Early years Day Nursery Handsworth

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff foster a caring and inclusive culture. They work with families and external agencies to identify children's needs quickly. This ensures that children get the help and support they need as early as possible. Staff generally have a clear understanding of each child's needs and progress. They have high expectations of all children and adapt the curriculum and routines to reduce barriers for individual children.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported well. Leaders have the insight and expertise to support positive outcomes for children. Staff implement strategies, including those recommended by specialist professionals, to support children's individual needs. For example, visual timetables and physical items that represent activities are used to support children with communication needs to help them understand their environment and anticipate routines. These strategies reduce anxiety and help children to transition between activities. Children who are known to social care and those experiencing challenges receive effective support. Leaders work well in partnership with safeguarding agencies. Leaders support families to secure the funding their children are entitled to. They spend additional funding effectively to impact children positively.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Teaching methods are generally effective and support children to learn and make progress. Leaders and staff have a secure understanding of what they want children to know and do. They observe and assess children to identify any gaps in their knowledge and skills. The activities that staff provide to address these gaps in learning and development are exciting and motivating. For example, while mixing gloop, children exclaim 'oh wow', in response to the changing mixture. This promotes a sense of wonder and awe for children and supports them to make progress in their learning.

Children benefit from calm, caring and sensitive interactions with staff. However, at times, staff do not provide enough time for children to process questions and instructions. This limits children's opportunities to respond and hinders their processing skill development. Overall, learning is appropriate, and children are given the opportunity to follow their interests. For example, during sensory play activities, staff support children who become fascinated with tipping water from a height. This shows children that they are valued, supports them to learn how things work and motivates them well. Children develop their spoken language through all areas of learning. Staff plan specific words to introduce, model and repeat new language such as 'scooping', 'pouring' and 'splash'. As a result, children are very vocal in their play. Younger children make sounds, and older children repeat words. This helps children to extend their vocabulary and become effective communicators.

Achievement: Expected standard

All children, including those with special education needs and/or disabilities, thrive and generally achieve well from their starting points. Younger children learn to play socially, and older children demonstrate kindness and consideration towards each other. For example, they greet each other when they arrive and help each other take off their coats. Children explore and investigate the world around them. For example, they begin to understand the concepts of floating and sinking in the water tray, and they feel the textures of leaves in the garden. Children become curious learners.

Children learn key mathematical skills through repeated practise in meaningful contexts. For example, children count how many items they have used to build a structure outside and the steps as they walk up the stairs. This helps to build fluency in their number skills. Children build on their early mark-making skills. For example, younger children use egg crayons to make marks, and older children choose their own writing implements and give meaning to the marks they make. This means they are well prepared for their next stage in learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Developing children's social skills is a priority for staff. Children learn to take turns and share. Older children are beginning to understand this and say when it is their turn. This helps children develop patience and be able to play together cooperatively. Children generally behave well. Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour, while considering children's ages, stages of development and individual needs. They explain rules and the reasons for them. For example, staff remind children to use their 'walking feet' indoors and not to throw soil as it may get into other children's eyes. This helps children to understand and follow the rules.

Children are eager to join in with the engaging activities on offer. For example, outside, children explore bubble making, and inside, most children join in with water-play activities. This means that children develop positive attitudes to learning. Children engage in daily routines that staff are working to embed. Leaders and staff understand that children benefit from predictable routines. They promote the importance of attendance and punctuality to parents and carers through discussions and newsletters, for instance. Overall, children attend well and are punctual. This helps children to develop habits that support learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children develop warm and positive relationships with staff. Developing children's sense of belonging and emotional security is a priority. Children talk to staff frequently about their home lives, sing songs about how they feel and name and talk about the feelings of characters during story times. This helps children to feel safe, valued and emotionally secure. Staff understand that each child is unique, and they adapt activities and the environment to be inclusive and meet individual needs.

Children benefit from regular fresh air in the large outdoor area. They navigate obstacles courses, climb slides, blow and catch bubbles and pick leaves. This supports children's physical development and their mental health and helps them to learn about the world. Children eat meals that are balanced, nutritious and considerate of home-eating habits. This supports children's physical growth, cognitive performance and helps them to develop positive healthy-eating habits. On the whole, children are supported to become increasingly independent. They take off their own coats, hang them on their labelled pegs and wash their own hands. However, at mealtimes, children do not have consistent opportunities to use cutlery or to practise independence skills, such as pouring their drinks and tidying away their plates. This limits children's opportunities to become increasingly independent in feeding themselves and tidying up after themselves.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders are passionate about the provision they offer. They aim to build on their successes since opening and work hard to embed high-quality care and education across the setting for all children. Leaders support and challenge one another well. They generally have an accurate understanding of what high-quality teaching and provision looks like, and they share their expert knowledge and skills with staff. They provide staff with regular and constructive feedback on their practice through daily coaching and mentoring. Leaders plan professional development opportunities that generally support staff in their roles. Staff feel valued and that their workload is manageable.

Leaders understand the setting's context well and are committed to meeting the needs of the children and families they serve. Leaders engage with external and specialist professionals thoughtfully and positively. They are generally clear on the setting's areas of strength. However, their analysis of areas for development is not consistently precise. This means that professional learning opportunities are not always precisely matched to the development priorities, which impacts the potential for improvement.

Leaders successfully promote regular attendance through newsletters and discussions with parents. They maintain regular communication with parents and invite them into the setting daily and for special events. Parents and carers speak positively about the service that leaders and staff provide. They praise staff for the relationships they build with their children. They report that their children are happy to come to the setting and miss it when they are unable to attend. Parents feel their children make progress, particularly in their speech and language, and would recommend the setting to others.