Ymca Thames Gateway Temple Hill Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children happily arrive at the welcoming nursery. Staff greet children with a friendly smile. This helps children to separate from their parents with ease.

Children settle into their environment, ready to explore the wide range of activities available. Staff recognise the importance of building secure attachments with babies. This creates a caring and nurturing environment.

Staff use their knowledge of children's interests to plan activities that are engaging and stimulating. Books are read and shared with much joy, evolving children's love for books. Staff value the power of singing, rhyming and storytelling.

...>This embeds words, extends vocabulary and builds the foundations for language development. Staff recognise the importance of providing children with meaningful experiences. They teach children about their local and wider communities, such as visits to the shops or going on a bus.

Staff positively model expected behaviours. For example, staff wear aprons when joining the painting table to paint. This teaches children the expectations that staff have for children.

Children flourish within their friendship groups. They support each other, are kind to one another, and enjoy sharing play experiences.

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

Children's interests are a focus for their learning and development.

Staff use children's interests to plan experiences that build on their learning. For example, younger children enjoy pointing to the animals in the books they read. Staff extend the animal stories with singing and signing 'Old McDonald had a farm'.

They make tones and sounds of the animals, and introduce children to a wider range of animals.Children have opportunities to explore their wider community. They visit local shops, take trips to the park, and go on a bus.

This provides children with valuable real-life experiences.During mealtimes, staff encourage children to self-serve. Older children use utensils to serve their own food onto their plate and pour their own drinks.

However, staff do not fully recognise the importance of enhancing children's independence skills further. For example, at times, they do not encourage children to try to have a go at simple tasks themselves to help achieve the intended outcome.Children enjoy a wide range of books.

Staff join children in the cosy area to look at books together, fostering a love of reading from an early age.Staff understand their roles and responsibilities as key people. They know their key children well.

They recognise and respect the identities and diverse backgrounds of the children and families who use their setting. However, not all staff are aware of the languages spoken by children at home. This means that, at times, children who speak English as an additional language do not benefit from consistent support.

Parents comment on how happy and settled their children are in the nursery. They welcome the feedback that they receive about their child's daily activities. Staff share information about children's learning and development regularly.

This shows that staff are working in partnership with parents to inform them about their child's learning and how it could be supported at home.The newly appointed manager is passionate about developing a clear vision for the nursery. The manager recognises and builds on the strengths of her team to create success.

The management team recognises areas for improvement, and how they can progress as a setting to improve the outcomes for all.The management team has put in place clear and robust supervision and appraisal methods. This ensures that they monitor professional practice and help staff to develop the work they do.

This enhances the outcomes for children and also helps staff to achieve agreed goals. Staff have access to an ongoing training programme online. This develops and improves staff's professional knowledge and skills.

Staff's well-being is of utmost importance. The management team recognises that the emotional environment is an integral part of a positive work place. The management team is fully aware of the main pressures on staff.

They support them effectively. For example, they hold well-being meetings, have an open-door policy, offer free counselling to all staff, and offer the option to speak with a well-being 'champion'.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff fully understand their role and responsibility to keep children safe from harm. Staff have regular training to keep up to date with wider safeguarding issues, such as female genital mutilation and radicalisation. Staff have a secure knowledge and understanding of what they need to do if an allegation is made about a member of staff.

The leadership and management team has rigorous procedures in place for the recruitment and induction processes to ensure that staff are suitable for their role and are aware of their own responsibilities. Detailed risk assessments are carried out daily to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen staff's knowledge of how to help children to further develop their independence skills in everyday tasks and activities support all staff to develop a full understanding of children's backgrounds and home languages, to ensure that children who speak English as additional language benefit from a consistent approach.