Safehands Day Nursery Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Management and staff provide a home-from-home experience for children.

Children are happy, confident and motivated to learn. They have warm, caring relationships with staff. Partnerships with parents are very strong.

Staff work extremely closely with them. Parents get very good information about their child's key person to help build relationships. Parents share information about children's home routines and what they already know and can do at home.

This ensures that children's needs are met. Ongoing information is then shared on a regular basis. Parents share information about children's developing interests... and staff give parents ideas on how they can support their children's learning at home.

As a result, children make good progress and are prepared very well for school.Children manage their feelings and behaviour well. Babies and toddlers learn to share and take turns.

Pre-school children and play harmoniously together as they build with the large bricks. Staff have high expectations of children. They use positive methods to help children understand what is expected of them.

Staff help children learn about their emotions through interesting and fun activities. For example, at group time, children talk about how kind it is to make people happy. They also say that to make people happy, 'You can give them a cuddle or make them a kite'.

Children show respect to staff, visitors and their peers.

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

Children play and learn very well in the stimulating environment throughout the nursery. Resources are at child height, enabling children to make choices and help themselves.

Many of the resources help children to use them in different ways. This inspires children's creativity and imagination. For example, toddlers show concentration as they explore what happens when they post pasta shapes through cardboard boxes.

Staff know children well and have a secure knowledge of their development and progress over time. There is a clear focus to help children develop their skills. However, at times, staff do not always use information about what children already know and can do.

They do not consistently plan activities that enhance children's development in sequence, especially their very early reading skills.Staff support babies' development to a very high standard and this is a strength of the nursery. Babies explore the wide range of natural resources and investigate the objects in the treasure baskets.

They have fun and listen to what happens when they hit the metal basins with a wooden spoon. Babies are soothed as they are tickled with floating material and explore paint using their whole bodies. There are sensory pads placed on walls to encourage babies to pull themselves to a standing position and begin to learn to walk.

Staff encourage children's communication and language skills well. They sing and read with them. Staff also hold conversations with children and introduce new words.

For example, at story time, pre-school children are encouraged to describe the meaning of certain words, such as 'sneak'.Children listen well and follow instructions. As a result, they benefit from the learning opportunities made available to them.

Children learn to develop a taste for healthy food and know the importance of physical activity. Meals and snacks are freshly prepared on site by the chef. Mealtimes are a social occasion where staff and children sit together and chat.

In the pre-school room, staff place uncooked vegetables on the table as a talking point. Children feel the vegetables and learn about the different parts, such as the skin and roots.Children develop a good understanding of the world around them and people's differences and similarities through activities and discussions.

However, staff do not focus enough on the activities that boys and girls access during the sessions. This means that not all children benefit consistently from all the areas of learning.The manager supports staff well and works closely with them.

She observes their practice, holds regular supervision meetings and offers further training to build on their skills. Knowledge gained is put into practice in the nursery to improve the learning outcomes for children. Staff comment that they feel valued and supported in their role, and that the working environment is positive.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Robust recruitment procedures ensure that all staff are suitable. Thorough induction and ongoing support from managers mean that staff remain alert to their responsibility to keep children safe.

Staff are vigilant in their supervision of children. Continual risk assessment of the play areas, inside and outside, promotes children's safety well. The manager and staff understand how to identify the signs and symptoms that could indicate a child is at risk.

They clearly understand how to report any concerns about children's welfare or the behaviour of another adult. They have a broad understanding of wider safeguarding issues and how to identify and report any concerns.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen staff support to help them reach consistently high levels of teaching, with particular regard to the sequence of children's learning and their early literacy skills focus more precisely on the activities that boys and girls access during the sessions to ensure that all children benefit consistently from all areas of learning.