Early Years Centre At Staghills

Inclusion: Strong standard

All children are fully settled and involved equally in this nursery. Staff acknowledge and value their needs from the start. Leaders and staff contribute to the significant learning opportunities children receive, enabling them to thrive. Leaders have worked hard on creating a welcoming space where children and their families feel accepted and are more likely to attend consistently. They tackle any barriers to children's education or wellbeing swiftly, including attendance.

Additionally, staff identify gaps in children's learning very quickly. They implement plans to ensure that next steps in children's learning continue to develop. This is done both in the setting, with the support of the special educational needs coordinators, as well as other external professionals, who provide expertise and tailored support. This gradual and robust approach helps children to continue to learn and develop. Staff are carefully trained to understand and follow this same approach.

Leaders understand how to use any early years pupil premium funding to help close children's gaps in learning and broaden their experiences further. For example, they have recently developed the outdoor area to provide more physical opportunities to babies. Additionally, communication and language schemes have been increased due to the recognised low level of speaking skills for some children on their starting points.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders ensure that interactions from staff are stimulating and extremely effective. They monitor the impact closely to inform future improvements to the curriculum. Children sing songs, listen with intent and giggle in group-time activities. The intended curriculum is threaded through all activities and routines. As a result, children make excellent progress from the start and are emotionally secure in their surroundings.

Leaders and staff have very high expectations for all children, know how to assess them from the start and how to skilfully intervene during play to extend their learning. Additionally, they support children's preferred styles of learning, enabling them to engage with ease and absorb new information rapidly. Every interaction and activity provided by staff has a purpose and covers a range of learning opportunities for children to gain new skills, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who need more focused support.

Children explore coloured ice to enhance their senses, vocabulary and physical skills. They make marks as the ice melts onto the paper. Staff cleverly ask questions to provoke children's thinking and curiosity. Children explore with wonder and excitement as they feel the cold temperature on their hands and tongues. Staff model excellent communication to help children to excel in their speaking skills. From a young age, children count naturally during play, demonstrating their regular use of mathematical concepts.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children and babies learn simple routines that help to prepare them for their move into school nursery. They sing songs that they will sing in later years and learn how to tidy up and sit in groups. Children learn a range of skills in all areas of learning that exceed expectations. They know and enjoy familiar tales, and they confidently say repeated refrains at story time. Additionally, children use their knowledge of numbers to count their animal puppets. Children are rapidly developing and using their speaking skills. They contribute to story time and sing songs with gusto. Children and babies explore an environment that is tailored to suit their individual needs and stages in development. This helps them to thrive and achieve new goals consistently.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children's relationships are very warm and secure with staff. They thrive and feel that they belong in their nursery family. All children are highly engaged in their play and feel secure. They confidently approach activities and join in with routines happily. If children have a problem, they express their needs to familiar staff, who listen carefully and help them find a solution.

Babies are already aware of their feelings and know they have a say in their own learning and play. Staff appropriately support children to share and understand how to take turns, depending on their stage in development. Children cooperate very well from a young age. Staff reinforce simple rules and boundaries. As a result, the learning environment is very calm, cheerful and enables children to participate fully.

Children show high levels of concern for their friends if they are upset, and they are extremely happy for one another's achievements. They clap their hands for their peers when they have finished their songs. Leaders are dedicated to increasing children's attendance. They help parents and carers to understand the importance of this on children's learning and welfare. There has been a positive impact, and partnerships with parents are highly effective. Additionally, leaders set out high expectations for children's attendance with parents from the start to promote high-quality engagement.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Children explore in a very safe and secure environment that stimulates their ability to learn. Staff cater for their health and hygiene needs fully. Children learn to care for themselves, such as blowing their own noses and washing their hands before meals. These small steps build a foundation for independence as they move on to nursery school. When children require extra help or emotional support, they confidently seek out familiar members of staff, who lovingly address their individual needs and help further cement their emotional wellbeing and security.

Babies and children enjoy practising their physical skills and learning in the fresh air when they play outside. They eat a range of healthy and home-cooked meals to encourage their awareness of a balanced diet. The well-structured and embedded routines of the day help children to foster a positive attitude towards self-care and emotional wellbeing.

Babies have a quiet place to sleep and receive very sensitive and responsive comfort from familiar staff if they become tired or are feeling unwell. Staff know how to manage children's dietary requirements and share this information with each other at mealtimes. This helps to keep children safe when eating. Children enjoy sitting together at mealtimes and chatting.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders have designed a clear and ambitious curriculum that sequences typical child development and beyond. They ensure that staff understand how children learn and how to consistently extend children's progress to its full potential. Leaders and staff celebrate all children's achievements in each age and stage to then prepare for each next stage in learning. All children, including those with barriers to learning, build secure foundations and thrive in their development.

Leaders have exceptionally high standards from the start from staff, children and their families. This ensures a holistic approach to children's learning and development. Leaders know how to support a positive culture of improvement across the setting and how to monitor the impact on outcomes for children. This is highly effective.

Staff are well supported in their professional development and are closely monitored to ensure that high standards are maintained within the setting. Staff's targets and learning are in line with improvement plans for the setting, as well as children's emerging needs. Staff's workload has been reduced to ensure that they spend more quality time interacting with and understanding children. Parents and carers are now proactively engaging with the setting. Leaders have supported harder-to-reach families, and they respond more, which helps children to continue their learning at home.