The Chestnuts Nursery Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children arrive happy and are keen to get into nursery to explore. They develop nurturing relationships with staff, and they form warm friendships with the other children who attend the nursery.

Staff know all the children exceptionally well. They invest time in gathering information from children's parents to learn about children's interests and needs. As such, children settle quickly and demonstrate that they feel secure in the nursery.

The curriculum in place focuses on children being confident and independent, as well as on supporting them to build on what they know and can do. Children are keen and curious to expl...ore, and they demonstrate perseverance in taking on challenges. For instance, the youngest children spend time helping each other to prepare to go outside.

Children focus and persist as they help to fasten their friends' coats. Older children demonstrate independence during mealtimes; they help themselves to drinks and scrape their plates when they have finished eating. Children have clear routines and boundaries, and they respond well to the instructions staff give them.

Children learn to share, wait patiently and take turns with resources. Staff reinforce the importance of good behaviour and manners, and mealtimes are a calm and sociable experience.

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

The new management team has a positive approach to continuous improvement.

Since the last inspection, managers have reviewed their procedures, made changes to the environment, and embraced support from various professionals to help them make the necessary improvements. Parents say that staff keep them informed about their children's progress and that they are happy with the care that their children receive.Staff use consistent methods to help children to learn to recognise and manage their feelings and emotions.

Children use colours as a reference to how they are feeling, and they use these to describe their emotions to the staff. Staff reinforce this and encourage children to speak about how they are feeling and to consider what makes them feel happy or sad. When children share that something has made them sad, staff talk about what might make them feel happy.

Staff model this language throughout the nursery, so all children are confident to express their feelings.Staff support children's language and literacy skills well. They model language and encourage children to speak and share their ideas.

Older children confidently listen and sound out letters and words as they write their own stories. Staff support and extend children's interests well. For instance, they encourage children to think of other words that start with the same sounds.

Leaders and staff place a high emphasis on literacy through books and storytelling. Younger children enjoy listening to stories, and they excitedly talk about what happened to the characters. Older children remember their favourite stories and act them out with their friends.

Staff support children to learn key information about books. For example, children learn what it is to be an 'author' or an 'illustrator'. They confidently make up their own stories and create artwork as they become the authors and illustrators.

Managers have made significant improvements to the support that staff receive. They monitor staff practice to ensure that staff receive the guidance they need to improve and update their knowledge and skills. Overall, staff interactions with children are now positive.

Staff recognise what children are interested in and generally support their learning well. However, due to changes in the environment and resources provided, at times, staff are not confident in using the new resources to support children's play and learning to help them to make the best progress possible.Overall, there is good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders and staff identify when children need extra support. They work well with other professionals and parents to help close gaps in children's learning. However, at times, staff do not consistently use the strategies in place to support children's specific needs, to help them to interact and take part in the opportunities available to them.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have developed their risk assessments of the environment. They check that the areas where children play are safe and involve children in learning about how to keep themselves safe.

The management team ensures that all staff have a suitable understanding of their responsibilities to monitor children's well-being. Managers understand the procedures in place to report any concerns they have, and staff have a good understanding of the indicators that may suggest that a child is at risk of harm.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support all staff to have the skills and knowledge they need to use the resources effectively to engage children in play and learning nuse strategies in place more consistently to support children with SEND to engage and take part in routines and activities.