Adam's Nursery Northwich

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff are extremely passionate about offering inclusive early education. Leaders have excellent knowledge of child development that helps them to identify if a child requires some further support with their learning and development. Leaders and staff are highly proactive when working with external professionals. They share their secure knowledge of children and work collaboratively to try to meet children's additional needs. Leaders and staff quickly identify any emerging needs or gaps in learning and put targeted support in place in order to help them to continue to move forward in their learning. Leaders and staff generally use additional funding well to invest in new resources and to make some adaptations to the environment. They also use this to provide one-to-one support for busy periods of the day. When children move on to new settings, leaders provide superb levels of support to parents and carers to ensure children benefit from a supportive and collaborative transition. Leaders and staff plan and deliver a range of experiences to help children learn about different cultures and backgrounds. For instance, they celebrate festivals such as Diwali and Eid, and explore powder paint and lanterns to help children learn about the significance of colour and light during celebrations. This broadens their awareness of different communities, traditions and groups.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Staff plan a variety of experiences to capture children's interests and help them close any gaps in their learning. Younger children enjoy singing and playing with colourful scarves. As they play, staff play 'peekaboo' and name lots of different colours. Younger children also enjoy exploring their reflection in mirrors. As they explore, staff encourage children to discuss different shapes and also discuss their eye and hair colour. Furthermore, children enjoy playing outdoors and developing their physical skills when playing on a climbing frame and a range of wheeled toys. This helps to develop their strength, balance and stamina as they play. Overall, younger children receive positive support with their learning. Staff are encouraging and responsive and make learning fun. Despite this, on occasions, staff working with younger children do not consistently maximise the opportunities that arise to extend their language skills and learning to the very highest level. Older children display great levels of motivation and enjoyment as they explore. They spend extended periods engaging in painting experiences and exploring different collage materials. They also enjoy discussing different vehicles and talking about the different wheels on tractors, trains and cars. Furthermore, they have fun engaging in role play in the kitchen and dressing up. This helps to develop their creativity, imagination and storytelling skills.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children make positive progress from their starting points, including children that may face barriers to their learning and wellbeing. Children gain key skills in relation to their personal, social and emotional development. For instance, they develop their confidence and show enthusiasm for trying new things. Older children persist for extended periods and discuss their intentions when particular activities grasp their attention. Older children also learn to take turns and develop early negotiation skills that are helpful for future collaborative play and learning. Children generally enjoy books and show interest in stories that are read to them. They also enjoy acting out familiar routines when playing in the role play area and pretending to make lunch. This supports children to develop their social skills and develop their imagination. Older children also enjoy helping out. This is evident when they like helping to feed their nursery tortoise and when helping to set the table for lunchtime. This boosts children's self-esteem and confidence, through giving them responsibilities throughout the day. Furthermore, children receive highly effective support when they move on to the next group or a new setting. Staff prioritise open and effective communication during transition times to ensure children experience smooth and positive transition periods.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and teach them effectively about the boundaries at the setting. Staff are enthusiastic and frequently make learning fun. They provide children with lots of encouragement and praise and acknowledge their efforts when trying new things. Children respond positively to the well-established routines. They help to tidy up and try to put on their own coats and shoes independently. Staff constantly guide children with developing their social skills and children receive effective support to learn to wait and turn take. Staff also encourage older children to play collaboratively together, role modelling respect, compassion and kindness. Furthermore, staff plan a wide variety of trips in the local area which also supports children's wider social experiences and development. Children across all age groups have frequent opportunities to learn about their feelings and emotions. For instance, staff frequently name different emotions as they arise and also use books, soft toys and other resources to support children to develop an understanding of this. Staff work closely with parents and carers to promote regular attendance and have effective arrangements for following up on any unexpected non-attendance at nursery.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children form lovely bonds with staff, who are caring and responsive to their needs. This supports them to develop positive attitudes towards learning and exploration. Leaders and staff prioritise the settling in of new children and families. They offer several sessions to get to know children's interests, routines and developmental needs. Staff ensure settling-in sessions are child-centred and unhurried to ensure children start to feel comfortable and secure at the setting. Furthermore, leaders and staff offer additional stay-and-play sessions during the term time holiday periods to maintain children's connection with the nursery. Throughout the day, children have lots of opportunities to develop their independence. They make choices about their play, pour their own drinks and help to care for classroom pets.

Children receive positive support to help them to understand healthy lifestyles and develop a clear understanding of hygiene. This is evident when they enjoy a healthy menu of different nutritious foods and engage in discussions and activities that teach them about healthy eating. Furthermore, children learn about developing positive oral health habits. For instance, they read stories about the importance of brushing their teeth and engage in tooth brushing activities with various oral health resources. In addition, leaders and staff have secure knowledge of appropriate safe sleeping arrangements and how to supervise children to help to keep them safe during mealtimes.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders and staff are reflective and frequently evaluate key strengths of the nursery and areas they want to continue to develop. Leaders and staff are ambitious and have a clear vision about high-quality care and education. Leaders ensure recruitment and vetting procedures are rigorous to help ensure staff are suitable for their roles. They also provide an effective induction where staff focus on safeguarding, first aid skills and food hygiene knowledge to help them to keep children safe. Although staff complete some helpful training such as Understanding Autism and training in relation to using language and communication assessment tools, staff do not routinely access a broad range of learning and development training to help them develop their own knowledge and skills even further. This means, at times, some staff working with younger children do not always extend their learning to the very highest level.

Partnership working with parents and carers and external professionals is a great strength at the setting. Leaders and staff form excellent working relationships to target what individual children need and support their personal outcomes. Parents express high levels of appreciation for the work leaders and staff do. They highlight that they are very caring and supportive and work extremely hard to provide enjoyable, varied and engaging experiences for the children at the setting. Several parents also comment on the progress children make and how they are thriving at the nursery.