Toad Hall Day Nursery Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are extremely confident. They show through their special relationships with staff and each other that they are safe and secure. Children are extremely keen to engage with adults, even those they have not met before.

They explore their surroundings, finding fascination and enjoyment in everything, including the simplest of resources. For example, babies happily climb into sand trays and stay fully engaged for long periods. Toddlers develop their understanding of the world through exploring resources such as cardboard boxes and tubes.<...br/>
Children's behaviour is exemplary. They wait patiently for their turn and share resources easily. Staff provide an excellent range of activities and experiences that captivate and excite all children, including toddlers.

For example, they link a familiar, favourite story to a potion-making activity. Toddlers eagerly anticipate what happens when bicarbonate of soda is mixed with food colouring and vinegar. They become fascinated as the ingredients are mixed together, resulting in a volcanic style eruption of bubbles and foam.

Staff encourage toddlers to listen to the fizzing of the bubbles and talk about what they can see. They use their extremely well-developed language skills to try to pronounce and repeat the names of the ingredients, such as 'bicarbonate of soda', and talk about what they are seeing.

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

Children make excellent progress in relation to their individual starting points.

Staff know what excites and motivates their key children. They provide activities and experiences that help children to consolidate existing learning and develop new skills. For example, children learn new ways to move and use their physical skills when playing outside on the new complex and challenging climbing frame.

Staff have frequent opportunities to build on their professional practice and development. Reviews, peer-on-peer observations and staff meetings all work effectively to build on gaps in their knowledge and support them to develop new skills. This leads to an extremely skilled staff team that works very closely to promote excellent outcomes for all children.

Children who have SEN are superbly supported by their key person and other staff. They form highly trusting relationships which helps to soothe them when they need reassurance as well as support their learning needs. Staff quickly identify through working closely with the parents what children respond to and how they prefer to learn, for example, through sensory based activities.

Children learn a wide range of key skills that helps to prepare them for the next stage in their learning and school. Staff arrange play dates in the month leading up to children moving rooms to gradually develop their confidence. For example, babies visit the next room with their key person initially to enable them to meet their new key person.

They gradually explore the room, safe in the knowledge there is a familiar face nearby for reassurance.The manager leads a professional network within the local community, which includes staff from other nurseries and school teachers. This helps to provide excellent continuity for children as they move onto the next stage in their learning.

For example, staff are able to find out what skills teachers would like children to have when they start school.Pre-school children tackle challenge and activities with enthusiasm and a keenness to succeed. They complete increasingly complex jigsaw puzzles and use a range of different resources, such as toothbrushes, to create paint patterns on their paper.

Staff role model how to hold and use resources, such as how to flick the toothbrush bristles to make small dots of paint. This inspires children to try and master new ways to paint and make marks.The manager constantly looks for ways to develop and build on partnerships with parents further.

For example, there is a parent partner group which meets twice a year to discuss aspects of the nursery and raise any new ideas they may have. Parents regularly meet with their key person to discuss their children's progress. Parent testimonials resoundingly praise the amazing care and activities staff provide for their children and how happy they are that children attend the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have an excellent knowledge and understanding of all safeguarding issues, including how to identify children who may be at risk of harm. They regularly attend training to ensure that they remain up to date with changes to guidance.

This helps staff to know who to contact in the event of any child protection concerns. The manager ensures that all staff complete safeguarding training when they start as part of their induction. She regularly tests out all staff's understanding to ensure their knowledge is embedded and secure.

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