Alphabet House Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff take great care to get to know every child thoroughly, including before they start, to ensure that they are fully included in what the nursery has to offer. Children's ideas and imaginations blossom as they explore the wide range of role-play areas and small-world activities. Younger children pretend to make cups of tea, dress dolls in hats and offer staff plates and spoons.

Older children visit the imaginary supermarket, where they fill baskets, visit the checkout and receive pretend receipts. The staff patiently show children how to do things. They encourage them to persist, help them to think through problems and chall...enge them to do more.

Children's progress in all areas of learning is carefully planned by staff. For example, staff purposefully arrange the baby room to support babies' physical development. Babies learn to crawl, climb and cruise.

As they grow and move through the nursery, children progress to participating in dance and yoga sessions. Children of all ages love listening to stories, and staff encourage them to join in. For example, staff read stories about farm animals, asking younger children to name them and identify what noises the animals make.

Older children listen to stories linked to the weather and further their understanding as staff support them to create rainbows and collage suncatchers and splash in puddles outside.

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

Managers and staff have worked hard since the last inspection to make the required improvements. The curriculum has been reviewed to ensure that it is ambitious and helps all children to succeed and make good progress.

Effective practice is embedded throughout the nursery, enabling all children to reach their potential and remain safe and healthy. Staff have been able to access different training opportunities and benefit from effective supervision and mentoring sessions. This has had a positive impact on the quality of education provided.

Parents welcome the information they receive about their children's care and learning. They report that staff are approachable and offer helpful advice. The parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) value the nursery's willingness to work with other professionals to meet their children's needs.

Managers proactively engage other professionals for specialist support. As a result, children with SEND achieve well.Staff understand how to sequence learning to help children.

Toddlers enjoy familiar stories, which staff revisit throughout the day and link to the activities children enjoy. For example, toddlers listen intently to a story about a gingerbread man. They recall previous learning and the story narrative as they develop hand-eye coordination and small-muscle skills while manipulating play dough to create their own gingerbread man.

Staff talk to children enthusiastically as they play, offering warm praise and positive encouragement. Babies learn to behave well as staff gently remind them to use 'kind hands' and role model how to be kind to their friends. Older children develop firm friendships as they learn to play together, develop skills in sharing and are supported to take turns.

Toddlers help staff hold a parachute up high to allow their friends to crawl underneath and join in songs that include their friends' names.Staff ensure that children hear relevant and useful words daily. Children are encouraged to use these words in their learning and are praised when they do.

As children play, staff offer clear running commentaries and encourage older children to join in conversations and share ideas. However, staff who work with younger children do not yet assess children's level of understanding carefully or plan precisely enough to help them rapidly increase the range of words they already know.Staff promote children's good health and especially target their independence skills.

Children of all ages learn to do things for themselves. Staff teach babies to hold a spoon and encourage them to feed themselves. Toddlers wash their hands independently and collect cutlery and cups before sitting down for lunch.

Older children are provided with mirrors to help them see where and whether their faces require washing. Children are encouraged to help tidy away resources and dress themselves ready for outdoor play.Staff help children to prepare for the next stages in their learning, such as moving into the next room.

They plan activities to support children's interests and help children become confident learners. However, some older children struggle to maintain high levels of engagement during group activities. This is because staff do not plan and organise these carefully to help individual children get the most out of their learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Managers identify gaps in staff's knowledge and provide further training to ensure all staff possess a good knowledge of how to safeguard children from risk of harm. Staff know how to refer concerns they have about a child or adult by following their safeguarding policy and procedures.

The managers follow safer recruitment procedures to ensure that the staff they employ are suitable to work with children. Children learn about their safety, through the gentle direction from staff with reminders to use 'walking feet' when indoors and practising what to do in the event of a fire.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the planning and organisation of group activities for older children to ensure all children remain engaged and interested in learning focus more precisely on younger children's communication and language to further assess what they already understand and support them with what they need to learn next.