Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Stafford

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement Children arrive confidently and receive a warm welcome from staff. They build friendships with other children and seek comfort from staff when needed.

Children have formed close bonds with their key person and enjoy cuddles and reassurance. Staff are caring and attentive, and children play well together and are kind to one another. Children are keen to take part in a range of interesting learning experiences.

For example, they focus very well during weekly French lessons, and they join in confidently. Younger children enjoy singing and dancing to the familiar French songs and rhymes. Staff sing songs and rhymes and read b...ooks frequently with children.

They share stories with children enthusiastically as they sit and snuggle together on the floor. Children delight as they shout out the repeated chorus during singing. They develop a love of books, rhyme, songs and language.

Overall, children make good progress from their starting points. Children enjoy plenty of exercise to help keep them fit and healthy. Older children climb, balance, and run around outside.

Babies enjoy daily sensory play with a range of natural materials to help develop their coordination and sense of exploration. Children's behaviour is good, as they are familiar with the routines and understand the expectations of the setting. However, occasionally, staff do not always model good manners during their interactions with each other.

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

The management team has worked effectively since the last inspection to address the areas of weakness. Staff now understand the safeguarding policies and procedures, enabling them to recognise signs of abuse and to know to whom to report any concerns. Managers have strengthened how staff carry out risk assessments to identify and minimise all hazards indoors and outdoors.

Changes to staff structures and recruitment of new staff ensure that qualification and staff to-child ratio requirements are met for all rooms.Children learn from a planned and sequenced curriculum with a strong focus on communication and language development. Staff develop the curriculum for their rooms based on the skills that they want children to achieve at each stage of their development.

Through regular and ongoing observations and tracking, staff recognise when children may show a delay in their development and seek advice from the setting's special educational needs and disabilities coordinator.Staff provide young children with opportunities to explore freely within a large space. However, at times, children's physical skills are hindered due to the amount of unused resources that are left on the ground.

Children are not able to freely move around because of this.Staff are effective in supporting children to become independent. Older children scrape their own plates after eating and put away their cutlery and plates.

Younger children find their name card and collect their beakers before choosing where to sit for lunch. Children know to wash their hands after using the toilet or before eating, with little prompting from staff. This helps to develop their self-confidence and prepare them for school.

Leaders have identified some weaknesses in staff practice through supervisions and addressed these with specific training. However, leaders have failed to recognise all weaknesses in practice and to take suitable action to ensure that the quality of education and care is at a consistently good level, particularly for younger children.Staff share information with parents about their child's day at drop-off and collection times.

Children have individual learning journals that show the progress they have made. However, not all parents know their child's next steps so that they can help to support their children's learning at home.Staff do not always fully consider how activities and routines are implemented in the setting.

For example, staff serve lunch to some children while others engage in a group activity. Occasionally, the way that activities are organised means that less confident children do not always have the opportunity to fully participate and join in. This leads to children becoming distracted and disengaged from their learning.

Parents share how pleased they are with the progress their children make. They comment that a key strength of the setting is the friendliness of the staff. Staff gather useful information when children start.

They use this to plan activities and identify children's interests, cultural heritage, and routines at home.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Since the last inspection, the manager and staff team have significantly improved their safeguarding knowledge.

All staff demonstrate a firm understanding of their role in keeping children safe. They are alert to signs that a child may be at risk of harm and know to whom to refer their concerns. The management team is aware of reporting procedures, including allegations against staff.

Recruitment is robust, and all those working at the nursery are suitably vetted.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date support practitioners to further build on the skills they need to develop their practice for young children and babies.13/11/2023 To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and improve the learning environment, ensuring it is free from clutter, to ensure babies and very young children have space to play and move freely norganise activities and daily routines to enable all children to fully participate and gain the most from these experiences build on parent partnerships to make sure that all parents are aware of their child's progress and how they can support them with their learning at home.