ABC Day Nursery (Melksham) Ltd

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff create a warm, welcoming environment for children and their parents.

Children demonstrate that they feel happy and secure. They show pride in their achievements. For example, babies clap their hands and smile widely when they successfully connect construction blocks together.

Older children are confident to share their thoughts and ideas. They talk confidently about their families during group activities as staff and other children listen. Children play cooperatively, share and take turns.

Staff develop children's communication and language skills well. For example, staff working with babies sing songs t...o help children learn the names of their body parts. Staff working with older children teach them positional language, such as 'high', 'low' and 'under' as they play in the sandpit.

Toddlers enjoy role play that promotes their social skills and imagination, taking on the roles of doctors and patients.Children learn to be independent and develop their self-care skills. Toddlers wipe their own noses and older children attend to their own toileting.

Staff encourage children to put on their coats and shoes in preparation for outdoor play. All children make good progress from their starting points. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals to help ensure that children are well prepared for the next stage in their education, including school.

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

The manager plans a broad and balanced curriculum, centred around building children's communication and language skills. Staff use assessment well to identify any gaps in children's development and put support in place to close them.The special educational needs coordinator works closely with external agencies and staff to help meet the needs of children with additional needs.

The manager spends extra funding with integrity, for example to provide one-to-one staff for outings and to purchase suitable resources.Staff working with babies introduce counting as children play and during daily routines to help them start to understand the concept of number. Older children learn the language of capacity, shape and size.

For example, staff encourage children to identify and talk about shapes in the environment. This helps to prepare children for later mathematics learning in school.Children enjoy climbing, balancing and exploring in the garden to develop their physical skills.

Staff also organise indoor activities to help keep children active, such as soft play, yoga and dancing. The manager is making changes to improve and develop the outside area to enable children to spend even more time outside.The manager works with local schools to share information about children's progress to help prepare them for the transition.

Staff provide children with opportunities to practise dressing in school uniform to promote a sense of identity and build independence. Staff accompany children on visits to schools to help children feel confident in the new environment.Staff working with babies and pre-school children support them to understand what is happening now and next.

For example, babies know when it is time for a nap and crawl over to the sleeping area. However, at times, some staff working in other areas of the nursery do not organise transitions from one activity to another well enough. Some children wait for long periods and become bored and restless.

Therefore, learning is not always effective during these times.Children's behaviour is generally good. However, when children display challenging behaviour, staff do not always fully explain the consequences of children's actions on themselves or others to better support their understanding of appropriate behaviour.

For example, they tell children not to stand on chairs but do not tell them why and children repeat the behaviour.The manager has taken action to rectify the weaknesses regarding safeguarding and safer recruitment identified during the recent regulatory visit. Improvements to the arrangements for supervisions, training and coaching have also been made.

However, some staff are not yet sure of how they can improve their practice to raise the quality of teaching to the highest level.Staff work with parents to identify what children already know and can do when they start to help ensure they make good progress from the outset. Parents report that their children are happy and keen to attend the nursery and that they feel well informed about their children's progress.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: train staff to consistently support children to understand the potential consequences of their actions to help them learn to manage their own behaviour review and adapt the organisation of transitions throughout the day to ensure that children remain consistently engaged in their play and learning continue to improve and develop the support given to staff, so that they receive consistent coaching to develop and improve their skills for the benefit of children.