Benjamin Rabbit Nursery At Holborough Lakes

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

The manager and her team create a warm and welcoming environment where children demonstrate that they feel happy, safe and secure. Children develop close bonds with the staff and their friends, and this contributes positively to children's well-being.

Key relationships between staff and babies are particularly strong. Babies' faces light up as their key person enters the room. The babies are delighted to see them.

Staff consistently praise children and babies for their successes, and this helps to give them a strong sense of achievement and boost in confidence.Staff know all children well and take time to find out abou...t children's interests and what they can do on entry. This helps staff to plan effectively to build on what children already know and to support their emotional well-being.

Children behave well and they are encouraged to use good manners. Children recall the rules and boundaries daily and staff gently remind children of these if necessary. Staff meet children's care needs well.

Children develop good physical well-being. For example, they independently wash their hands after toileting and follow good health and hygiene routines with confidence. This helps to ensure that children are fully supported as they prepare for the next stage in their learning, such as moving into the Reception class at school.

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

Leadership is strong. Staff benefit from regular supervision meetings that focus on developing their knowledge and skills. Staff are encouraged to gain further professional childcare qualifications.

They state that they are well supported to maintain a good work-life balance. The manager ensures staff are deployed well. Children are supervised by staff at all times.

Although new staff undertake an induction, the programme is not yet of the highest quality to minimise any minor gaps in their understanding of their role and responsibilities.Staff place a firm focus on helping children make good progress in communication and language development. For instance, they introduce new words, such as 'mixing' and 'sweet', as they talk to children who are participating in a baking activity.

Staff working with babies name objects and narrate their actions. They read stories as babies wait for their lunch. Babies benefit from the repetition of hearing sounds within the story and quickly join in.

Staff work well in partnership with parents. They provide parents with a wide range of regular information about their child's progress. Parents feel they are able to be fully involved in the nursery as they attend special events and celebrations.

Parents are very positive about the staff. They state that their children are happy and enjoy coming to nursery.The stimulating and inviting environment indoors and outside enables children to involve themselves in activities that promote their learning and development well.

However, on some occasions, adult-led group activities are not always used well to engage all children in the learning opportunities.The committed management team works well with the staff to evaluate the effectiveness of the nursery. Its members have regular meetings and, together, they reflect on practice and identify areas for further improvement.

Purposeful supervision meetings and observations of practice support staff to develop their teaching skills. Training has a positive impact on experiences for children, as staff apply their new-found knowledge and skills.Staff encourage children's mathematical development effectively.

Children regularly use mathematical language in their play. Older children confidently count out scoops of their ingredients and recognise numerals important to them as they mix together the correct amounts of ingredients outlined on their recipe. Younger children help to count out cups at lunchtime and begin to consider the difference between full and empty.

Children have good opportunities to learn about people and communities that are different to their own. For instance, they explore festivals such as Diwali and Halloween in detail. This helps children to understand their similarities and differences, and promotes equality and respect towards others.

Children who speak English as an additional language are well supported and all children have access to dual-language books and signs throughout the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager ensures that staff fully understand how to recognise if a child's well-being is at risk.

This includes by providing frequent training. As a result, the staff team is highly vigilant and knows precisely how to act if a concern arises. The manager follows rigorous recruitment procedures to ensure that the staff she employs are suitable for the role.

She continues to monitor staff suitability rigidly. She ensures staff know that they can talk to her at any time about sensitive issues, to maintain their own well-being and that of the children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the organisation of large-group activities to increase the learning opportunities for all children strengthen the already good induction procedures to provide clear and robust support for new staff.