Flower Pots Day Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) engage well in every aspect of nursery life. Leaders carefully identify and assess children's needs and make well-considered adaptations to reduce barriers to learning. For example, staff are available and attentive, using adapted equipment where needed, to ensure mealtimes and group activities are sociable, inclusive occasions. Leaders and staff demonstrate foresight and a proactive approach to supporting children with SEND. They consider the future needs of children when planning their move to other rooms and settings. This allows plenty of time to fully evaluate the changing needs of children. For example, leaders consider how children respond to potential key persons and ensure that these new staff are confident in their roles and environment prior to children joining them.

Secure and collaborative relationships with a wide range of other professionals help leaders and staff to consider and meet children's changing needs. Specialists visit the setting to observe and support children in their learning environment and support staff to implement appropriate teaching strategies. Leaders work alongside families and medical specialists to ensure the environment meets children's specific needs. Staff knowledge and professional development evolves, reflecting the emerging needs of children. This ensures that children with SEND are fully supported by a confident and capable team of staff. The setting's specialists share their expertise and up-to-date knowledge with staff and families to create a collaborative approach to supporting the developing needs of children.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

The quality of staff teaching is variable across the nursery. Leaders do not have sufficient oversight of practice and have not identified some areas where the curriculum is not understood and effectively implemented. For example, staff working with younger children focus activities and play around children's interests. However, they do not always understand how and why experiences support children's development and interactions do not always fully promote children's learning in a developmentally-appropriate manner. Overall, teaching supports children to achieve appropriately.

Leaders understand how physical play promotes wellbeing, supports development and encourages teamwork. The outdoor space is exciting. Children adapt the environment, creating obstacle courses with their friends and establishing role-play games in their 'outdoor-village' area, for instance. Staff assess children's progress regularly and generally demonstrate an appropriate understanding of children's accomplishments and areas for future focus. For example, staff are swift to introduce and facilitate group activities when they identify children who struggle to take turns and play cooperatively.

Staff support children's communication skills in age-appropriate ways. Babies delight at the songs and rhymes staff sing, introducing them to new language and vocabulary. Children listen to stories and join in with songs, alongside enthusiastic staff who encourage them to identify words that rhyme during play. Older children develop more complex vocabulary during discussions around their choice of play. Staff adapt these discussions well for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They sit close by to offer additional language support and encourage other children to listen, allowing children with SEND time to express their ideas.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children typically demonstrate the skills they will require for their future learning. Babies are confident in their physical development prior to moving on to join their busy new learning environment. Young children follow routines and begin to understand boundaries and appropriate behaviours in preparation for joining their older, pre-school friends.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are well equipped to cope with the experiences and routines they will follow in the future. For example, older children with SEND begin to engage in group activities, with support, and become familiar with routines and behavioural expectations prior to starting school.

Children are generally confident communicators. Young children express their needs verbally and older children use their communication skills to hold interesting discussions with staff and navigate play alongside their peers.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children play harmoniously with one another, typically following behavioural expectations that staff reinforce in age-appropriate ways. Babies are encouraged to use 'gentle hands' during play. Older children take turns, share and help their peers during group activities and routines. Relationships between children and staff are close and caring. Babies demonstrate close attachments to nurturing staff, who are attentive to their physical and emotional needs. For example, babies show delight in the praise they receive from staff during play and are soothed by their presence, when tired.

Leaders understand the importance of punctuality and attendance and promote this in line with the needs of families. When children join the pre-school room, staff encourage parents and carers to follow the daily routines that children will experience at school. Leaders embed this knowledge through meetings with parents that explain the transitional processes and expectations within new learning environments.

Staff incorporate daily routines into their curriculum, promoting independence and appropriate behaviour. All children, including babies, use cutlery confidently. Toddlers delight at identifying their picture on a chair at mealtimes. Older children serve themselves food, learn about manners and pass dishes to one another. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities engage particularly well in this sociable routine, helping themselves to food and enjoying discussions with their peers.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children enjoy sociable mealtimes with their peers and vigilant staff where they benefit from nutritious, freshly-cooked meals. Leaders have recently enhanced the mealtime routines for children who have allergies. Robust processes ensure all children remain safe. For example, equipment is colour coded and leaders take responsibility for distributing meals to children who have allergies. Staff monitor sleeping children well with regular physical checks. All bedding is stored in individual bags to ensure it remains hygienic and child specific. Key staff develop an understanding of children's early experiences through close collaborations with parents and carers. This allows them to consider how family dynamics can impact children's learning and wellbeing.

All children follow hygiene routines and learn safe and healthy practices. Babies enjoy exploring bubbles and foam when cleaning their hands prior to mealtimes. Staff support young children to use play equipment safely, encouraging them to sit on slides and use their 'walking feet', rather than run, to keep themselves safe. Older children follow self-care routines independently, with staff allowing additional time for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, to complete tasks alongside their peers.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

The nursery has had a series of significant changes in leadership. This has had an impact on the consistency of teaching due to a lack of oversight of practice. However, new leaders have implemented some changes that are having a positive impact on some children's experiences, particularly within the pre-school room. During regular supervision meetings, staff explore training opportunities based on their interests. Leaders do allocate specific training programmes and staff have access to a range of online learning. However, monitoring of practice and coaching sessions are not always fully effective. Leaders do not always identify the areas that staff most need to improve on, or support the most appropriate staff deployment strategies to benefit children's outcomes.

Leaders place focus on supporting staff wellbeing. They have recently appointed an ambassador to support the welfare and wellbeing of staff and families. Leaders encourage staff to access external wellbeing support if required, and have reward and recognition schemes aimed at promoting staff morale. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and their families, access support from newly appointed special educational needs coordinators. They work alongside other staff to share their expertise and access a wide network of additional professional insight. This promotes the best possible outcomes for children with SEND.