Marsham Street Community Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children demonstrate high levels of energy and excitement as they enter the safe, vibrant and well-resourced environment. They have excellent emotional attachments to staff.

Children flourish and develop superior levels of self-esteem and confidence. Staff kept in close contact with families during the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. This helped support children's emotional well-being and continuous learning.

For example, staff developed a digital home-learning service which provided ideas for children's activities at home. Children make exceptional progress. They start school with an abundance of knowledge and ...skills and a love of learning.

Children are engrossed in a wealth of captivating and highly challenging activities and experiences, which staff expertly plan. Children of all ages curiously explore, investigate and speculate. Older children test out what happens when they mix water with real flowers.

Younger children experiment with various textures while painting. The nursery works hard to be sustainable; children learn how to care for the world around them and have a keen interest in environmental issues.Children's behaviour is exceptional.

They demonstrate excellent self-regulation. For instance, they use sand timers independently to share popular resources. Children learn to manage their feelings and emotions and treat each other with kindness.

They show that they feel safe through the confident way that they tackle new challenges. Parents are extremely happy with the care and education their children receive.

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

The leadership team has a clear vision and ethos and a sharp focus on continually evolving the outstanding facilities available.

The newly appointed manager is passionate about her role. She supports her whole team exceptionally well to help them achieve their very best. Staff say that they are extremely well supported.

The staff's emotional well-being is given high importance. They say they can always go to anyone in the senior management team for additional support. There is a clear system for coaching and training the staff team to the highest level.

The management team undertake extensive self-evaluation to precisely target improvements and continuous professional development. Staff attend a vast amount of training. For example, the nursery has trained staff to be sustainability champions to help the nursery protect and support the environment.

Children enjoy caring for plants grown from cuttings and seeds, composting and recycling materials, and as a result they develop a keen interest in environmental protection.Children are exceptionally well prepared for their move from room to room and on to school. Staff provide fantastic learning experiences and ensure that all children have the knowledge and skills they need.

Staff support children's understanding of what makes them and others unique. Children learn about their own cultural heritage and about the local community and natural world around them. Staff regularly organise trips out into the local area.

Children enjoy visiting the local parks and green spaces and they take part in various events at the local art gallery.Children's good health is supported exceptionally well. They are physically active outside every day and staff provide them with extremely healthy snacks and meals.

Children's personal development is enhanced when they share mealtimes. These are enriching social occasions. Using children's interests, staff find engaging ways to promote good health and oral hygiene.

For example, they have made giant dinosaur teeth for the children to practise cleaning, and children use real vegetables in their play. This ignites interesting conversations about being healthy.The standard of teaching is very high and, as such, children make very good progress in their learning.

Staff demonstrate superb skills in supporting children's communication and language development. They use a wide range of strategies to build on what children already know. Children's vocabulary is expanded through rich and meaningful conversations.

Staff demonstrate a genuine interest in what children have to say. Staff help children to develop a love of literacy. Children listen intently to their favourite books and are given opportunities to build their own stories over time.

The setting works exceedingly well with other professionals, ensuring that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive highly effective, tailored support and progress well. The setting works in partnership with parents to ensure individual care needs are met. Parents are extremely well supported.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff are extremely confident in their knowledge of the signs and types of abuse and how they would respond to safeguarding situations. They are able to identify local safeguarding risks, including an increase in domestic violence, which has meant that staff are more vigilant around this risk.

Staff are very well trained and regularly tested on the meticulous safeguarding and child protection policies. Recruitment within the nursery is robust. A comprehensive induction programme is in place.

Staff supervise children very well. All entrances to the premises are well secured, and all staff hold a current paediatric first-aid certificate. Detailed risk assessments for the premises and for outings mean that children's safety is given priority at all times.