Alphabet House Day Nursery Worksop

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children enjoy their time at nursery.

They readily join in with adult-led activities. For example, three- and four-year-old children are keen to demonstrate their knowledge of healthy foods. They choose cards with pictures of different foods on them.

Children take turns to talk about the pictures and decide if it is healthy or not. Staff extend this by discussing sugar and what it may do to their teeth. Children confidently say they must brush their teeth to keep them clean.

This helps children share ideas and listen to others. Children get plenty of opportunities to practise their physical skills. They climb ...on tyres, throw balls to each other and bend and stretch during yoga.

Three- and four-year-old children cooperate as they work together to move large wooden blocks. They agree how to line the blocks up as they create their own balance beam. They tell staff they must be careful on the balance beam, or they could fall and hurt themselves.

Toddlers devise their own game. They sit opposite each other and gently roll a ball back and forth. They smile with pride when they catch the ball.

Children are developing their coordination skills and muscle strength.

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

The provider has a positive approach to making improvements since the last inspection. Managers have a clear vision of what they want all children to learn across the seven areas of learning and have supported staff to tailor this for children's individual needs.

Managers have helped staff gain a full understanding of safeguarding practice to ensure children are safe and secure while at nursery.Staff encourage children's growing independence skills. Even the youngest children are encouraged to choose their own resources to play with.

They readily tidy them away once they have finished so that other children can have a turn. Three- and four-year-old children are supervised as they carefully chop their own fruit and set the table for mealtimes. This helps children learn to do things for themselves.

Staff are good role models who support children to behave well. To this end, children politely say 'excuse me' if someone is in their way. Toddlers notice when younger children struggle to take their shoes off.

They eagerly offer help without being asked. Any minor disagreements are dealt with swiftly by staff. Staff praise children for their positive behaviour.

Generally, group activities help children to learn. For example, children enjoy singing 'hello' to each other and counting how many children are at nursery. However, some children quickly lose focus and become distracted.

Additionally, at lunchtime, one child notices the postman out of the window. This results in many children leaving the lunch table to look. This means children's learning is disrupted as they are unable to fully engage well in the activities.

Staff support children to develop their small-muscle skills. For example, staff support toddlers to hold scissors correctly so they can grip and pick up pom-poms. Toddlers smile with pride at their achievement.

Four-year-olds enjoy rolling out dough. Staff encourage them to use tools to chop the dough in half and use cutters to make shapes. This helps children develop the muscles they need for early writing.

Overall, staff support children's language and communication development. Three- and four-year-old children freely engage in conversation with staff during play and daily routines. This includes those children who speak English as an additional language.

This helps children to become confident talkers and to practise their conversational skills. However, occasionally, staff do not always react to toddlers' babbling or comment on what they are doing. As a result, some children have less opportunity to develop their language skills.

Staff know the children well. They identify appropriate targets to help children make good progress in their development. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds receive effective support.

For example, staff support children and their parents to access additional services from local community groups.Parents feel their children are happy, safe and secure at nursery. They state their children are becoming independent and have made friends.

Parents feel their children are ready for their next stage in learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have a good knowledge of the possible signs that may indicate a child is at risk of harm.

They know the procedure to follow should they need to report a concern about a child, and how to report concerns about another member of staff. The manager ensures safe recruitment checks are completed to confirm the ongoing suitability of staff working with children. The premises are safe and secure.

Children are well supervised, indoors and outdoors. Staff are vigilant and quickly clear up any spillages to ensure children do not slip and hurt themselves.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nensure that all staff engage purposefully with children during play and daily routines, to help them learn new vocabulary and encourage them to communicate with others review the organisation of group times so children do not lose focus and have their learning disrupted.

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