Partou The Thames Club Day Nursery & Pre-School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are keen to enter the nursery with their parents.

They settle quickly with the other children on arrival and enjoy having breakfast together. Once breakfast has ended, children go into their age-group rooms. Staff and their key children demonstrate strong bonds with each other.

This enables children to feel secure with these familiar adults. Staff tailor babies' routines to closely mirror their routines at home and to ensure that their care needs are met. They give babies gentle guidance on how to negotiate and use resources safely.

Babies develop their physical skills as they make marks on an easel a...nd negotiate around the equipment and the climbing frame.Children throughout the nursery receive encouragement to develop their communication and build on their independence and social skills. They learn to be kind and respect each other, sharing and taking turns.

Babies learn to find their name places at the table and sit together to eat their snacks and meals. Toddlers confidently use pens, glue and other materials to be creative with. Pre-school children confidently use a variety of tools, such as scissors and scoops, to express their creativity.

Children make good progress. The provider understands what they want children to learn and provides a curriculum to engage children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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

Management has a clear overview of the nursery.

It has a good understanding of what is working well and explains the improvements already being embedded to support staff's practice and outcomes for children further. Management is clear of its responsibilities to protect children, and staff with key roles for safeguarding implement these procedures appropriately.Staff use observations and assessments to assist in identifying children's emerging needs.

Staff with specific expertise and roles are aware of their responsibilities and support children, parents and staff in seeking the assistance they may need. This supports all children to continually build on their developmental progress while at the nursery.Management completes robust recruitment procedures and carries out ongoing supervisions and mentoring to support staff's practice.

It places a strong emphasis on staff's professional development and has already initiated several strategies to help develop and build on how staff provide a curriculum that enhances children's learning.Children receive clear guidance on what is expected of them, and staff act as good role models. Children are kind to each other, learn to take turns and share from an early age.

For example, when children want the same resources and get upset over this, staff sensitively discuss with them about sharing and/or distract them with similar resources.Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents are happy with the information they receive from staff, during daily discussions or through the online app.

Parents who have been using the nursery for a longer period of time report that they appreciate the increase in the range of information they receive about their child's day and the next steps in their child's learning.Staff place a strong focus on developing children's communication, physical and social skills. They encourage children to talk about what they are doing and build on their knowledge.

However, at times, some staff do not have realistic learning expectations for children, particularly around children's literacy skills and linking letters to sounds. This means that some activities are too challenging and do not target children's next steps in learning.Staff know their key children well and incorporate their interests into the activities and experiences that they provide.

There have been recent changes to room staff, and staff also move around to cover other rooms to support daily routines. These periods of inconsistency in the key staff left in each room lead to some children becoming unsettled, particularly the more sensitive children, who benefit from having consistent staff to seek reassurance from.All children relish being out in the garden area.

Toddlers and pre-school children like searching for ladybirds and other bugs, sharing their finds with each other. Children discuss the colours of the ladybirds' dots and shell. They are gentle and are confident to let the bugs manoeuvre over them.

Staff are consistent in supporting children to use resources and negotiate the outdoor areas safely. For example, staff supervise children as they climb over the tyres or negotiate the climbing frame. This helps children to understand about their own safety and that of others.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review and improve the consistency of children and their key people being together to build further on children's attachments and feelings of security strengthen the implementation of the curriculum to ensure that activities are pitched at the correct level for all children and support their next steps in learning.