Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Hertford

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff welcome children warmly and with enthusiasm to help them to settle quickly.

There is thorough and sensitive support in place for all children, in particular those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The manager and her staff team work closely with outside services, parents and carers to provide diligent oversight of all children's needs. They adapt activities and resources with great flexibility so that, wherever possible, all children have access to the same experiences as their peers.

For example, children who do not like the feel of paint have access to paint trays covered in film. They ...are able to use tools to swirl and mix the paint, without feeling it on their hands.Children across the nursery benefit from the sensitive and close attention from staff.

Staff are strong role models who help children to recognise and understand their emotions and regulate their feelings. This helps the children, as they move through the nursery, to manage their own feelings in readiness for school. Children in the pre-school room learn how to resolve disagreements and make compromises as a result of staff's role modelling.

Staff who work with babies have a thorough understanding of their learning needs. They enjoy singing and talking with babies to encourage their communication skills. Babies happily bring a chosen book to staff, who read it with them.

Staff encourage babies to point out things that they can see and to turn the page themselves, helping even the youngest children to develop a love of reading.

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

Leaders, including the manager and area manager, provide thorough support for their staff team. They take care to give staff manageable workloads.

Staff report that their well-being is a priority. They enjoy access to a broad range of training and have regular opportunities to speak with leaders about how they find their work. They understand how to share any concerns they may have about children they care for in order to obtain swift assistance.

Staff understand and implement a curriculum that links to children's individual needs, including children with SEND and children who speak English as an additional language. Staff provide opportunities and experiences that help children to make good progress. Overall, staff engage with children successfully.

However, at times, especially during lively group activities in the toddler room, staff find it harder to hold children's attention. This means that some children find it harder to participate, to process what they hear and to respond accordingly.All staff understand that the nursery aims to help children to become independent in readiness for future learning.

They encourage even the youngest children to begin to understand their personal needs. For example, staff explain to babies that they are going to change their nappies. Older children develop their toileting skills with gentle and consistent support from staff, who also work closely with their parents to give them clear messages.

Parents praise the good-quality care and education their children receive at nursery and the close attention their children receive. Strong relationships with key staff promote continuity between nursery and home to help all children receive positive experiences.There are effective systems in place for the supervision and support of staff, including senior staff.

Recent training in relation to the promotion of children's communication and language skills has had a positive outcome on the ways in which staff speak with, to and around children to help them hear a broad range of spoken and sung language. This helps all children to develop a broad vocabulary. Staff are vigilant about children's safety.

They help children to understand how to keep themselves safe, including taking care when walking on the stairs and watching out for their friends when they ride on bikes outside.All children have chances to explore and develop their critical thinking skills with support from staff. Children investigate different habitats for animals and identify different animals.

Staff encourage them to test out their ideas by looking at a reference book, where they find out that an animal they thought was an otter is a seal. When the children show a particular interest in swordfish, they then search for information to help them understand where this creature may live. However, at times, such as the lead up to mealtimes or going home, some activities are not as well thought out, and children can become restless.

Staff use a focus on the community in which children live to help them learn about experiences beyond nursery and to develop their sense of self. They take part in local outings and community initiatives to help children learn about the lives of others, and to increase their awareness of the place they live in and how they fit in it. Visits from local professionals, such as a dentist, help the children to learn how to manage their own health.

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: help staff to refine planned group activities in the toddler room, to support children who may be less confident to join in to have time to listen to language, process information and respond reconsider how staff plan to support children at times when routine activities are taking place, such as preparation for mealtimes, to help all children be engaged at these times.