Hedgehogs Hoo Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Overall, children are happy and settled. They enjoy the time they spend at the nursery and form positive bonds with staff. All children benefit from the attention that is paid to identifying and meeting their care needs.

However, weaknesses in the key-person arrangement impact on the progress children make in their learning. Although each member of staff knows their key children well, they do not always plan their time and interactions effectively. Despite this, children benefit from the freedom and encouragement they receive to explore the environment and resources.

Babies respond well to the positive interaction from st...aff. They babble happily and use the strategically placed furniture to pull themselves up. Staff are vigilant in their supervision and are poised to support babies to find their way back to the ground.

Older children concentrate intently as they test out their physical capabilities, creating and navigating obstacle courses. Staff set out resources that very successfully capture some children's interest. For example, children playing separately with water, flour and lentils, decide to combine their materials.

They have great fun mixing and exploring the different textures. They are delighted when they discover that dropping items of different weight into the mixture results in different sized splashes. Staff laugh and joke with children, creating a positive atmosphere.

Children generally behave well and develop good social skills. However, there are times when they receive mixed messages about behavioural expectations.

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

Senior managers share a clear vision for the nursery.

The staff team is newly established. Managers recognise the need to invest time to ensure that all staff are able to consistently implement the ambitious curriculum. They are currently working hard to provide each staff member with the individualised support they need to fully understand and carry out their responsibilities.

The successful implementation of the curriculum relies on the effectiveness of the key-person system. Each member of staff has a good knowledge of their key children's personalities and learning needs. However, staff do not plan well enough to ensure that they are available to interact with all of their key children.

This results in some children receiving less time and attention than others. At these times, they do not benefit from consistently good teaching.Group times for older children are managed well and staff successfully engage and maintain children's interests.

Children listen eagerly to stories and confidently engage in lively conversations. This supports their communication and language development.Staff are very kind and caring.

They are prompt to praise children for their efforts and achievements. However, staff are inconsistent in their approach to managing children's behaviour. At times, staff ask children to stop doing something that other staff encourage, for example, splashing the flour and water mixture.

This does not support children to develop a secure understanding of how what is expected from them.Children benefit from a lot of opportunities to develop their independence. For example, they learn to pour drinks and serve themselves food.

This promotes their coordination and results in very lively and sociable mealtimes. Staff encourage children to make choices and decisions, helping them to become independent, motivated learners.There are well-coordinated and effective arrangements to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

The special educational needs coordinator liaises effectively with staff, parents and relevant professionals to identify and meet children individual needs.Partnerships with parents are good. Staff provide a friendly greeting when parents arrive and exchange useful information.

Parents feedback very positively about the staff and the progress their children make.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There have been recent and appropriate improvements to the safeguarding arrangements.

These relate to the process to respond to concerns about children or in the event of an allegation or concern about a member of staff. Staff understand their responsibilities to protect children. They have a confident knowledge of the potential indicators of abuse.

Staff are prompt to respond to any risks in the environment to create a safe environment.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date improve the key-person arrangements to ensure that children receive the support and interaction they need to fully promote their learning.09/10/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: target support for individual staff to develop more confidence and consistency in managing children's behaviour.