Footsteps Nursery Hawthorn

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children settle into small groups with their key person, who helps them to feel safe and secure.

Children enjoy looking at bugs in a jar and take turns with looking at and examining them. They wait patiently for their turn and pass it to their friends, confidently talking about what they can see. Staff help children to manage their own behaviour well.

They talk to children in an age-appropriate way, giving them explanations of what is expected from them. This helps children to learn the rules of good behaviour. Children enjoy the forest-school area where they readily join in with the activities and experiences on offer....

Staff join in with children's play, making pretend meals and drinks in the mud kitchen. Staff engage children in conversations and encourage them to use their imaginations, asking them if they like the pretend meals and if they would like more. Children remain focused as they make 'worms' with play dough.

Staff help them by showing them how to roll it out. Children use seeds to decorate the creatures that they make. They enjoy using natural resources to make pictures and staff count out sticks with them.

Children confidently use glue to stick on conkers and leaves to their pictures.

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

Managers and staff have a clear focus for the curriculum that they plan for children. They ensure that the youngest children are happy and settled in the setting.

This is seen as babies happily separate from their parents and confidently explore the environment. Older children are encouraged to develop their independence. They confidently find their own coats and put these on before going outside to play.

Children enjoy serving themselves meals.Staff development is important to the management team. They complete supervisions with staff on a termly basis and observe their teaching, providing feedback to improve practice.

This helps staff to build on their already good teaching skills and helps to improve the outcomes for children.Key persons use their good knowledge of children to plan suitable learning experiences for them. For example, they plan activities that focus on oral hygiene following children's recent visit to the dentist.

Children join in with experiments to show the effects that different liquids have on teeth. This helps children to learn the importance of brushing their teeth.Parents speak highly of the nursery.

They appreciate the information that they receive from staff about their children's progress. Parents say that the stay-and-play sessions organised by the staff give them the opportunity to engage in activities and see how settled their children are in the setting. Parents feel that their children are making good progress and have come on leaps and bounds with their overall development.

Staff expose children to language in different ways. Babies enjoy joining in with songs and rhymes. Older children have fun while they learn to name the planets in the solar system.

However, on occasions, staff do not always support children to build on their emerging communication and language skills.Children have daily access to a large garden area. Older children independently make choices about if they want to play indoors or outside.

They enjoy the time spent in the garden racing around a track on bicycles and scooters. All children enjoy spending time in the forest-school area where they can explore the natural world around them. However, children are not always given opportunities outside to learn across different areas of the curriculum.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are identified quickly, and strategies are put in place to support children's learning. Effective partnership working with other professionals means that children receive targeted support to ensure they make as much progress as they are capable of.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff are knowledgeable about safeguarding procedures and have a good understanding of what signs and symptoms to look out for to ensure that children are safe from harm. They are aware of the procedure to follow should they have concerns about a child's welfare. Staff receive regular safeguarding training to ensure that their knowledge is kept up to date.

They have a good understanding of 'Prevent' duty guidance. Managers follow safer recruitment procedures. Staff are checked for their suitability to work with children.

The setting is safe and secure. Staff ensure that only authorised persons are able to collect children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide further support for children's communication and language skills as they play and learn develop more opportunities for children in the outside area to further challenge their development.