Shaftesbury Children Centre Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children of all ages and abilities thrive in this inclusive nursery. They arrive happily and thoroughly enjoy learning with support from the skilled and enthusiastic staff team. Each age group has its own outdoor area where the children, some of whom do not have gardens at home, relish having space to play freely and find out about nature.

For example, children use scavenger hunt sheets to tick off the bugs that they have spotted. Children are particularly well behaved. They learn about their emotions, how to regulate them and listen carefully to staff's instructions.

Children have excellent relationships with s...taff, which helps them to feel safe and secure at the nursery. For example, babies confidently snuggle up to staff, who rock them if this is their preferred method of going to sleep. Staff have the highest expectations of all children, whatever their starting points.

They use highly effective strategies, including one-to-one support where necessary, to ensure that all children make notable progress during their time at the nursery. The nursery remained open during the COVID-19 pandemic and accepted children from other settings to ensure continuity in their learning. Staff kept in touch with the families of those children who did not attend, sending home ideas to support the children's learning and checking on the family's welfare.

Parents still drop children off at the door. Staff manage this well. A member of staff collects children one at a time and chats to the parent to ensure that key information is still shared.

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

Staff know children exceptionally well and provide excellent levels of support for them to move on to the next steps in their individual learning. They provide thoughtfully planned resources and activities, which children relish exploring. For example, babies handle and smell real roses and toddlers thoroughly enjoy playing with toy dinosaurs and plants in the compost.

Leaders and staff share a common understanding of what all children need to learn and the provision for children who need additional help is particularly strong. The special needs coordinator works very closely with staff to provide prompt, tailored support for children. She is proactive in building excellent links with other agencies and pursuing funding and support for children to enable them to make the best possible progress from their individual starting points.

Highly effective one-to-one support is in place for those children who need extra help and staff are skilled at identifying the best way to meet their needs. For example, they have created a dedicated area children can use if they are feeling overwhelmed.Children develop many independent skills as they progress through the nursery.

Staff foster this from a young age. Staff encourage babies to feed themselves and older children proudly show how they put on their own coats and go to get changed by themselves when they get wet. Children operate independently and with great confidence.

For example, older children help to cut up oranges and lemons to go in the water tray.Children who are verbal are confident communicators, who initiate conversations and chat animatedly to friends and adults. They relish listening to familiar stories and joining in with songs and rhymes.

Children who struggle to sit in a group still have the opportunity to read a story with a member of staff, so that they do not miss out on this important activity.Children are exceptionally well behaved. For example, they show respect for others as they ask if they can share play spaces with them.

Staff reinforce the rules such as sitting at the table to eat and talk a lot about sharing and taking turns as younger children learn these skills. Staff use practical strategies, such as using a sand timer, to help children understand when they need to do things.There is an exceptionally strong focus on children's health and well-being.

Children enjoy listening to a story about an alligator cleaning their teeth and talk knowledgeably about brushing their own teeth twice a day. Staff have been working with parents to ensure that children have healthy lunch boxes. Staff provide some information to parents in their home language and plan to extend this.

Leaders and staff work exceptionally well as a team. Staff well-being is high on the agenda and leaders have an open-door policy, so that staff can talk to them. Staff are supported well to develop their skills and improve the provision for children.

They promptly implement and share what they learn at training to ensure that the rest of the team also benefits from new knowledge and skills.Partnerships with parents are extremely strong. Staff know parents well and provide support for them as well as their children to ensure the best outcomes for the whole family.

Parents are keen to discuss the support they have received personally and comment on the amazing progress their children have made since starting at the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Safeguarding is paramount.

Staff refresh their training annually and discuss safeguarding matters at regular staff meetings, which keeps their knowledge up to date. They are exceptionally confident about the signs that a child may be at risk of harm and understand their responsibility to take action if they are concerned about a child. They are clear about how they would escalate their concerns outside the setting if necessary and they work closely with other agencies to protect children.

Staff use imaginative ways to help children learn about safety. For example, they have painted wooden spoons red and place these around the outdoor area where ivy is growing. This reminds the children not to touch these plants.

Also at this postcode