Meridian Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are enthusiastic about entering the nursery. They respond well to the familiar routines.

For example, older children excitedly sit in the circle to sing the morning song after self-registering their arrival. Staff offer appropriate support to children, which develops confidence in their own abilities. The well-presented environment is inviting.

Staff ensure there are resources and activities accessible which appeal to children and support their interests. This helps children, including those who are new to the nursery, to settle into their play. As a result, most children feel relaxed and happy when separating... from their parents.

Staff have high expectations of children. The nursery has a well-planned outdoor area which children delight in exploring. Children have the freedom to enjoy experiences that extend their learning indoors and in the outside area.

Staff adopt positive behaviour management strategies. Children learn about rules and boundaries and receive encouragement and praise from staff. For example, staff support younger children to work out how to connect pieces of train track together.

Children beam with pride at their success as they are able to whizz the train along the track. The manager welcomes parents and professionals to run structured activity sessions, helping to expand children's experiences in enjoyable ways. Parents speak with confidence about the quality of care their children receive.

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

The nursery has a robust key-person system. Children have strong emotional attachments to staff which support their well-being, and parents know who their child's key person is. Staff encourage children to understand who they are and what makes them unique.

They listen to children's ideas and provide learning opportunities to support these. For example, together they act out the story about a bear hunt. Staff talk with confidence about their key children and their development.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who receive funding, make good progress. The special educational needs coordinator shares her excellent understanding and ensures a targeted approach towards future learning. Strong professional partnerships and good information-sharing with other agencies support children to reach their potential.

Staff receive regular supervisions and complete training to improve and update their childcare knowledge, including courses on how children learn. However, not all staff are as effective at implementing the skills they have learned. For example, during an adult-led activity, staff do not put enough thought into the resources needed.

When older children mix primary-coloured paint, staff are not clear about the outcomes they want children to achieve. Therefore, although children have some fun, their learning is not highly challenged. Furthermore, the monitoring of staff teaching is not sufficiently embedded into practice to consistently raise the quality of teaching to the highest level.

The nursery is an active part of the local community. Staff work extremely hard to develop good relationships with parents. They foster good communication through daily conversations and the use of an online assessment tool.

Staff encourage parents to access the nursery's website and read the newsletters. Parents attend coffee mornings, which are highly successful in promoting good working partnerships. They share their thoughts and ideas and find out how they can support their child's learning at home.

The staff are dedicated to the nursery and their well-being is supported effectively by the manager. The majority of staff are long-standing, well-qualified members of the team. However, at times, the focus for some staff is on the daily routine and the immediate transitional arrangements, particularly with the younger children.

One example of this is when children go home at lunchtime. This means there are periods of time when other children are not involved in any specific activities and receive less support from staff.Staff collect good information about children during home visits and initial settling-in sessions.

They promote children's good health through effective personal hygiene routines and nutritious food options. Children's language skills, including for those with a delay in this area, are promoted. Effective strategies include multilingual staff reading to children in different languages, and parents attending the nursery to share story time.

A lending library is also available for parents and children to further enhance children's communication, language and literacy development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a good understanding of, and can recognise, the signs that indicate a child may be at risk of harm.

They familiarise themselves with key policies. There are effective procedures in place to follow should staff have a concern about a child or an adult in the nursery. Staff complete relevant training in all aspects of safeguarding and know who the designated lead practitioners are within the nursery.

Staff can talk about wider safeguarding issues including the 'Prevent' duty guidance. Ongoing discussions, updates to Disclosure and Barring Service checks and effective risk assessments help to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review planning of adult-led activities for older children to ensure high levels of challenge and promote learning and development further focus more sharply on monitoring staff practice to raise the overall quality of teaching to the highest level review the organisation of some routines to ensure younger children are fully engaged in activities and supported in their learning.