Ashbourne Day Nurseries at Southam

Inclusion: Needs attention

Children's individual needs are identified during settling-in visits with the child's family and through termly assessments. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Staff recognise when children need additional support for their learning and development and implement strategies to support their progress. They use additional funding, such as the early years pupil premium, to purchase resources that are intended to support children's learning and development. However, leaders and staff do not consult with relevant external specialists. Therefore, they cannot be assured that the strategies staff use fully meet children's needs and ensure they progress to their full potential.

Leaders and staff have recently started to take action to ensure staff receive appropriate training. This is aimed at supporting staff to develop the skills, knowledge and understanding required to ensure a positive difference is consistently made for children with SEND.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and curriculum design in the setting, although plans are gradually being developed to bring about improvement. Staff provide children with activities they enjoy, but these lack purposeful learning and are not supported through high-quality interactions. Older children enjoy reading books with their friends, while younger children join in with songs they know and love. This supports children's early literacy skills and introduces new words to their vocabulary. Older children engage in a guessing game and are encouraged to describe an animal. This promotes some of the children's thinking skills, but for others this is too advanced, and they struggle to join in. Therefore, teaching is not adapted to meet all children's needs.

From early stages, babies have access to open space and climbing structures to support their physical development. This builds their strength and coordination as they learn to walk. However, opportunities for older children to build on their physical skills are limited due to the lack of planning and organisation of the outdoor areas. Staff do not have a focus on mathematics within the curriculum, and this area of learning is not supported well enough.

Achievement: Needs attention

Most children make progress in some areas of learning, such as communication and language and their social and emotional development. However, overall, children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those known (or previously known) to children's social care, do not reach their full potential. For example, children do not develop their mathematical understanding. In addition, children do not consistently develop useful skills to support them to become independent in their self-care.

Children develop listening and attention skills as they actively join in with stories and songs of their choice. They form close friendships, learning how to be kind and thoughtful of each other. Children are developing some of the knowledge and skills they need for future learning. They demonstrate a desire to explore the play resources with confidence and curiosity.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Leaders are at the early stages of taking action to help establish effective routines and a consistent approach to supporting children's behaviour. Inconsistencies with staff practice do not ensure children always have positive role models. For example, some staff unnecessarily raise their voice and use inappropriate ways to manage children's behaviour. However, leaders are taking action to address these weaknesses in practice.

There are weaknesses in the organisation of transitions within the daily routines, such as waiting to brush teeth and to eat lunch. Unnecessarily long waits cause children to become restless.

Relationships between children and staff are generally positive and supportive. Key-person arrangements help to promote children's sense of security and confidence. However, these are not effectively used to support children's personal care routines, such as nappy changing and potty training.

Children are supported to settle and build positive attitudes towards their learning, for example as they freely choose which activity or toys they would like to play with. Older children are supported to play cooperatively together, take turns and share toys as they build structures.

Leaders promote children's attendance effectively through their policy and procedure, ensuring absences are followed up.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Urgent improvement

Although leaders have policies and procedures in place to support children's welfare and wellbeing, these are not appropriately followed by staff. For example, hygiene procedures are not completed to the required standard. Staff do not change personal protective equipment or wash their hands in between changing children's nappies. Soiled potties are not emptied immediately. In addition, staff are not ensuring children's privacy when they are using potties or having their nappy changed. Children drink from each other's water bottles. This level of practice puts children's health at risk of cross infection and illness.

Children are provided with healthy and nutritious meals, which they enjoy. However, procedures to support children with allergies have not been sufficiently effective, resulting in a child being given incorrect food on more than one occasion. While leaders have implemented more consistent and robust measures aimed at ensuring this does not happen in future, these remain ineffective. This is because children do not receive appropriate levels of supervision during mealtimes. As a result, they are not prevented from eating food from other children's plates. Leaders do not ensure staff deployment makes it possible for staff to sit facing all children so they can swiftly identify and respond to choking incidents.

Children have opportunities to explore the indoor and outdoor learning environments and participate in activities. However, leaders and staff do not take adequate action to ensure risks are minimised or removed through the daily checks. Leaders have recently taken action to improve security arrangements.

Leadership and governance: Urgent improvement

Leaders are aware of some improvements needed but have not yet identified and addressed the most urgent issues relating to children's health and safety. For example, leaders do not ensure staff follow correct hygiene procedures when changing children's nappies. This means there is a risk of cross infection to children's health. Leaders do not ensure staff take adequate action to minimise or remove hazards in the outdoor and indoor play areas, therefore posing a risk to children's safety.

Significant changes to the management and leadership team have taken place during recent weeks. Leaders are committed to making improvements to the level of care and education children receive.

Leaders discuss their intentions to create a more stable staff team and increase the consistency of care for children. This will help strengthen the key-person approach and enable children to consistently build secure relationships.

Leaders are starting to form a culture of continual improvement, where staff can improve their practice through various training and professional development opportunities.

Leaders have developed positive relationships with local schools to support children's transitions. Teachers visit children in the setting to help support children's journey into school.