Heath Hayes Early Learners

Inclusion: Expected standard

There are no children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or children with barriers to their learning enrolled at the nursery. Leaders and staff demonstrate an understanding of how they would identify children who may need extra support.

The nursery employs staff who receive training to support children who may require more specialised help. Some staff have previously worked with physiotherapists to help promote children's physical skills and have experience within school settings providing one-to-one support for children who need it. Leaders and staff are aware of their responsibility to identify children who may need support. Professional working relationships with outside agencies means that parents will receive support and guidance to help them with their child's learning.

While there are no SEND children or those with barriers to their learning at the time of the inspection, weaknesses identified in the curriculum and teaching may mean that any adaptations needed to support these children may not yet be successfully sustained.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders have not yet fully embedded a curriculum into staff's practice. Staff do not fully understand what is expected of them in terms of planning and providing a curriculum that is rich and varied and adapts to meet the needs of the children. Staff do not assess children's progress to enable them to plan precisely for children's next steps in learning.

The quality of teaching is variable and, at times, inconsistent. Not all staff enhance children's learning through their play as they do not build on and improve the skills children already have. Children's communication and language skills are supported as staff do talk to them and have positive interactions, but these fail to provide chances for children to practise their conversational skills. Staff do not promote critical thinking in children. Mathematics is taught through counting games and identifying quantities of dots on dice.

A consistent approach to developing children's personal and emotional skills is given priority. Children form strong bonds with staff, who are caring, kind and nurturing to children's needs, especially the babies. Due to staff's lack of knowledge and understanding of the curriculum, they do not always promote the physical development skills in babies. Leaders recognise that more needs to be done to promote and enhance these skills. Resources are provided to help children pull themselves up. Staff need to consistently implement this into their practice.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children do not achieve as well as they could because there are weaknesses in staff's knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. They gain some skills for their next stage of learning. Children do not consistently build on these skills to further their learning because activities are not planned well enough by staff to meet their individual needs. This means children do not always access sufficiently challenging activities. For example, when completing an activity whereby children use paintbrushes and water to make marks on special coloured paper, staff do not adapt their teaching to provide any challenge for children who are more capable. Children who become bored quite quickly no longer take part but wipe their faces and hair with the water. Staff do not know how to consistently support children to remain interested and engaged in their learning.

Children are happy and confident. They can put their own coats on and manage their own personal care needs. Young babies are supported to feed themselves. Staff read books to children and talk to them, which helps early language development. Sometimes though, children's learning is incidental and not necessarily as a direct result of the teaching they receive while at nursery. As a result, children are not as well prepared as they could be for their future learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and are good role models. Leaders and staff have established routines, which children learn. Children take turns through games and share resources. When playing in the sand tray, children are actively encouraged by staff to wait for the coloured sieve they want or to fetch a different colour. Staff praise children for making good choices while playing. For example, children take turns to cuddle a soft toy, even though initially they were reluctant to share. Staff praise them and explain why it was hard to share as the soft toy was brought in from home.

Children are reminded to use their manners when eating. Staff sing songs about 'please' and 'thank you'. There is an abundance of resources for children to choose from to play with. Some children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning and sustain long periods of engagement at their chosen activity. They show perseverance in carrying out their tasks, and staff recognise this achievement and say, 'well done'. This helps to build confidence in children and gives them a sense of achievement.

When unwanted behaviour is displayed, staff swiftly intervene with words of positive encouragement and explanations, so children can learn from their mistakes. Some children have been absent from the setting for various reasons. Leaders and staff give some support to parents to understand the importance of children attending regularly. This could be enhanced further to establish positive routines to significantly improve children's attendance. This would help children to become more confident when they attend, so they interact more with the resources on offer and not rely so much on staff comfort.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children's wellbeing is prioritised by leaders and staff. Children form strong attachments to their keyworkers who support them emotionally as they are nurturing, kind and caring. Young babies are helped to settle in by receiving lots of cuddles and reassurance from staff. Their routines are followed with respect to feeding and sleeping. Staff rock babies to sleep but then follow safer sleep practice by placing them down on their backs in cots. Older children are supported well by staff to manage their emotions. They receive positive praise when sharing, and staff talk to children about how their friends may feel if they are not kind to each other. This helps children to recognise their actions may affect others.

Older children know they must wash their hands before eating and exclaim that they are going to wash them to get rid of germs. All children benefit from healthy snacks, such as apples, oranges and bananas. Children practise their physical skills as they pour their own drink of water or milk.

Children benefit from fresh air outdoors. While the nursery has no outdoor space of its own, children are taken to the community garden and local parks. They also enjoy seeing their local community through visits to the local nursing home and the supermarket where they can choose and buy their healthy snack for the afternoon.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Following recent intervention from Ofsted due to requirements not being met, leaders took appropriate action and have sustained improvement for children. Leaders and staff create a warm, welcoming environment that is free from hazards and risks. Staff have undergone training to help them with their professional development, but more support is still required to help implement the curriculum and plan effectively for children's learning and next steps. Leaders are supportive towards staff, and their wellbeing is prioritised.

Leaders have focused their attention on making these improvements, which has led to a decline in the oversight of the quality of teaching and learning. They recognise this has happened and are now working with staff to implement the new curriculum, but this has not yet had an impact. Staff need support to consistently deliver high-quality interactions with children. As the curriculum is not yet fully embedded, it means staff do not plan appropriately for children's next steps in learning.

Partnerships with parents are positive. Parents comment that they are happy with the nursery and that it is small and intimate. They like the nurturing their young children get and that information is shared daily with them and through an online application.