Early Days Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Children experience highly effective inclusive practice that ensures their needs are identified promptly and met with precision. Staff use systematic observation, close partnership with families and well-coordinated multi-agency information to pinpoint children's emerging needs at the earliest stage. As a result, children encounter fewer barriers to learning because staff adapt routines, environments and interactions. This ensures every child can participate successfully and sustain engagement.

Disadvantaged children achieve very well. They benefit from targeted interactions, experiences rich in language and consistent emotional support. This helps to strengthen their communication, confidence and independence. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make clear and sustained progress from their starting points. Staff implement personalised strategies that address regulation, sensory needs and communication. This enables these children to take part in group routines, explore new experiences and form secure relationships. Children with SEND, as well as those from families in difficult situations, succeed alongside their friends.

Staff safeguard children known, or previously known, to children's social care effectively. These children experience stable attachments, predictable routines and vigilant oversight that promote emotional security and readiness to learn. Children who face additional barriers, such as speech and language delay, anxiety or limited prior experiences, receive very effective support. For example, staff use visual scaffolds, provide support to regulate children's feelings and carefully structured opportunities to reduce their frustration and build resilience.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Curriculum and teaching are securely embedded. Leaders provide clear direction for the implementation of the curriculum implementation. They ensure staff understand what children need to learn and why. The curriculum design is coherent and developmentally appropriate. It prioritises children's communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, physical development and independence, while ensuring children access meaningful experiences across all areas of learning. Staff's planning identifies the vocabulary, concepts and skills children need to gain. This supports progression from babies through to the pre-school room. There is a positive focus on promoting children's early literacy skills, with books and songs being integral to the day. Staff promote children's physical development well. For instance, children have opportunities to climb, balance and run freely outside.

Teaching is warm, purposeful and rooted in secure knowledge of early childhood development. Staff scaffold learning and create calm environments that help children sustain attention and build confidence. Interactions are responsive and intentional. Staff support children to explore, problem-solve and develop their early learning skills. These include listening and responding to others, following simple instructions, managing their feelings with adult support, taking turns and sharing resources and strengthening hand control through early mark-making. However, during some planned activities, children sometimes encounter activities that are narrower in scope when staff rely on familiar themes. This means they do not always access the full breadth of learning intended for them.

Staff adapt routines and activities so that barriers to children's learning are reduced. They provide personalised strategies, targeted support and a consistent approach, enabling all children to make steady progress.

Achievement: Expected standard

Typically, children achieve well across all areas of learning and development. They make sustained and age-appropriate progress because staff understand their starting points. Children benefit from experiences that deliberately build their knowledge, skills and confidence.

Children develop a secure sense of belonging through receptive care and consistent routines. They access a broad range of learning opportunities. Children become confident learners who are well prepared for transitions within the nursery and into school. They develop essential early skills in communication, language, physical development, independence and regulate their emotions. This enables children to participate fully in daily routines and learning.

In the main, children gain the foundational knowledge needed for future success. Babies explore sensory materials, practise early communication and develop emerging physical control. Toddlers extend their vocabularies, curiosity and problem-solving through well-matched experiences. Pre-school children strengthen early literacy, mathematical awareness and self-help skills that prepare them for more formal learning. By the time they move on to the next stage of education, children demonstrate the competencies required to continue learning confidently and successfully.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Strategic leadership ensures staff implement calm and predictable environments where children feel secure and ready to learn. Leaders provide clear and consistent guidance on modelling positive behaviour. They support children's emotions and establish routines that help children to anticipate what happens next. This coherent approach enables staff to respond promptly and sensitively to children's cues. This helps to reduce children's anxiety and strengthens their engagement.

Positive relationships underpin children's behaviour. Children show trust in staff. They seek comfort confidently and demonstrate increasing independence within familiar routines. Warm and sensitive interactions support children to develop emotional vocabulary, resilience and the confidence to explore. Children display positive attitudes to learning. However, on occasion, staff do not consider how noise levels in the pre-school room during focused learning activities and routines affect children's learning. At times, this has an impact on children's fullest attention and engagement.

Staff model and coach children's early social skills effectively. Children learn to take turns, share resources and regulate their emotions. Staff provide consistent routines and visual supports to support children. Leaders monitor children's attendance with rigour. Staff work closely with families to promote regular attendance. They address emerging concerns, ensuring children benefit from continuity and secure attachments.

Inclusive practice is consistently embedded. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, disadvantaged children and children facing additional barriers receive personalised support that enables their full participation. Staff make adaptations to routines, environments and interactions to help children remain settled, regulated and ready to learn. As a result, children experience a safe and nurturing environment where they develop positive behaviour and secure foundations for their future learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are promoted highly effectively across the setting. Leadership is purposeful and assured. This ensures staff create emotionally secure, safe and nurturing environments. Leaders provide precise guidance on safe sleep, supervision, intimate care and responding to children's emotional cues. Leaders and staff ensure a nurturing environment that supports children to build positive relationships and form secure attachments with the adults caring for them.

Children experience warm and sensitive care that enables them to feel safe, settled and ready to learn. Staff respond promptly to children's needs. They offer comfort with sensitivity and use predictable routines that reduce anxiety and build emotional security. Babies form close attachments through close and responsive interactions. Older children learn to express their feelings, manage emotions and develop independence within familiar routines. Staff carry out daily care practices, including mealtimes, nappy changing and transitions, with dignity, respect and professionalism. Staff sit with children at lunch and snack times to ensure their safety and to support routines. All children, including babies, have regular opportunities for developing their independence skills. They confidently feed themselves and access drinking water when they want it.

Inclusive approaches to welfare and wellbeing are consistently embedded. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and children facing additional barriers receive personalised support that helps them regulate, participate and thrive. Staff use co-regulation, sensory strategies and well-judged adaptations to ensure every child feels valued, understood and safe. As a result, children experience high-quality care that nurtures their wellbeing and supports their wider development. Parents and carers report very positively about the care and education their children receive, including for children with SEND.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leadership and governance are effective. Leaders provide clear and purposeful direction. They ensure children's safety, wellbeing and learning remain central to decision-making. Leaders articulate a coherent vision for high-quality early education. Well-established routines, safeguarding systems and curriculum priorities contribute to children feeling secure and making steady progress.

Leaders maintain a secure understanding of their statutory responsibilities, monitor safeguarding practice with rigour and ensure full compliance with safer recruitment, supervision and health and safety requirements. They provide appropriate challenge and support.

Leaders manage staff's wellbeing and workload effectively. Leaders foster a positive team culture where staff feel valued, listened to and professionally supported. They balance staff's workload through clear routines, shared responsibilities and effective communication. Staff report high morale and confidence in leaders' guidance.

In general, leaders promote professional learning well. They ensure staff have access to relevant training in safeguarding, behaviour support, curriculum delivery and early childhood development. Coaching, modelling and supervision sessions help staff to embed new learning and strengthen their practice across rooms. Further targeted support for staff to embed broader intentions during adult-led activities would strengthen the learning for children.

Parental and community engagement is purposeful and contributes positively to children's development. Leaders and staff build trusting and respectful relationships with families. They communicate with clarity, ensuring parents and carers understand how their children are progressing and how to support learning at home. Staff work sensitively with parents who may be hesitant to engage, reducing barriers and strengthening the partnership. Collaboration with external professionals is well coordinated and ensures children receive consistent and timely support. As a result, families feel included, informed and confident. This also helps children to benefit from coherent, joined-up care and education.