Culham Village Nursery and Preschool

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff liaise with external professionals as required and gain information from parents to help them know and understand how best to support children's needs. There is effective liaison with parents of children with additional needs and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Staff observe, assess and monitor children's learning closely. This helps them to identify any gaps in children's development and progress and take steps to close these. Staff are supported through training and team meetings to recognise and respond to any developmental concerns about children's learning and progress. They use specific assessments, such as for children's language development, to enable them to quickly identify and respond to any emerging concerns. They understand how to refer children to relevant outside professionals and use funding to ensure children receive the support they need.

Staff provide well-considered support to children who speak English as an additional language. They learn key words in home languages to use with children, provide visual timetables and use signing and gestures to support communication alongside English. Staff provide activities and resources that reflect children's individual backgrounds, such as books in other languages. This helps to value and include all children securely.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have created a curriculum which reflects high expectations for children's achievements and which helps to build on their learning over time. Staff know how to use activities to promote children's learning across all areas. For example, staff plan activities to support toddlers' understanding of sizes and counting, such as using model animals. Staff working with older children add more animals to promote further learning.

Staff support children's language skills securely, including introducing new words through activities. They use some signing with children to help support their understanding further. They encourage children to be respectful of others through clear expectations for behaviour. Staff promote children's emotional wellbeing through having a warm, caring approach and supporting their awareness of being respectful and kind to others. Children develop their small and large physical skills well. For instance, babies use low-level furniture to pull themselves up on. This helps to develop their core muscles and encourages walking skills.

Overall, staff provide interactions and teaching that support children well, and some staff have higher quality teaching skills. At times, some staff do not match resources or their teaching to children's individual abilities. For example, some younger pre-school children find it difficult to use a knife and fork to eat their lunch. Not all staff extend children's learning as well as possible. For instance, staff sometimes ask pre-school children questions that do not encourage them to think more critically.

Staff know their key children's learning needs securely, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They observe and assess children's learning and track their progress. They use focused assessments such as those to identify children's communication and language development. This enables them to respond promptly to help close any gaps in children's development.

Achievement: Expected standard

All children's needs, including those who may have barriers to their learning, make the progress they are capable of. They develop skills for their future learning, such as being able to listen and express their needs.

Children build on their communication and language skills securely. For instance, babies babble and start to form words as staff talk to them, repeat words and read books to them. Children engage with activities positively and maintain their attention securely. For instance, toddlers stay sitting together as they enjoy singing songs and rhymes so much. Younger pre-school children spend time experimenting with water, dough and paint, which helps to develop their concentration and small physical skills.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children engage in activities with enthusiasm. They benefit from group activities that involve sharing and cooperating with their friends. For example, older and younger pre-school children are paired up for forest school activities and are encouraged to work together to find items, such as pine cones. Staff listen to children well and respect their decisions, such as when they prefer not to hold hands during an action song.

Leaders and staff have established a calm and welcoming environment for children where their regular attendance is promoted. There are effective settling-in processes for children on entry and when they move rooms, such as settling-in visits. Staff consistently gather information about children's needs and how to support these. Staff and children form positive relationships with each other. There are familiar daily routines for children, which also take account of babies' individual care routines, such as sleep times. Toddlers and pre-school children know the routines and follow these easily, such as washing their hands and sitting down to eat at snack time and mealtimes.

There are consistent rules and boundaries across the nursery, which are adapted for children's different ages and abilities. For example, staff use words such as 'gentle' and model caring actions when encouraging interactions between babies. Older children recall some of the rules and boundaries, such as for their visit to forest school. Staff model positive behaviours to children, including being calm. They praise and encourage children, which helps to build their confidence effectively.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children enjoy their time at nursery. They are welcomed warmly by staff on arrival, which helps them to leave their parents. Children form close, caring relationships with their key person and other staff, helping them to feel very comfortable, safe, secure and happy. New children, particularly babies, settle quickly. Staff provide extra support to new children and other children when they need more reassurance. They help children to learn about their feelings and emotions, such as through using books to explore these.

Staff are respectful and ask children, such as toddlers, if they can change their nappies, and explain why they need to do this. They talk and sing to babies when changing their nappies, making this a warm and caring time. Older children learn about what clothing they need to wear outdoors. Staff explain to pre-school children about how running around outside helps them to feel warm on a cold day. Staff help children to recognise the potential risks, such as slipping over as it might be icy. This helps children to gain awareness of how to care for themselves.

Children benefit from nutritious snacks and meals. Staff are knowledgeable about children's individual dietary requirements. They supervise children closely and take steps to cut up food to help minimise the risk of choking. Children develop their independence soundly, such as older children serving their own meals and pouring their own drinks.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Staff speak positively about the nursery leaders and the support they receive. They say their wellbeing is supported effectively and they report that their workloads are manageable. Staff have access to a range of training and professional development opportunities. For example, staff identify how training develops their skills, such as the teaching of phonics and how it supports their key children's individual needs. Leaders ensure staff have access to training to help them support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those with behaviour needs and those who speak English as an additional language. This helps to tailor training to children's and staff's needs.

Overall, leaders understand the quality of their setting securely. They take steps to monitor the quality of staff's practice and the provision to help develop and improve the children's and parents' experiences. Sometimes the monitoring of staff's practice is not sufficiently precise to ensure there is a highly impactful effect, to help raise the overall quality further. The provider has failed to notify Ofsted and provide information about changes of directors in a timely manner, which is an offence. However, this has now been rectified.

Leaders and staff form effective partnerships with parents and communicate effectively with them. An online app has recently been introduced to share information between the nursery and parents. This includes information about children's learning at home and the setting. Parents comment positively about the introduction of the app and their communication with staff during daily handovers.