St Mary’s Roseheath

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are happy and settled at the welcoming nursery.

They develop close, positive relationships with staff and other children. They enjoy and understand the familiar routines offered, helping them to feel safe and reassured. Due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, children's experiences are slightly different to usual.

For example, they use hand sanitiser when they arrive each day. Staff have increased the deep cleaning routines accordingly, making sure that the environment is safe. Children have adapted well and happily wave goodbye to their parents at the door.

Children are enthusiastic and confident... as they move around the indoor and outdoor play areas. They delight in discovering pine cones, hidden in ice. Children practise their balancing skills as they carefully move across the wooden planks to the den.

Staff act as good role models for each other and the children, this helps to create an ethos of respect for each other. For example, one child gives a 'thumbs up' to another child and praises them for sharing.Staff have high expectations of children's learning and behaviour, regardless of their background or prior experiences.

Staff treat each child as an individual, tailoring what they offer to meet children's ever changing interests and needs. As a result, children are happy and make good progress in their learning and development.

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

Staff get to know children and their families very well from the start.

They have implemented a careful settling-in process, where the key person gathers detailed information before children start. Each key person uses this information effectively to plan for and enhance children's learning experiences, so they make good progress.The manager works alongside her team to develop a clear and concise curriculum.

This supports children to develop skills they will need for the future, including their language and communication skills. Overall, staff support children's language and speaking skills well. However, leaders do not yet provide incisive feedback to staff to help them to promote all aspects of communication and language, for example listening and attention, to the same level.

For instance, when leaders observed a listening activity another group of children were singing close by, children became distracted by the background noise. This was not identified by leaders when feedback was given to staff. This results in staff not knowing how to improve and children making slower progress.

That said, staff do constantly narrate as they play with babies. They model language and further babies' understanding as they sing their favourite action songs.Babies are supported to make choices.

For example, they choose their favourite nursery rhyme by selecting the matching puppet. Older children confidently join in with their favourite stories and songs. Staff use actions and descriptive words, such as 'enormous' and 'gooey'.

Staff enjoy coming to work. They feel well supported by leaders. There are effective systems in place to help them manage their work load.

They access a range of training that supports their continuous professional development. More experienced staff support newer staff and take part in peer observations. Staff say they feel 'proud' of their children's progress when they are ready to transition to the next room or setting.

Transitions to local primary schools are strong. The manager has worked hard to build relationships with other professionals, particularly to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. However, for children who share their entitlement with other settings, links are not as strong.

Although well-being information is shared on a daily basis, assessment is not collaborative. Practitioners are unaware of what children have been learning for part of the day. As a result, children's progress could be slowed down.

Parent partnerships are strong and supportive. Staff share children's achievements daily, electronically and face to face. Staff give parents further ideas to help extend their children's learning at home.

Parents speak highly of the 'caring staff team'. The manager knows her families well. She offers flexible hours, where possible, to ensure all children receive their full entitlement.

All children are encouraged to be independent at an age-appropriate level. For example, older children get themselves dressed for outdoors, toddlers serve themselves vegetables at lunch time. This promotes children's emotional health and resilience.

As a result, children are confident and quiz the inspector on what she is doing.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff are confident in their knowledge and understanding of how to keep children safe from harm.

They know what to do and who to contact if they have a concern about a child, each other, and the manager. The nursery's recruitment procedures are detailed, with new staff members being well supported. Risk assessments are in place to ensure that the premises are safe, secure and appropriately maintained.

Staff pay careful attention to any dangers or risk or harm when children are playing and involve the children in assessing their own risk. For example, when playing with the china tea set, children understand that they have to handle it carefully because if it breaks it will be sharp.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: give more precise and sharply focused feedback to staff to help them to promote children's communication and language to the highest level share more detailed information about children's learning and development with other settings that children attend to help them to make the best possible progress.

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