Bright Horizons Court Oak Day Nursery and Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Most children benefit from a broad curriculum, which staff plan around their current interests.

This helps children to acquire skills to help them move forward in their learning. However, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not make the same levels of progress. This is because those responsible for supporting children with SEND fail to swiftly identify and act on any emerging concerns for children's development.

Nevertheless, children arrive at the nursery happy and eager to begin their play. They separate from their parents or carers with ease. Children form secure relationships with the... caring staff team, who greet them warmly.

Children have daily opportunities for fresh air and exercise. They learn to use mathematical language, as staff introduce them to terms such as 'bigger' and 'smaller' when they play outside with pipes and guttering. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure.

Babies giggle as they play peekaboo with staff. They practise their walking skills and move freely around the well-organised learning environment. Young children receive lots of praise and cuddles from the enthusiastic staff team.

This supports their emotional well-being. Children sleep safely and soundly because staff follow safer sleeping principles. Pre-school children are independent and manage their self-care.

Hygiene practices are good. Staff sanitise the tables after play and remind children to wash their hands at regular intervals throughout the day.

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

Leaders do not ensure that children with SEND are supported effectively to make good progress from their starting points.

Although some children have support plans in place, others do not. Those supporting children with SEND are slow to identify children who are not at their expected levels of development. They do not consistently work in partnership with staff, parents and other professionals to develop targeted plans for all children who need them, to support their future learning and development.

Staff have opportunities to attend online training to continue with their professional development and extend their knowledge and skills. The management team completes regular observations of staff's practice and holds daily discussions with them to find out what it is they want children to learn and why. This helps them to monitor the quality of teaching and learning.

Although managers gather information from parents and other professionals, they do not consistently share this with key staff to help them to deliver high-quality care and education that meets children's individual needs.The key-persons system is effective and helps children to form strong relationships with staff. Staff know children well.

They observe their play to find out what children already know and can do and to identify what they need to learn next. Although staff plan for children's future learning, their planned next steps are too broad and not precise enough to fully support children to make the best possible progress.Staff support children to develop their communication and language skills.

They use single words and associative sounds to support the youngest children's emerging speech. Staff enthusiastically sing songs and rhymes with children throughout the day.Staff skilfully introduce new vocabulary into children's play.

Pre-school children learn the meaning of new words, such as 'hydrophobic' and 'hydrophilic', as they add oil and paint to water. Staff support children to use the correct word to describe what they see. For example, they learn that oil 'sits' on top of the water and that paint 'mixes' in.

Staff form good relationships with parents. They share information with them in a range of ways. For example, they speak to them at drop-off and collection times and add photographs and assessments to children's individual online learning records.

Parents state that their children are happy to attend and comment positively on the friendly staff team.Children behave well. Staff remind them of the nursery's rules, such as the use of kind hands, to support their understanding of what is expected from them.

Children are familiar with the nursery's mascot, called 'Candy Floss', which staff use to support children to learn about their personal safety.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding practice.

They ensure that children are supervised at all times. Staff attend regular training to keep their knowledge of child protection procedures up to date. They are aware of the signs and symptoms of abuse.

Staff know the procedures to follow should they need to report a concern about a child's welfare. They are familiar with the nursery's whistle-blowing policy and know how to raise a concern about a colleague or member of the management team. Robust vetting and recruitment procedures help to ensure that all staff are suitable for their role.

Staff complete daily safety checks on all areas of the premises to ensure that any risks are minimised and that children play in a safe and secure environment.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the provider must: Due date improve the arrangements for supporting children with SEND to ensure that staff swiftly identify and act on any emerging concerns and consistently work in partnership with parents and other professionals to develop targeted plans for all children who need them.11/08/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: find better ways to share more information with staff to help them provide high-quality care and education that meets children's individual needs review the planned next steps for children's learning to make them even more precise to support children to make swifter progress.