Golden Acorns Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders embed a deeply inclusive culture across the setting, recognising each child's uniqueness, needs and abilities from the start. Staff use their vast experience and targeted training to implement consistent and systematic assessment approaches. This ensures that children make the progress they are capable of from their starting points. Staff fully support those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who face other barriers to their learning through personalised approaches, collaborative working partnerships with parents and external agencies. Leaders work closely with other settings children attend, including specialist provision. This ensures that children receive the support they need swiftly and that this is consistent between settings. This is highly impactful on the progress children make.

Leaders have a secure oversight of referral waiting times and implement effective strategies to support children during this time. These include speech screening, individualised sensory baskets, visual timelines and language cards. Ongoing professional discussions between staff and regular reviews with parents mean that adaptations and reasonable adjustments are monitored effectively, continuing to meet children's changing needs. These thoughtful adaptations create a predictable, supportive environment, where children with SEND and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing show growing independence, improved emotional regulation and sustained progress. Leaders demonstrate secure understanding of funding, and they use this to further support children and families.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have a secure knowledge of the curriculum, which is highly inclusive and ambitious. Assessment is continuous and sharply focused. Staff carefully consider and prioritise the skills they want children to learn, based on their needs and abilities. They ensure that children have meaningful opportunities throughout daily routines to practise and develop these skills. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, access a well-developed, sequenced and tailored approach to their learning. Children gain fundamental skills in preparation for their future learning. These include confidence, resilience and being able to form and maintain relationships.

Leaders place high importance on children's communication and physical, personal, social and emotional development. They recognise these areas as essential foundations for children's learning. Children develop in a language-rich environment from an early age. Staff use high-quality interactions to extend vocabulary, introduce new words and refer to visual prompts to check children's understanding. For example, babies join in with songs and stories and use new words, such as 'dinosaur', and staff introduce the name 'Tyrannosaurus Rex'. Staff identify and support quieter children to build on their confidence to engage in small-group times with the use of puppets. Older children use their 'emotion puppets' to talk to the group. Staff use daily routines to weave in mathematical learning. This includes counting when lining up and using language of shape, size and measurement as children build towers and race cars.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, make impressive progress across all areas of the curriculum, particularly in their communication.

Babies demonstrate finger strength and emerging independence when pushing the tap down on the water container to fill their cups for snack. Younger children have fun and develop their hand-eye coordination when throwing balls into a sieve staff are holding. Older children develop their letter formation using firm pencil control as they say, 'Look, a P.' Babies and children engage and focus well on stories and songs, helping to develop their language and communication. Younger children repeat familiar phrases, and babies say key words. Older children are proud to point out their craft pictures that relate to their 'theme book', making connections and revisiting their learning. Children develop early literacy skills from a young age. They independently access books, linking to their interests and themes. Older children label the book, including the front cover and the 'spine' of the book. Older babies begin to count from 1 to 4 with staff support. Older children use language of size and show high levels of focus for their age when sorting coloured objects into the correct pots.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders and staff create a positive and nurturing environment with firmly embedded and consistent boundaries. Staff skilfully adapt and create key rules based on the needs and abilities of the children. This ensures that all children gain a secure understanding of what is expected of them. For example, staff share these rules daily and discuss these with children. They are visual, so children and staff can refer to them when needed. Staff model calm and respectful interactions, encouraging children to respond cooperatively and swiftly. They ensure that routines are consistent, and from a young age babies help to tidy up. Staff use skilful questioning, such as, 'Can you remember where this belongs?' to support children's thinking and to instil respectful boundaries from the start. In turn, this creates smooth transitions throughout the setting, helping children to be prepared for what is coming next.

Children learn how to collaborate with others through purposeful activities, such as small-group times. Children do this with ease, taking turns, playing alongside each other and working together to solve problems independently. For example, younger children notice the bin has fallen over, and together they hold it to place it back, saying, 'It's stuck, push.' Children develop friendships and begin to show care for others. For instance, older babies gently sweep fluff off another child's face. Older children tell each other, 'You are my best friend.'

Leaders work closely with families to emphasise the importance of attendance and punctuality, helping them to form positive habits for the future. Leaders follow up absence swiftly.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Staff promote children's welfare and wellbeing consistently through thoughtful, sensitive and individualised care routines. Key people support secure attachments from the start, providing comfort and reassurance and responding to care needs attentively. Staff ensure that babies and children have privacy when nappy changing and toileting, advocating respectful care. Babies and children cuddle staff and enjoy them joining in with their play.

Staff adapt routines to suit the individual needs and feelings of children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. For example, when children become overwhelmed, staff recognise they are tired and need some quieter activities, including sensory baskets and breathing techniques. Older children explore their emotions and have rich discussions, labelling how they feel. This supports children in developing their emotional awareness and resilience, helping them to feel valued and flourish. Children benefit from daily opportunities to learn about their own safety while managing risks within their play. Staff help children to gain confidence when they face challenges. For example, children fall over, and, after ensuring that they are okay, staff swiftly support them in trying again. This helps children to tackle challenges as they arise. Children acquire the knowledge they need to begin to make healthy choices. Staff and children engage in discussions about healthy and unhealthy foods and have recently explored oral hygiene. Children develop impressive independence from an early age. Babies learn to pour their own drinks and practise washing their faces. Older children open their own food packets and attend to their toileting needs. This supports future learning, including school.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders strive to provide high-quality care and education for children and families. They use self-evaluation through daily professional discussions with staff and feedback from parents to help swiftly identify any emerging areas for improvement. For example, leaders continue to develop and extend the outdoor areas to further enhance children's access to opportunities and experiences that support their learning. Leaders make decisions in the best interests of children and families.

Staff describe a positive culture of teamwork, openness and professional support, with clear expectations and consistent routines. This helps them to work and fulfil their roles and responsibilities confidently. Induction is supportive, and ongoing professional development strengthens reflective practice and the sharing of effective strategies. For example, leaders have recently attended training on behaviour, which has deepened their knowledge of how to support children's behaviour. Leaders and staff use new knowledge gained from training to inform practice across the provision. This helps to maintain and embed the delivery of a high-quality curriculum for all children.

Leaders build trusting relationships with parents, who report on the 'rapid development' of children's speech and confidence. They feel staff are approachable and the sharing of information, including tips and strategies to support learning at home, is shared consistently.