Violet Daycare - Bexley Road

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children happily arrive at the nursery and separate from their families with ease.

They quickly settle into the routine of the day and become engrossed in their play. Children feel safe and secure. Staff get to know the them well and build good relationships with them.

Children are busy and display high levels of self-esteem. They show high levels of curiosity and remain consistently engaged. For instance, babies maintain good engagement when singing rhymes and copying the matching actions.

Toddlers have good imagination and bring their past and present experiences to play. For example, children pretend to mak...e ice cream and cakes out of dough. Staff skilfully join in with children's play and ask relevant questions to extend their learning further.

Staff set high expectations for children's behaviour. They encourage children to share and take turns and take prompt action to address any unwanted behaviour. This helps children to learn about the expected behavioural boundaries and behave well.

The provider and staff are clear about what they want children to learn. They devise an inclusive curriculum that meets the needs of all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children make good progress from their starting points.

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

The manager and staff are reflective in their ongoing evaluation of the nursery. They have taken effective steps to meet the actions raised at the last inspection. Staff now complete the progress check at age two as required and share the assessment with parents.

Staff have recently attended training to improve their knowledge of how to respond to babies' needs. They now maintain positive interactions with children across the setting. These changes have helped to improve standards and raise the quality of education to a good level.

The manager and staff know the children well. They have a good knowledge of children's abilities and the next steps in their learning. Staff use observations and assessment effectively to monitor the progress of both individuals and groups of children.

Staff work effectively with outside agencies to help children with additional learning needs to catch up with their peers. Children make the progress that they are capable of and acquire skills for their next stage of learning.Staff support children's communication and language, as well as early literacy development, well.

They frequently share stories with the children and expose children to new words in the learning environment. For example, while reading the book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar' to a group of children, staff introduce words such as lumpy, shiny and slimy. Staff ask questions relating to the story and children recall what they have learned, explaining events in full sentences.

Overall, the supervision and arrangements to monitor staff practice are effective. Staff benefit from good training opportunities to help them extend and develop their skills. There is scope for staff to develop their teaching skills even further to help ensure that the curriculum intent is implemented effectively.

For example, on a few occasions, staff cover several aspects of learning at the same time and this does not help children to build deep knowledge of what they are learning.Staff are good role models and help children to learn what is expected of them. They reinforce children's understanding of appropriate behaviour through effective strategies, such as explanations and visual cues.

In addition, staff offer regular praise when children choose the right course of action, which helps boost their self-esteem. This contributes successfully to the way children behave.Overall, the curriculum for supporting children's physical development is implemented well.

The garden is equipped with apparatus that helps children to take risks in their play. Toddlers and pre-school children manage the slide with confidence and take large jumps on plastic crates. Babies, on the other hand, have fewer opportunities to learn to climb, explore and engage in robust physical play when out in the garden.

Partnership with parents is good. The manager and staff share regular information about children's care and learning with parents to help keep them informed and provide continuity. Parents comment on how well their children have progressed since joining the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff build trusting relationships with children and their families to help meet children's needs. Staff have a suitable understanding of child protection.

They know the correct reporting procedures to follow if there are concerns about a child's welfare. In addition, they understand the nursery's whistle-blowing procedures, including how to escalate safeguarding concerns to relevant agencies. The manager and staff understand their responsibilities under the 'Prevent' duty.

They risk assess the play areas well to assure safety. The manager ensures that staff are deployed effectively to supervise children and keep them safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and improve the available resources to support babies' physical development so they can fully explore and maximise their learning when out in the garden develop staff's teaching skills further so they can implement the learning intentions effectively to help children build on what they already know and make even better progress.