Angelina's Day Care Ltd

Inclusion: Strong standard

All children demonstrate a strong sense of belonging at this warm and inclusive setting. Leaders recognise the barriers that children may face in their learning and development and take consistent, effective steps to reduce them. Staff training is carefully matched to the needs of the children and the setting's priorities, which strengthens staff knowledge and helps them to support children well. Leaders and staff identify children's needs swiftly, including disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those known or previously known to children's social care. Leaders use additional funding purposefully and with precision to provide targeted support that meets children's individual needs. As a result, children who receive this funding, and those who may face other barriers, make sustained progress from their starting points.

Leaders and staff regularly and rigorously review children's progress. They adapt support systematically as children's needs grow and change, ensuring that help remains timely and effective. Children who are learning English as an additional language benefit from well-chosen strategies, such as visual prompts and clear routines, which help them to understand what is happening now and what will happen next.

Leaders build positive relationships with families and take a flexible, responsive approach to working with parents. This helps families to feel supported and contributes to the positive experiences that children have while attending the setting.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders understand the quality of the curriculum and teaching. They monitor staff practice, provide feedback and encourage staff to share ideas. This builds staff confidence and enhances children's learning opportunities.

Leaders know children and their families well. They use this knowledge to identify learning gaps and plan a curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. Staff draw on children's interests, such as imaginative play with dolls and dinosaurs, to plan activities that capture and sustain their engagement.

Staff help children to develop their language skills. They talk with children as they play and use stories and books to introduce new vocabulary. Children explore early mathematical ideas through everyday experiences, such as counting in stories or using numbers in their play. Most staff support children's thinking well, although some closed questions limit children's deeper discussion.

The curriculum places a clear emphasis on children's physical, personal, social and emotional development. Staff build warm, trusting relationships that help children to feel secure. Staff provide activities such as using tweezers to move small objects from one pot to another, giving purposeful practice in hand-to-eye coordination and fine motor control. Outdoor movement play supports physical development. Indoors, younger children have fewer opportunities that promote large physical movement.

Leaders and staff adapt teaching for children's individual needs, including for disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children learning English as an additional language. These adaptations help all children to take part in the curriculum.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children typically make secure progress from their starting points across all areas of learning. Overall, they develop their communication and language skills well because staff identify their needs early and use well-matched strategies, including for children who are learning English as an additional language. Children build early mathematical understanding through meaningful opportunities, such as filling and emptying sand into containers and exploring how quantities change as they pour. They develop increasing independence, for example, when serving their own meals and learning to cut fruit safely.

As children move through the rooms, staff consider friendship groups and each child's developmental stage. This helps children to sustain positive relationships and supports their confidence as they access the next steps in the curriculum. Children who occasionally miss planned sessions receive flexible support, ensuring that they continue to access key learning and make expected progress. Overall, children, including those who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are suitably prepared for the next stage in their learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders have established a positive and welcoming environment in which expectations for behaviour and routines are clear and understood by staff, parents and children. They take a flexible and responsive approach to working with families, helping them to make arrangements that support regular attendance and promote consistent routines for children. This enables children to settle well, participate fully in daily experiences and join in with learning.

Staff model kindness and respect in their interactions with children, helping children to learn how to treat others. They encourage children to play cooperatively, share resources and resolve minor disagreements with support. Staff help children to learn how to manage their feelings by providing quiet, comfortable spaces where they can pause, reflect and settle with their key person when they need reassurance.

When children become upset, staff respond promptly with calm, sensitive approaches, such as offering comfort or gently distracting them to help them regain control of their feelings. They adapt their support according to each child's age and stage of development. As a result, children typically behave well for their age, build secure relationships and show increasing confidence in managing their emotions and meeting the expectations of the setting.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children experience calm, familiar routines that help them to feel safe and settled. Staff follow children's familiar sleeping patterns and provide close supervision so that rest times reflect children's individual needs. Warm, responsive interactions help children to build strong attachments with their key person. There are comfortable areas for children to rest or have quiet time looking at books with their key person. Staff use picture cards to show what happens now and next, helping all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, to understand the structure of the day and feel confident during transitions.

Daily care practices promote children's health and growing independence. Children follow handwashing routines and are supported with toileting as they develop their self-care skills. They enjoy nutritious snacks and meals, and planned tasting activities, such as exploring a variety of fruits. This broadens their experiences of healthy foods and encourages them to talk about different textures.

Children have daily access to the outdoor garden. They climb steps, slide on the apparatus, practise kicking balls and join in movement songs. These experiences generally help them to build their coordination, balance and physical confidence.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders have taken appropriate action since the last inspection to strengthen the education and care that is provided to children. They understand the setting's strengths and areas for development and use this insight to make decisions in children's best interests. Leaders draw on staff expertise and use observations, professional discussions and reviews of practice to guide improvement. Staff feel supported and speak positively about their professional development. Recent training on supporting and managing children's behaviour has been implemented well and has led to noticeable improvements in staff confidence and children's day-to-day experiences.

Leaders monitor children's progress closely and identify those who need extra help. Strategies for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are adapted in response to their changing needs. Visual supports help children who speak English as an additional language to understand routines and settle quickly. This responsive approach contributes to the strong, inclusive culture that is evident across the setting.

Partnerships with parents are effective. Leaders actively seek parents' views through daily conversations, written feedback and digital updates, helping families to feel informed and valued. They are mindful of staff wellbeing and ensure that workloads remain manageable, while recognising and appreciating the additional effort that staff have put into enhancing children's care and learning.