle quickly and eagerly explore the wealth of fascinating activities on offer. Children demonstrate exceptional powers of concentration and perseverance as they successfully complete tasks.

Staff are tremendously quick to capture these incredible moments and celebrate children's achievements. They are extremely positive role models with high expectations for children's learning. Children are conscientious learners who exceed staff's expectations.

For example, children's imaginations are ignited as they play with... authentic ingredients and equipment in the outdoor kitchen. They name ingredients to make 'cucumber soup'. Children impressively consider and try out their ideas to refine their initial recipe, which is too watery.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. They are instinctive of others' feelings and offer a helping hand. Children's well-being is of paramount importance to leaders and staff.

This is evident when pre-school children talk enthusiastically about their 'zen den' where they practise yoga and breathing techniques. They recall their previous learning and impressively choose to take the lead. Children instruct and demonstrate various yoga poses to their friends, such as 'flamingo' and 'dinosaur'.

Toddlers whisper their favourite songs with staff, which creates a calm atmosphere. They giggle together as they master all the actions. Babies show sheer delight as they marvel at the sensation of cornflour mixture being sprinkled on their feet.

All children thrive and make outstanding progress.

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

Leaders have an uncompromising commitment to achieve excellence in all areas of the nursery. The newly appointed manager is inspirational and highly reflective.

She accurately evaluates the provision through successful communication with parents, children and staff. The manager works tirelessly to create a cohesive local community. She organises special occasions such as recreating the Tour de France event as children often see people riding bicycles in the local vicinity.

Leaders meticulously oversee the quality of teaching across the nursery. This ensures that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make exceptional progress. The manager and staff constantly review children's progress and adapt their practice accordingly.

They work closely with parents and external professionals to ensure children receive effective targeted support. Staff offer ample opportunities for children to recall, revise and apply what they have learned in different situations. In this way, children make impressive connections between their prior and new learning.

Children make excellent strides in their independence. This includes managing their personal care routines, as well as taking the initiative to solve problems and meet challenges. For example, at mealtimes, babies work towards feeding themselves with spoons.

Toddlers practise using forks with increasing control. Pre-school children expertly serve their own food, use knives and forks competently and scrape away their own leftovers. Older children experiment with wands and bubble mixture.

They test out a variety of ways to make the most amount of bubbles. Children, through their investigative work, reach the conclusion that waving the wand quickly is the most effective technique.Children's communication and language development is given the utmost priority.

Leaders and staff ensure the environment is rich in language opportunities. For instance, babies hear new words such as 'sour' when tasting a lemon. Toddlers give suggestions for verses when singing their favourite songs and find some of their more outrageous ideas hilarious.

Older children speak confidently about a variety of emotions and talk about how facial expressions may change in relation to the emotions. Staff are trained in using sign language to aid children's comprehension. This is implemented effectively across the nursery to fully support all children's communication needs.

Staff plan rigorously, showing an in-depth understanding of children's needs, abilities and interests. Their interactions with children are extremely effective as they consistently build on what children already know and can do. For example, pre-school children display their impressive critical-thinking skills when they work through challenges posed by staff that require a mathematical focus.

Staff initially guide less confident children through a logical process. Over time, they confidently apply different strategies to correctly solve more complicated problems. This means children learn that there are many ways to arrive at a solution.

Parents are highly complimentary about the leaders and staff. They feel that the whole team makes an exceptional contribution to their children's well-being, ongoing development and preparation for the next stage in education. Parents report on how well-informed they are about their child's day and the progress they make.

This is provided through daily verbal feedback, newsletters, parent forum meetings and an online application.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Leaders prioritise the safety of children.

They review their safeguarding practice and policies frequently to ensure the arrangements are rigorous and continually updated. The manager and staff are extremely well trained to identify a child who may be at risk of harm. Staff fully understand and have due regard to preventing adults and children from being drawn into terrorism and extreme views.

They know the procedures to follow if they have any concerns about a child's welfare or an adult's conduct. Staff are highly vigilant about carrying out risk assessments and keeping the premises safe and secure. Leaders follow robust recruitment procedures, including ensuring that all staff are suitable to work with children.