Keeley’s Daycare Nurseries & Pre-Schools

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children of all ages thoroughly enjoy their time at the nurturing and stimulating nursery. They are confident and feel completely happy, safe and secure.

Children form strong and trusting bonds with staff, who are highly attentive to their needs. For example, babies enjoy reassuring cuddles with staff when needed, but are confident to go off and explore their environment. Older children delight in sharing their experiences with staff, such as when making cups of tea using real teabags.

Children are inquisitive and show positive attitudes to learning. They are keen to investigate, problem-solve and try things for themse...lves. For instance, pre-school children identified toy insects by counting legs, and comparing their size and colour.

Children persevere and respond well to staff challenges. For example, babies try again and again as they climb over steps in the garden and older children concentrate as they gain more control over scissors.Each nursery room is well planned to encourage children's curiosity, interests and learning.

Children confidently lead their own play and choose from the wide range of inviting experiences available. They are busy, engaged and motivated learners, who are well prepared for school.

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

The manager is ambitious and dedicated to meeting the needs of all children.

She works closely with her staff to develop and implement a broad curriculum, that gives children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed. There is a strong focus on communication and language and staff support this particularly well. As a result, children are confident communicators, who happily express their ideas, feelings and views.

The manager and staff are currently learning about the curiosity approach and are developing their practice to support this further. Children now have more opportunities to explore natural and open-ended resources. For example, they enjoy exploring flowers, leaves and dough, discussing textures and scents as they create.

Two-year-old children also learn to take great care of resources, such as when using a delicate china tea set in their play.Staff know the children well and assess their development closely. They understand what children need to learn next and plan an exciting range of experiences to support this.

For instance, babies practise pouring, patting and stirring as they make their own play dough. Older children confidently recognise letters and their sounds and enjoy searching their room for objects beginning with each letter, such as 'm for marble'.Staff are strong and positive role models to children.

They offer clear and consistent messages about their expectations and children behave very well.Children are kind, thoughtful and considerate of others. For example, they actively include others in their imaginary play, discussing who could play what role and what they could do next.

Younger children learn to share with gentle staff support and babies learn to wait for their turn during activities. Parents are very appreciative of the support their children receive and how respectful their children have become.Overall, staff are strong teachers and make good use of their interactions to support and guide children's learning.

For example, during group time, pre-school children confidently count how many children are in each day. They work out one more and one less using their fingers. However, staff do not always know when to build on children's interests further and teach new knowledge to help broaden their understanding.

Children are very independent and staff give them all the time they need to manage tasks for themselves. For instance, two-year-old children take their time using tongs to carefully pick up fruit and vegetables for their snack. Staff support children's understanding of the importance of healthy eating very well.

They give children a lot of explanation about why certain food is good for them and how unhealthy food is better in moderation, as a treat.The manager knows her staff team well and offers good training, support and coaching. She spends time observing staff in the playrooms and has a good idea of where further improvements can be made.

However, support for some newer and less-experienced staff needs strengthening and embedding over time to help achieve the highest quality.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager and staff continuously update their safeguarding knowledge through training, discussion and staff meetings.

Staff are questioned about their knowledge regularly to check their understanding. They confidently know the signs that would give them concerns for a child's welfare, including signs of neglect and extreme views. The manager and staff know who to contact should they have a concern and how to access outside support when needed.

They know the importance of working together to monitor children's attendance and changes of behaviour to help protect them from harm. They provide a safe and secure environment for all children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen and embed support for newer and less-experienced staff to help raise the good level of their practice higher build on children's emerging interests more consistently to teach new information and extend learning further.