ACE Early Years

Inclusion: Strong standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive superb support. With the skilled guidance of leaders and managers, staff are particularly effective at identifying and supporting children with SEND. They expertly use their knowledge of each child to put personalised strategies in place, which they regularly review. Staff signpost parents to a range of professionals to support children with SEND. This ensures children get the specific support they need. Children with SEND, as well as those from families in challenging situations, succeed alongside their friends.

Leaders source additional funding for some children's specific needs. For example, they use some additional funding for fortnightly sessions to promote children's physical development and personal, social and emotional skills. Leaders have introduced these sessions to support a number of children, including children who may not have access to outdoor play at home. Staff use funding to purchase carefully selected resources that extend and enhance children's learning experiences. Staff use a range of strategies gained from training to monitor progress. These include the use of the 'assess, plan, do, review' cycle, inclusion monitoring and the local authority communication and language tool. Staff are confident to draw on further help from a range of professionals to support children with SEND.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders' priorities since the last inspection have been to address actions set. Although leaders are working hard, not all changes and improvements are fully embedded. Leaders have identified the need to develop and embed their new curriculum. There are still some differences in practice across the provision, and this means staff are not consistently providing high-quality interactions with all children to assess what children know and can do. For instance, staff plan enjoyable experiences, such as painting and dough activities; however, children do not always participate in purposeful learning, as staff do not engage children with the planned learning experiences on offer.

Leaders have a clear understanding of the focus on the areas of learning for the younger children who attend this setting. There is a positive focus on promoting children's early literacy skills, with books and songs being integral to the day. Children's physical development is promoted well. For instance, children have opportunities to climb, balance and run freely outside.

Staff make adaptations to support children who speak English as an additional language, have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are disadvantaged in other ways. For example, leaders have identified children who will benefit from fortnightly sessions to support their personal, social and emotional development.

Achievement: Needs attention

Generally children make progress. However, inconsistencies in teaching mean that children do not consistently remain engaged with activities and resources. This leads to children wandering from activity to activity without focus. They move away from planned learning activities that do not appropriately match their learning needs or capture their interest. That said, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those known to children's social care and those who face other barriers to learning achieve well from their starting points.

Children listen to stories for short periods of time and join in with some singing and rhymes, but they leave these when they lose interest. This contributes, to a limited extent, to their communication and language development.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Positive behaviour is not consistently modelled by all staff. This is acknowledged by leaders during discussions, although this is not an area they have identified for improvement. Leaders are exploring ways to manage unwanted behaviour, such as snatching or not sharing, as well as how to support children who need to learn the expectations during the day, such as at tidy-up time. Action to address these aspects of practice is not swift enough to support children's learning.

Staff do not have high expectations for children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. For example, staff ask children to tidy up, and when children refuse, staff do not address this. In addition, the lack of an exciting and ambitious curriculum leads to children not being engaged. This, in turn, leads to weaknesses in children's behaviour.

Leaders have rigorous systems in place to support children's regular attendance, with absences followed up routinely. Staff are kind and nurturing and have positive relationships with all children who attend. They know the importance of embedding a positive environment.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Children are delighted to see staff and their friends when they arrive at nursery. They are starting to show confidence and seek out well-known adults for a cuddle. Relationships between staff and children are warm, kind and nurturing. Staff know all the children, their needs and their families very well.

Children are taught by staff to follow positive hygiene practices, such as wiping their noses and washing their hands. Children are learning to be independent as they pour their own drinks at snack time and have age-appropriate cups. The key-person system is highly effective. Children are secure and are confident to ask for help. For example, children ask staff to help them to dress up as knights. Staff nurture children and encourage them to have a go themselves before providing help.

Staff know children's routines very well. For example, children with medical needs have personalised care plans in place. Staff tailor their care practices to closely meet children's individual needs. They understand the importance of good health, rest and exercise for children. They actively support children to understand the importance of healthy food choices. Leaders and staff prioritise the welfare and wellbeing of all the children.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders have made changes to meet actions arising from the last inspection. The changes are yet to have a consistent impact across the setting. Leaders acknowledge that there are still areas that need improvement, some of which they had not identified prior to the inspection. There have been changes to staffing, and leaders recognise that recruitment remains a challenge. Leaders have worked with the local authority, made action plans and started to embed the new curriculum. Staff have regular supervision meetings with their manager, and they attend a range of training. Leaders do not target staff training well enough for it to drive improvement in teaching and staff practice.

Leaders have worked hard to improve the partnerships with parents further. For example, they have improved communication with parents by enhancing the use of the online app and face-to-face meetings to share information. Parents comment positively on how staff nurture their children and families. In addition, leaders have improved how they help parents to support their children's learning at home.

Leaders work closely with other professionals to provide appropriate support for children. They ensure that decisions about additional funding, including funding for disadvantaged children, are targeted on what the children receiving the funding need. All staff feel supported in their roles. They feel listened to and comment positively on leaders.