Comments made by OFSTED inspectors during recent Nursery and Out of School Care inspections

"Children's health is significantly enhanced in the setting because practitioners give utmost priority to following health and hygiene procedures and teaching children about these. They talk to children about health throughout the activities of the day and put across healthy messages in a vibrant and relevant way."

"Children participate eagerly in maintaining their day care setting, for example, helping to wash the dolls and clothes or sweeping up the spilt sand. They help to separate the compostable and recyclable rubbish and put this into the respective composter or bins outside so that they enjoy exceptional involvement in caring for the health of the wider environment too. Children have suitable footwear and clothing for all weathers and are outdoors as much as possible, undertaking all aspects of their learning and play in the fresh air. This promotes children's physical health and appreciation of nature and weather exceedingly well."

"All children are enjoying an excellent menu of healthy meals in conjunction with the school, who provide the lunch time meal."

"Children are cared for in a vibrant, secure and safe environment with an inspiring and stimulating atmosphere."

"The entrance to the setting is exceptionally welcoming. There are photos of all staff displayed and a slide show of up to date digital pictures showing children's activities, along with a wealth of attractive displays of relevant information about what children are presently doing."

"Children of all ages enjoy a wealth of resources which provide a rich and varied play experience. Most of these are readily accessible in storage boxes which are labelled with pictures and words and are stored at child height. This enables children to choose many of their own play resources and help to set these up and put them away themselves."

"Within the setting, most doors are kept open, with good use of safety gates to ensure that the vigilant staff know where children are at all times."

"Pre-school and out of school children are developing excellent levels of confidence and self-esteem because dynamic staff talk and listen to them constantly and have high expectations of what they can achieve."

"Group times are led exceedingly well, making use of props, books and 'persona dolls' so that children are enthusiastic to join in and are responding, learning and communicating. Meticulous and inspiring session activity planning is based innovatively upon children's own ideas which have arisen during the previous week."

"Children are extremely happy, settled and interested in what they are doing because staff are so committed, enthusiastic and work extremely well together as a team. Staff know the children very well and use individual, small and large group activity to provide inspiring learning experiences."

"Staff create a busy, purposeful atmosphere where every child is included and has free choices, so that all children have a superb play experience. Low priority is given to taking home something that looks clever. Instead there is continuous emphasis upon the process of children learning through their play, so that their imagination, skills, coordination, understanding, language and sociability are being promoted and built upon."

"The quality of teaching and learning is outstanding because staff commitment is exemplary. They give utmost priority to providing a caring atmosphere, a varied programme of activities covering all the areas of learning and an approach which fosters excellent self-confidence and good social behaviour."

"Staff question, challenge and join in extremely skilfully with all choices children make and monitor the inclusion and individual development of all the children."

"Excellent use of cameras by children and adults and the displaying of photo evidence in a variety of formats, fosters excitement and ownership of all the activities happening in the nursery and pre-school as well as providing evidence of the wealth of experiences that they are benefiting from."

"Children are making very good progress in all areas of learning. This is because staff are so successful in providing for their personal, social and emotional development. Staff enable each child to feel special as they are chosen to be the special helper or the snack monitor and as they play a full part in setting up or clearing away their play resources. The outside area enables the curriculum to be extended meaningfully to provide all aspects of learning outside in most weathers. Children benefit enormously from diverse opportunities for physical development, creative development and knowledge and understanding of the world, often using the outside areas or messy and tactile play."

"Children join in extremely well, take responsibility and play very a productive part in the life of the setting because the staff inspire them to take care of their play environment and to feel a sense of belonging in it. For example, the snack monitors collect the snack baskets and spread out their plastic table cloth on the floor ready for the snack and afterwards collect all the biodegradable matter in a separate bowl from the plastic. Likewise, when parents arrive, children show them the photos of their day's activities, showing as a slide show in the setting entrance."

"Children's behaviour is exemplary. They play harmoniously together because staff are always dynamic and positive, making excellent use of their personal skills to bring about cooperation and self-assurance from every child. They allow exuberance and individuality, for example, as children sing and play instruments into the microphone on the stage, but they are also highly effective in teaching children how to share with others, understand and use the equipment properly and tidy away the activity afterwards."

"The quality of partnership with parents and carers is outstanding. Children receive exemplary consistency of care between home and nursery because staff communicate so well with parents. Parents receive an excellent prospectus about the pre-school, including details of the Foundation Stage and they have numerous chances to put their views in parent satisfaction questionnaires and in the customer feedback log in the entrance. Daily wipe boards are completed and very regular and informative newsletters and activity plans are both displayed and sent home, giving parents full details of how parent suggestions have been considered, what is being concentrated upon and how this can be consolidated at home. Parents are delighted with the work of the setting and are inspired to extend their child's learning at home."

"The leadership and management of the nursery education is outstanding. The provider and managers provide comprehensively planned support to all staff, are nearly always present and play a key role in in-house training, example and organisation. They constantly evaluate the service and build in high staffing ratios, time for reflective practice, recording and the completion of planning. They lead regular supervision sessions and staff meetings and ensure that morale and motivation remain consistently high. Clear written directions and memos help all staff to know exactly what is expected of them and the sharing of specialist roles significantly enhances staff members' career progression and highly motivates them. As a result, staff have an excellent working knowledge of the Foundation Stage and are confident in their delivery of superb childcare."

"Children enjoy a great deal of outdoor physical activity and play outside in the playground for one long session on the day of inspection. The playground is large and all children are encouraged to come outside. Staff join in with this enthusiastically, playing tennis, football, swing ball and group games, such as 'chicken or hero' with everyone joining in. Indoors, there is sufficient space for a badminton court to be erected later in the evening and children are playing table snooker throughout the session. All this activity promotes children's physical well-being and coordination skills. Equally, children can rest in the 'chatterbox' area on cushions, either listening to music, reading, or chatting. Restful games, such as computer games, construction, craft, board games or jigsaws are all used when children want to be quieter and there is a designated quiet time before snack when children watch a video."

"La Maternelle offer a wide range of activities and resources to create a stimulating and welcoming environment for children. Children are kept busy and they enjoy their time at the club."

"Children's confidence and self-esteem is significantly enhanced because they are listened to and involved in all aspects of the club. Staff are interested in their day and how they are feeling about things and ask about these things as soon as children are collected or arrive. The head boy and girl roles and the club council are giving older children a sense of ownership and control over their club and they are actively contributing to this.."

"Children join in extremely well, take responsibility and play a productive part in the setting because staff are highly skilled at welcoming, enthusing and listening to children. For example, staff and children have fortnightly council meetings together to exchange thoughts and views. They have prepared a display advocating and illustrating to all club members how they need to take care of the equipment, use their manners, be quiet at quiet time, always be kind to others, always keep the outdoor trolley tidy and only have two children on the games consoles at any one time. Children happily observe these rules, but also have fun and mix well with friends of all ages. One child was presented with 'club member of the term' and a 10 pound voucher for kindness, sharing and thoughtfulness towards children and staff and her name was printed in the newsletter. Children's birthdays are also celebrated. Strategies like these help children to experience an outstanding sense of belonging to the club.".

"Children join in extremely well, take responsibility and play a productive part in the setting because staff are highly skilled at welcoming, enthusing and listening to children. For example, staff and children have fortnightly council meetings together to exchange thoughts and views. They have prepared a display advocating and illustrating to all club members how they need to take care of the equipment, use their manners, be quiet at quiet time, always be kind to others, always keep the outdoor trolley tidy and only have two children on the games consoles at any one time. Children happily observe these rules, but also have fun and mix well with friends of all ages. One child was presented with 'club member of the term' and a 10 pound voucher for kindness, sharing and thoughtfulness towards children and staff and her name was printed in the newsletter. Children's birthdays are also celebrated. Strategies like these help children to experience an outstanding sense of belonging to the club."

"The organisation is outstanding. Children's care is first class because staff have suitable experience, knowledge and understanding of child development. Recruitment and vetting procedures are working well because there are suitably vetted and mostly qualified staff in post and all staff complete Criminal Records Bureau checks and other references. Staff development is always on the agenda so that staff meetings, supervision, appraisals and company training plans identify ongoing training which is relevant and pushes up staff expertise. A staff file is kept on the premises and includes all required details, including contact details, which are accessible in case of emergency."

"Staff meet and plan together regularly, striving to improve the quality of the service. The provider attends regularly to evaluate the delivery of the care. She gives support, feedback and thanks to the staff, with challenges to continue to work well as a team and ask for any training or resources which they may need. This underpins staff support to children, so that they can provide children with all the information they need, for example, the timetable of the day, where activity choices can be found in the room and what special activities are being provided."