Behind the Inspection Rating: Nursery hones interactive learning

Bambino’s Day Nursery, Plymouth

Day nursery inspection

January 2016

Brains are a hot topic at Bambinos Day Nursery in Woolwell, Plymouth

Since Ofsted’s last visit in 2013, the Bambinos chain of childcare centres has ramped up its use of in-house training and been teaching staff about the way children’s brains develop and how this can inform their practice.

Bambinos’ director Jemma Honey believes this and other bespoke training is an important reason why its Woolwell nursery has gone from “satisfactory” to “good” overall and “outstanding” on personal development, behaviour and welfare in its latest inspection. “Once staff grasp the impact they are having on children’s brain development it enables good practice,” she says.

One way this know-how is applied is through the nursery’s focus on patterns of thoughts, or “schemas”. “These are about identifying the different ways children will interact with things,” explains Honey. “For example, a child could have a ‘rotation schema’ going on so when they are exploring their environment they might seek out things that spin or twist or are circular. You may see a child pushing along a car and think they might like cars, but what they might be doing is observing the wheels because its the rotational movement that fascinates them.”

After a schema is identified in a child, staff provide activities and resources that builds on that interest to help them learn. So with a rotational schema, staff might provide different-sized tubes for the child to roll along the floor, Hula-Hoops they can rotate with their body or even encourage rolling around on the grass ou