Children 1st @ Main Street

Inclusion: Strong standard

The leadership team has a strong understanding of the context and needs of the children and their families. Effective use of funding, including the early years pupil premium, ensures children benefit from high-quality support, fully inclusive environments and very well-trained staff. For example, the setting offer a range of enriching experiences which children may not have the opportunity for at home, including forest school, cookery and yoga.

Rigorous monitoring of children's development sees staff promptly identifying emerging gaps. Staff receive targeted training and systematically adapt their approaches to meet children's individual needs. For example, staff are due to complete autism training to meet the growing needs of some children in the nursery. The leadership team draws on external professionals to provide specialist support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities where needed. Staff work closely with parents to learn key words and signs in home languages. This helps those children learning English as an additional language to reduce communication barriers and share their wants and needs effectively.

The leadership team uses their knowledge of children's social care status to make informed decisions, promote wellbeing and reduce barriers to attendance. These adaptations make a sustained difference to children's opportunities and experiences.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have deep understanding of children's individual interests and development. They have implemented an ambitious curriculum that prioritises children's independence and language. Children are consistently encouraged to pour their drinks, serve meals and scrape plates. This promotes self-help skills from an early age. Children confidently share their ideas and feelings. Babies make regular eye contact with staff as they exchange in babble and singular words. Toddlers respond to simple questions and are introduced to new vocabulary when in the sand. They use spoons to 'scoop' and 'scrape' the sand into the cake tins and are heard using these words in their play. In the water tray, preschool children talk about 'transferring' water from one container to another.

Learning is carefully sequenced as key persons support children to achieve goals before moving to the next room. Mathematics is embedded throughout the environments. Younger children match coloured puzzle pieces and toddlers use mathematical language in role play, requesting a 'big square blanket' for their baby. Pre-school children build on this foundation by confidently matching quantities of pom-poms to printed numerals.

Staff recognise valuable learning opportunities in every interaction and adapt their teaching to extend children's knowledge. For example, they explore sound and rhythm when children tap wooden spoons on the table. This responsive approach ensures every child is challenged above what they already know and can do, to reach their full potential, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children make excellent progress and achieve well from their starting points. They are exceedingly well prepared for their next stages in learning. For example, older babies confidently drink from an open cup ready for their transition to the toddler room. Pre-school children are prepared for school, showing determination and resilience as they put on coats and manage zips independently.

Highly effective observations and assessments ensure children make significant progress from their starting points. Their interests and differing stages of development are carefully considered. All children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, make highly successful progress across the 7 areas of learning and development. Children with potential barriers to their learning receive efficient support and shared approaches to ensure highly consistent progress, for example those with emerging needs receive more targeted time where needed.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders and practitioners set high expectations and provide consistent routines. Children understand what is expected of them and generally behave well, or are supported exceedingly well by knowledgeable staff. Staff act as positive role models, encouraging kindness and respect. For example, children politely request turns with the water jug during meals or agree to return later if the water tray is busy. Outdoors, staff support toddlers to wait for their turn on bikes and they offer alternative activities to maintain children's engagement highly successfully. When children are upset about sharing, staff stay calm, explain the situation and give them time to respond. This builds a consistently harmonious and respectful culture.

Staff follow clear procedures to check attendance and promote this with families. Where barriers arise, staff are responsive and take time to understand the context of the individual needs of the child. For example, reviewing class sizes and offering children with special educational needs and/or disabilities quieter days to help with feeling less overwhelmed.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Children have warm and trusting relationships with their key person. They confidently seek comfort or share concerns in age-appropriate ways. All children, especially those with wellbeing challenges or special educational needs and/or disabilities, benefit from care practices that focus on their emotional and physical development. As a result, children feel secure and included.

Leaders consistently prioritise children's welfare and wellbeing. Recent safer sleep training has effectively strengthened babies' sleep routines. Staff dress babies appropriately and they rest according to their individual needs. Staff complete regular checks and apply well thought-out-strategies to maintain a safe, calm and consistent sleep environment. Older children take part in yoga sessions, exploring simple breathing and stretching techniques that successfully supports their emotional wellbeing.

Well-structured routines, such as mealtimes, are social, calm and help develop positive eating habits. Babies thoroughly enjoy one-to-one feeding with eye contact, conversation and comfort. Children are very well supervised and encouraged to feed themselves. Babies learn to scoop with a spoon and older children practise using a knife and fork. Toddlers talk eagerly about the foods on their plates and pre-school children share what they know about healthy choices. Practitioners extend learning exceedingly well by discussing how different foods help their bodies.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders are adaptive and responsive to the needs of the nursery and families. The manager knows children and their families well. They take time to understand the context of each family and consider how to engage with harder to reach families, which has a positive impact on children.

Partnerships with parents are strong. During the settling-in process, key persons gather detailed information about children's routines, preferences and interests. Parents report noticeable improvements in their children's communication and language since attending the setting. They feel well informed about their child's day, next steps and how to build on these at home. For example, staff have created a range of thought-provoking home learning packs, including oral health packs, to support all children, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This motivates children and families to develop long-lasting healthy habits highly successfully.

The new manager instils a culture of continuous improvement. They have consistently high expectations and professionalism, which is embedded across the setting. Targeted training and coaching have strengthened staff expertise and improved the quality of learning experiences for all children. Staff feel well supported and benefit from regular professional development. Staff supervisions and peer observations help leaders and staff reflect together, identify areas for improvement and celebrate strengths. Staff feel respected, are passionate about their roles and demonstrate genuine commitment to children's learning.