Stationhouse Nursery

Inspection of Stationhouse Nursery Stationhouse Nursery, Station Road, Portishead, BRISTOL BS20 7BZ

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Outstanding

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The provision is outstanding

Staff plan an exciting environment that sparks children's interests and ignites their motivation. Children become extremely inquisitive and engrossed in their learning. For example, toddlers concentrate extremely well on cutting up fruit for a smoothie, such as strawberries and blueberries, persevering and mastering a difficult task. Staff engage children of all ages in developing excellent language and communication skills. For example, they expertly help older children to recall how they made bread dough, and remember the distinctive smell is yeast. Staff pose excellent questions for children to think critically, such as what will happen if they shake the bowl of dough; children make predications and find out it sinks. Staff recast words to help toddlers use correct pronunciations and talk to babies as they babble. Staff are continually providing skilful support to enable all children to make choices and have their voices heard. They rapidly pick up on nonverbal

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The provision is outstanding

communication and work extremely well with parents to meet children's needs highly successfully. Parents are extremely positive about the provision; all particularly mention their children's amazing key person. They comment they share detailed information, so the staff know their children extremely well. Parents confirm that they were hugely impressed by staff throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; meeting restrictions while providing continuity for children. They comment that the brilliant, nurturing, knowledgeable staff have a highly positive impact on their children's rapid development.

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need to do better?

n The managers lead a highly passionate and dedicated staff team. They recognise the impact staff welfare can have on the children, so prioritise supporting them in their role. The manager works closely with staff to provide highly successful guidance, which ensures they maintain their very high standards. Her ethos is that if her staff thrive, then children will too. n Staff have excellent opportunities to extend their knowledge and skills, which has a highly positive affect on children. Several staff are working towards higher qualifications. Training such as 'Separation Anxiety', enables staff to be sensitive and highly responsive to babies' needs. In-house training, such as 'Brilliant Babies', is so successful the local authority has asked them to train practitioners from other early years provisions. n The management team involves the whole staff team in planning their highly ambitious curriculum. Knowing the skills and knowledge they want children to

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need to do better?

achieve before going to school, they meticulously plan how to sequence children's learning from babies, through every stage until they reach their goals. This is kept flexible to enable endless possibilities by following children's lead and skilfully facilitating their ideas. Staff implement this extremely successfully,

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need to do better?

20 October 2022 so that children become, highly curious, independent, confident learners, ready for their next challenge in life. n Staff are skilful at observing what motivates children. They use this information exceptionally well to plan an extensive range of activities, which fascinate children and keep them engrossed in their learning. Staff expertly enable children to extend their curiosity, deepen their concentration, and challenge their learning further. For example, while making play dough, they learn about using a pippete to get food colouring from a bottle; when one falls in, staff skilfully encourage them to think of solutions to the problem. This leads to children finding out if their suggestions work and eventually becomes a colour-mixing activity. n The highly successful key-person system ensures children feel safe and valued. Staff know the children extremely well, enabling them to meet children's

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need to do better?

individual needs exceptionally well. As a result, babies who are new to the setting, settle quickly and are soon smiling and giggling. Managers and staff handle transitions to the next room very sensitively, including involving parents, so children feel extremely secure. n Children's behaviour is exemplary. Staff support them extremely well in dealing with emotions from babies, so that by pre-school they can say how they are feeling, what impact their behaviour has had on others and what they can do to make better decisions. Staff use highly successful strategies to support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those learning English as an additional language. This empowers them to be included in all aspects of nursery life and all children develop highly positive relationships. n Children have outstanding opportunities to be outdoors and develop healthy practices. They enjoy home cooked nutritional meals, and after a visit from the

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need to do better?

dental nurse, the chef revised the menus to cut the sugar content even further. Since the pandemic, they have reinstated their many and varied outings for children in the community, such as visits to the harbour, the beach and shops. They provide a wealth of real experiences to broaden children's learning even more extensively.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The manager and staff have an excellent knowledge of safeguarding children. The designated safeguarding lead is proactive and persistent when seeking early help for families. She questions her staff and ensures safeguarding is on the agenda at any meeting, to ensure they maintain an excellent awareness of what to look for and the procedures to follow to protect children. Staff implement important risk assessments while enabling children to become highly independent, according to their age and ability. For example, forest school empowers children to learn new skills, manage appropriate risks for themselves and gain extreme confidence in the environment.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY459362 Local authority North Somerset Inspection number 10236092 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 76 Number of children on roll 102 Name of registered person Lakehouse Nurseries Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 01275 817143 Date of previous inspection 26 October 2016

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Information about this early years setting

Stationhouse Nursery registered in 2013. It is one of two privately owned nurseries. It is situated in Portishead, North Somerset. The nursery is open each weekday from 8am to 6pm, with a 7.30am early start depending on demand, all year round. The nursery provides free early years education for children aged two, three and four years. There are 30 staff employed. Six members of staff hold an appropriate early years qualification at degree level. One holds a qualification at level 5 and one at level 4. 14 staff hold an appropriate early years qualification at level 3 and one holds a qualification at level 2.

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Inspection activities

n This was the first routine inspection the nursery received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. The inspector the impact of the pandemic with the provider and has taken that into account in their evaluation of the setting. n The manager led the inspector on a walk around the setting to discuss their curriculum and the safety of the premises. n The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager on a planned activity in the toddler room, to discuss the quality of teaching and the impact on children's learning. n The inspector held a leadership and management discussion with the manager and sampled documentation. n The inspector took account of parents' written and verbal feedback at the inspection and spoke with children.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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Inspection activities

20 October 2022 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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