Ashbourne Day Nurseries

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders place inclusion at the heart of their work. They focus on ensuring that children who attend the nursery have the secure foundations that they need to be successful.

The deep connections that staff share with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) enables them to unlock children's potential. In recognising that children who are non-verbal have the capacity to express themselves in other ways, staff support children to communicate effectively. In partnership with parents, staff encourage children with SEND to express themselves in written form. Despite their very young age, children competently write down how they are feeling and things they are learning. This is a phenomenal achievement and testament to staff's ambition and belief in children's capacity to learn.

Staff equally ensure that any children who are known to children's social care receive the support and care that they need to thrive. They establish safe practice and work in consultation with other professionals to review and monitor children's progress.

By adapting support, such as changing picture cards used as a visual timetable to photographs, staff ensure children understand the daily routine and can access the curriculum successfully. The well-planned use of additional funding ensures that further resources are purchased to continue to build on children's abilities and interests.

Staff recognise that young children who experience changes face barriers to their learning as they need to adjust to a new environment and new carer. However, their excellent management of these changes helps children to experience consistency of care that prioritises their needs above all else.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Children enjoy a well-structured curriculum that builds on their knowledge and skills. It is evident how well they enjoy their learning as they show curiosity and a sense of intrigue as they play. For example, babies enjoy playing with cornflour and water and staff skilfully expand on their vocabulary as they do so. Young children develop their physical skills as they climb on soft shapes and in and out of ball ponds. They practise using spoons to feed themselves and become confident walkers as they move around the room.

Older children hone their skills, they have multiple ways to practise writing and staff provide activities to encourage them to match colours and begin to understand numbers. Children enjoy using their imagination as they create using dough and interesting resources, such as fir cones and corks.

Teaching is effective as staff promote children's skills well. The encourage children's speech through reading stories and singing songs and rhyme. By giving a commentary to young children's actions, they begin to hear language as they play and recognise and understand words. Teaching and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is especially strong with staff focusing on precisely what will help children to make rapid progress.

Overall, the daily routine children follow supports them in remaining motivated and eager to learn. However, at times routines for babies are less adaptable to their individual needs which means they do not experience seamless and active learning throughout the day.

Achievement: Expected standard

Typically, children are eager to learn and display high levels of attention and concentration. They are making expected progress for their age and stage of development across all areas because of the breadth of curriculum they receive. Older children demonstrate their creative ideas, for example, they enjoy painting cardboard boxes and drawing. Outdoors, children play together well and take turns. They enjoy growing herbs and playing in the mud kitchen where they pretend to prepare dinner. Young children learn about characters from favourite stories, which deepens their interest in books and establishes a positive start to learning about reading. Children with special education needs and/or disabilities make superb progress in their development. They rapidly become confident in expressing themselves and demonstrate some aspects of learning that are way beyond their young age.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children behave well throughout the nursery. Staff create a productive learning environment where children are busily engaged in their learning. Staff have high expectations for children and what they can achieve and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have the support they need to achieve and learn alongside their peers.

Staff provide children with consistency and this helps them to understand what to expect throughout the day. Although young children follow their home routine for sleeping, staff do not always adapt the daily routine to ensure young children are always engaged in productive learning. On occasion, arrangements for getting young children ready to go outside and play takes a long time and children become restless. Sometimes, babies become upset at mealtimes and staff are not swift to respond to them meaning they become too fractious to eat. However, typically the rhythm of the day works well to provide children with times to be active and quieter times for rest or sleep.

Staff encourage children's attendance. When they see that children are finding it difficult to adapt to changes, such as at the busy home time, they work with parents to adapt children's sessions. This is beneficial for children and they become far more settled as a result.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

The key person arrangements promote children's sense of safety and security well. It is particularly successful in meeting the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children with SEND demonstrate their positive wellbeing as staff provide ways for them to regulate their behaviour. Some children with SEND can articulate the deep relationships they share their key person as they spell out 'I love you' when writing with them. Babies show their affection for the kind and caring staff. They raise their hands to be picked up and snuggle up closely for reassurance. Levels of crying are low as overall, staff meet the needs of babies well.

Children eat well-balanced, healthy meals. Staff are vigilant in supervising children as they eat and there are robust arrangements in place for supporting children with medical needs, dietary requirements and allergies. Staff create safe sleeping arrangements for children and ensure that they have the rest and sleep they need to be ready and willing for learning. Staff supervise children closely, while promoting their independence and resilience.

All staff interactions are considerate and respectful to children. As a result, children learn to show care and concern for each other. Children are increasingly sociable when they play together, staff model how to share and praise children warmly when they copy.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

There has been a rapid intake of children into the nursery to accommodate children from a partner nursery within the Ashbourne group. This has led to an increased number of young children attending. To encourage children to settle and provide consistency, there has also been several staff transferred to the nursery team. This change has been managed well, but has affected some of the daily routines and staff's capacity to adapt it.

Management have taken action to drive improvement and their critical review of the nursery means that they tackle any underperformance or weaknesses swiftly. This translates into care and education for children that is increasing in quality. The organisation of staff, deployment and supervision offered encourages staff to feel valued and supported. Staff receive regular training to encourage their continual development.

Leaders demonstrate a thorough understanding of the local area and the children and families who use the nursery. Funding is used appropriately to ensure that children who experience disadvantage have the best opportunities and resources to support their needs. The provision for children special educational needs and/or disabilities is a real strength of the nursery.

Relationships with parents are productive and parents share their positive experiences. However, staff have yet to establish fully collaborative working to ensure that parents are actively involved and included in all aspects of their child's care and education. This is especially evident in the progress check for children between the age of two and three years as parent's valuable contributions are not always fully reflected in staff's final plans for children's next steps in learning. This means assessments are not as precise as they could be.