Children 1st @ Acorns

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders use assessment, observation and work with parents and carers and professionals to identify and support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who are disadvantaged and those known to social care. They review the support they provide children regularly to ensure it is making a difference. Staff attend sign language courses to help them to communicate effectively with these children, which in turn boosts their communication and social skills. Staff confidently liaise with leaders to secure additional support for children with SEND, including how to communicate sensitively to support the needs of parents. They help children to explore the environment and join in with activities alongside their peers. For example, when children with limited language guide their key person over to the snack area, they respond positively by showing children what fruit is available and offering them choice. This highlights inclusive practice. Leaders use funding to build on children's experiences and development. For example, they have purchased equipment to support children who need to develop their balance.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders' ambitions for the curriculum are appropriate. However, inconsistencies in the way staff plan and deliver children's learning have a negative impact on children's development. For example, staff invite children to join activities that are not yet set up, disrupting their independent play and leaving them waiting. As a result, children lose interest and walk away. Some activities lack challenge and stimulation, which impacts children's motivation to learn. For instance, although staff sit with children to read books, stories are not always delivered in an engaging way. Children lose interest, become distracted and wander off. At times, staff prioritise tasks, such as tidying up and setting up activities, over interacting with children. Group sizes can be too large, and noise levels too high. This impacts the quality of staff interactions and further limits children's experiences. Weaknesses in staffing arrangements impact on the support and quality of learning experiences babies receive. Staff do not sustain their engagement with babies for long as they move from one to the other, limiting the support each child receives.

When children attend additional settings, leaders build relationships with them to ensure that both settings can work towards shared goals. This promotes some continuity in children's learning. Staff effectively support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children's progress is variable. While some children develop appropriate skills, others do not make the expected progress. For instance, some children are not supported to sustain their interests. This means they have fewer opportunities to develop their communication and language skills. When they lose interest in activities, they have reduced opportunities to practise concentration and listening skills and embed their learning. Consequently, children display a reduced interest and enjoyment in books. When young babies become emotionally dysregulated, or when children spend time wandering around, this restricts their engagement in learning, thereby limiting their progress across the prime areas.

Since introducing sign language, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are better supported to communicate their needs and engage in social interactions. Children in receipt of additional funding develop their balance and coordination as they practise using bikes and scooters. Children demonstrate some independence. For instance, they learn to use a knife and fork when they eat and scrape their own plates when they have finished. They pour their own drinks and self-serve snacks, using tweezers with confidence to pick up items such as grated cheese.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Children are not always engaged in purposeful play and learning throughout the day. For example, routines after mealtimes do not run as smoothly in some rooms as they do in others. For instance, some children walk around aimlessly, stand at gates and peer out. They quickly lose interest in the few activities on offer. This is because staffing arrangements do not fully support children's needs at these times. Staff prioritise routine tasks, such as settling children to sleep, leaving children who are not involved in these routines without consistent support. At times, children have to wait to engage in activities or to receive interactions from staff. This is because group sizes are too large. Some children comment, 'Where is my knife and fruit? I do not have one,' recognising that their peers are engaged while they are not.

Where practice is stronger, children participate happily in activities. They develop positive relationships with staff and peers. Staff promote children's positive behaviour through activities that encourage turn-taking, sharing and good manners. This supports children to develop kindness and respect. Leaders promote children's attendance by ensuring they attend on agreed days and by monitoring attendance patterns. This helps children to develop consistent routines, feel secure and build positive attitudes to attendance.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Urgent improvement

Leaders do not ensure that staff consistently carry out risk assessments for activities, exposing children to risks within the environment. The deployment of some staff impacts their ability to meet all children's safety and individual needs. For example, babies chew on masking tape unnoticed by staff who, at the time, focus their attention on other babies who are unsettled. In other areas, young children put their hands in the toilet, filling it with toilet paper. This lack of supervision by staff negatively impacts children's health and welfare. Furthermore, leaders do not ensure that fresh drinking water is readily accessible to younger children throughout the day. Although staff provide drinks at snack and mealtimes, this practice limits younger children's independence and presents a potential risk to their welfare.

Staff positively support children's potty training. They follow children's cues and respond promptly when children need the toilet, even if this means taking them again shortly after a previous visit. This approach supports children's emotional wellbeing and helps them to feel secure. Staff provide opportunities for children to engage in social experiences with their peers. For instance, as part of the morning routine, staff introduce a 'sign of the week' to teach children sign language, which they can use to enhance social interactions with other children. At mealtimes, staff encourage children to develop some independence and practise their physical skills. For instance, children learn to self-serve their own food. They use a knife and fork and follow simple table routines, such as placing cutlery together when finished. They learn to scrape leftover food into a bowl and clean their own faces with a wipe, which promotes their health and self-care.

Leadership and governance: Urgent improvement

Leaders do not ensure that staffing arrangements, including the deployment of staff, are effective in maintaining children's safety and welfare. For example, children are not consistently supervised by staff, and risk assessments are not carried out rigorously, which exposes children to hazards. Leaders do not provide staff with the support they need to consistently meet children's individual needs. As a result, younger children, at times, are unsettled and upset. Furthermore, leaders fail to ensure that staff consistently deliver an ambitious curriculum or provide high-quality interactions that engage all children in their learning. This reduces opportunities for children to make the expected progress in their development.

Leaders do monitor staff practice through observation and supervision. Staff attend meetings and access training opportunities. However, this monitoring is not fully effective as leaders do not have an accurate understanding of the setting's weaknesses. Leaders make reasonable adjustments to support staff to carry out their roles. For example, they ensure staff can take appropriate breaks when needed, and they review shift patterns to promote staff wellbeing.

Leaders do not maintain consistent two-way communication with all parents and carers. As a result, not all parents know who their child's key person is or what their child's next steps in learning are. Some parents report that they have limited opportunities to share information about what their children can and cannot do at home. They do not feel supported to use the setting's communication app or to understand the assessments shared by staff. This means that parents are not fully involved in their children's learning or supported to promote progress at home. Leaders effectively promote community engagement by involving children in local events, strengthening their understanding of the wider world.