Bovan Creek

Inclusion: Needs attention

Leaders have high ambitions for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and for children with barriers to achievement or wellbeing and aim to be inclusive. However, some children with SEND do not have enough support in place to ensure that their needs are consistently met at all times.

Staff mostly identify where children need additional support. This may be from information shared by parents or through observation and tracking of children's development. Leaders with responsibility for working with children with SEND or children with barriers to achievement are actively working with external agencies for advice and support. There are some personalised and individual support plans in place to meet some of the needs of children. However, at this stage, not all children's needs are fully understood. This means that interventions have limited impact on children's everyday experiences and do not consistently help staff give children the support they need to make the most of their time at nursery.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

The quality of children's learning experiences varies across the nursery. The curriculum that is in place is not fully understood by staff. Leaders are ambitious and have plans to develop the curriculum with a specific teaching approach, but these are in the early stages. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities lack support to access the full range of learning opportunities that are on offer.

Teaching varies within the nursery. Some children have higher quality play and learning opportunities than others. For example, some staff actively engage children in activities such as sensory and messy play. Children become engrossed in creative artwork as they use a range of materials, such as glue and glitter. Some staff recognise when children need support to engage in purposeful play. However, this is not consistent in all rooms, where some staff follow children around tidying up and interactions are more limited.

Some children enjoy sharing books with staff, who read to them and engage children in conversation. This helps children to extend their vocabulary and understanding of language. In these instances, staff talk about new words children know and how they can extend their learning further.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children receive varying learning experiences across the nursery, which means that their opportunities for achievement are not consistent enough. This is more evident for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those with barriers to achievement. Despite this, children learn some skills in readiness for moving on to school. For example, staff help to build children's imaginary play skills with enthusiastic engagement as they help build children's plans through prompts and discussion. This helps children learn to extend their ideas and vocabulary and supports their concentration.

Mostly, where children have more opportunities to take part in activities, children develop their skills. For example, older children demonstrate suitable pencil control and show confidence in drawing. Children practise their coordination and strength as they learn to climb steps up to the slide. These appropriately support children's large and small muscle movements as part of their overall physical development.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

The inconsistencies in how children's behaviour is understood and supported impact on their experiences at nursery. Children's engagement and enthusiasm for learning varies, as not all children are always engaged in purposeful play and learning. Not all children are given realistic behaviour expectations in relation to their age and stage of development. Staff do not consistently explain to children to help them learn what is expected of them. When they do give explanations, it is not in a way that children can understand. This is particularly evident for younger children and for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or barriers to learning. Mostly, staff are positive role models for children and promote manners. For example, older children are praised for listening to staff when they are reminded to walk inside.

Older children show high levels of confidence and initiate conversations. They explore their room with interest. For example, they play games together, colour and enjoy counting activities with staff.

Leaders have positive strategies in place to support children's attendance at nursery. They have procedures to follow up on any non-attendance to understand further why children are not able to attend nursery.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Not all staff consistently recognise when children's wellbeing and engagement are impacted. For example, children are often sat down at the table for extensive periods for their age before lunch is served. Staff do not appear to recognise this and do not take appropriate action. This leads to mealtimes lacking in support and learning opportunities for children being limited. This particularly impacts children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. The meals on offer for children are healthy, and suitable adaptations are made for dietary allergies and requirements. Staff support children to have opportunities for outside play. This helps to positively support children's overall health.

Children develop secure attachments with staff. Overall, staff know individual children well and their care needs. For example, staff working with babies are aware of their usual sleep patterns and know if they are not feeling themselves. Children form friendships with each other and learn to negotiate games and play together. For example, older children play cooperatively in small groups and seamlessly move around the room to follow their interests.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders showed positive engagement during the inspection and were able to recognise areas for improvement through shared observations and discussions. However, leaders were not aware of all areas in need of development before this took place, such as the lack of appropriate strategies and support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and the variations in the implementation of the curriculum and teaching. The support and coaching available for staff does not offer enough consistent support to help to identify the overall quality of the nursery or to clearly identify all areas for improvement. However, leaders have focused recent staff support on wellbeing. Staff have opportunities to take part in professional development. However, without knowing all of the key areas of development within the nursery, leaders are not able to focus staff development in areas that are effective.

Leaders aim to make the best possible decisions based on children's wellbeing and welfare. For example, they monitor the temperature levels in each room to ensure that children remain safe on hotter days.

Leaders establish suitable relationships with other professionals involved in supporting individual children. They are aware of seeking guidance and support where needed. Overall, parents' feedback is positive. Parents share that their children like the staff and learn new songs while at nursery. However, there is further development needed to ensure that parents are fully informed and understand children's experiences while at nursery.