Woodlands Day Nursery Halton

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children behave well. They have consistently positive attitudes to their learning. This is demonstrated when they experiment with ingredients to make play dough.

Children talk to each other about what they can add and what effect they think it will have. They delight in adding flour and paint one scoop at a time and seeing what happens. They persevere and look in amazement as their ingredients begin to bind together.

Children are proud of the play dough they create and they enjoy showing it to others.Children are happy and safe in the nursery. For instance, younger children bounce with excitement and wave their arms as... staff sing familiar songs.

They enjoy snuggling with staff and sharing stories. Older children make independent choices during their play. They enjoy creating dens.

They dress up and play imaginatively with others, letting them in through the 'gate' to their den.Children enjoy the range of learning opportunities which staff plan to help develop their curiosity. Staff find out about children's unique interests.

They use this information well to help them plan activities for individual children. Staff have high expectations for children's development. However, at times, they do not fully consider how to share their knowledge and ideas to help them to challenge the most able children.

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

Staff develop good partnerships with parents, for example by developing strong communication methods. For example, parents receive face-to-face feedback, weekly memos and online updates of their children's achievements. Parents report that they enjoy receiving information about their children's progress.

They like being able to share their children's achievements at home. Managers seek and consider the views of parents well, for example by using a question of the week. They use parent responses to help them reflect on the quality of their provision.

Managers monitor the performance of their staff. For instance, they observe practice in each room and give informal feedback. They have arrangements in place to supervise staff performance.

Managers consult staff to seek their feedback on workload and work-life balance. However, they do not have clear expectations about when staff complete training. They have not considered how they can provide opportunities for staff to complete more training within their working day.

Staff establish positive working relationships with professionals. For example, the special educational needs coordinator works closely with a range of multi-agency professionals. This helps her to plan and review targets for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Staff support children's health and personal needs well. This is demonstrated when they gather information about children's routines, health and dietary requirements before they start nursery. Staff create health plans where needed.

These help them to detail how they will meet children's needs. Managers have strong transition arrangements in place to ensure that staff share this information with the next key person. Staff are very attentive and support children's health well.

For example, when children are unwell, staff promptly follow procedures to promote their welfare.Staff are positive role models. They use strategies to encourage children's good behaviour effectively.

For example, staff use singing well during children's daily routines, for example to signal that story time is about to begin.Staff promote children's curiosity and enjoyment of learning. This is demonstrated when they respond to children's emerging interests and help children to follow these in their learning.

When children show an interest in birds, staff help them to look for birds in the sky. They use technology to help children find out more about birds. They continue to talk about birds as children use lines and circles to draw them on the chalkboard.

On occasions, for example with the older and most able children, staff do not use their knowledge of individual children's development and of areas of learning to challenge and extend children's knowledge and skills further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Members of the management team ensure that staff keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date.

For instance, they test staff's knowledge regularly through discussion during meetings. They ensure that staff understand company procedures for dealing with concerns and local multi-agency safeguarding arrangements. Staff have a secure understanding of the signs and symptoms which may indicate that children are at risk of harm.

This includes the risks of radical and extreme views or behaviours. Staff complete robust risk assessments in their individual rooms to help them to ensure that their environment is safe for children throughout the day.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: communicate clear expectations relating to workload and review staff deployment arrangements to help to provide opportunities for staff to complete more training within their working day develop best practice and support staff to share their knowledge with each other, to challenge the older and most able children more effectively.

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