Westlands Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children excitedly arrive and warmly greet staff and their friends. Babies reach out their arms to their key person and snuggle in. Toddlers and pre-school children settle quickly and become deeply engaged with one of the many exciting activities available.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make excellent progress. This is because the manager and staff are incredibly ambitious for all children to achieve their full potential. They expertly implement a brilliantly sequenced and well-planned curriculum to ensure this happens.

For example, babies join in with so...ngs and rhymes, they babble the words and laugh as they copy the actions. Pre-school children compare bean pods they collect in the nursery allotment. They estimate which is the longest, the shortest and guess how many beans are in each one.

Children are very secure. Staff ensure all children develop strong bonds with them to help them to feel safe. Children are calm and motivated throughout the day.

They play cooperatively and persevere with challenges until they succeed. For example, babies intently explore rice in a tray. They watch as a member of staff fills up a container and slowly pours the rice out.

They try to copy this and marvel at the noise the rice makes as they succeed. Toddlers concentrate hard as they pour their milk or water into cups, trying not to spill it.

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

Staff knowledgably support children, especially those with SEND, to develop excellent communication skills.

They expertly model words and use sign language to reinforce words when supporting with SEND and younger children. Children thoroughly enjoy reading and sharing stories throughout the day. They readily point to things in the pictures and ask questions.

Pre-school children develop creative and imaginative skills as they make up their own stories. Staff often sing songs and rhymes to babies and toddlers. After sleep time, they welcome babies back to the group with a lullaby.

Children flourish as staff thoughtfully follow their individual routines. When the babies need it, staff sensitively settle them to sleep. They gently reassure babies and toddlers as they settle in to help them to feel valued and cared for.

All children develop an excellent awareness of healthy eating. They have nutritious foods and thoroughly enjoy sitting together to eat. Children love helping to grow fruit and vegetables from seed in their allotment.

They harvest these when they are ready and watch as the cook prepares them for meals. This helps children to understand life cycles and how things grow.Staff expertly help children to understand the world around them.

They have many pets for the children to care for. Pre-school children know to be gentle and kind to them. Children enjoy visits from the local care home for the elderly and share 'knit and natter' sessions with them.

They also sponsor a child in Africa and have developed an awareness of how different life is out there. Staff brilliantly support children who have English as an additional language. They learn key words in the child's home language and share stories.

This helps the children to feel familiar and safe.Children develop excellent physical skills. They explore their forest school with relish.

They run through wooded paths, climb and enjoy making dens. Children excitedly join in with music sessions. These sessions support the development of arm and wrist movements, which helps children develop early mark making skills.

Children explore play dough and paint with deep concentration and develop their fine motor skills as they play.Parents express delight with the education and care that their children receive. Partnerships are extremely effective as communication is robust and strong.

Staff brilliantly share children's activities and achievements, explaining how children have learned from them.The manager is very ambitious for children to reach their full potential. She constantly reads, trains, and attends conferences to build on her knowledge and to inspire her staff.

She works closely with her business partners. They ensure the setting offers high-quality, rich and meaningful experiences for all children. The manager nurtures and supports the staff through regular meetings.

She professionally mentors them throughout the week to help them develop their already strong practice. She ensures that staff work closely with other settings to help children transition into their next setting effectively.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff have extremely robust knowledge and awareness of how to safeguard children. The manager ensures all staff receive regular training and updates to keep their knowledge current and informed. Staff can knowledgeably recognise signs and symptoms of abuse and know how to act upon this to keep children safe from harm.

This includes 'Prevent duty' and radicalisation. The manager has very robust recruitment systems in place to ensure all staff are suitable to work with children. Staff carry out regular risk assessment of all areas before children access them, to ensure children can play and learn safely.