Hebden Nursery Ltd

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff know the babies and children in their care well. They identify children who may be disadvantaged or vulnerable and need further support to progress in their learning and development. They analyse children's needs and interests to ensure that any additional funding, such as early years pupil premium funding, is used to support and prepare them for their future learning. For instance, resources such as ride-on toys boost children's physical and personal confidence. Staff have improved the regular sharing of information on children's achievements since the previous inspection to help all children build their learning at home. This benefits all groups of learners. Staff work with other organisations, such as physical and health professionals, to support children's individual learning needs.

Leaders have enhanced the provision for babies and the youngest children since the previous inspection. Babies are now more consistently engaged by activities that largely meet their learning and other needs. However, the inconsistencies in the curriculum and quality of teaching mean that children do not always achieve their potential in all areas of their learning.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders have made improvements to the curriculum since the last inspection. The planning for babies and the youngest children now engages them through first-hand experiences and builds on their earlier development more effectively. However, the sequential curriculum planning for all areas of learning, particularly mathematics, is not fully established. As a result, children do not make all the progress that they could. For example, children do not have a firm enough grasp of the quantities of numbers to five before learning about higher numbers and trying to match them to written numbers.

There is a good focus on developing all children's early literacy skills. Stories and books are integral to children's learning. Children learn to enjoy a wide range of songs that help them build their vocabulary and knowledge of the world. Staff identify and provide further support to children who show delays in speech and communication skills.

Staff know children well and generally accurately assess the next steps in their learning. However, the quality of teaching is too variable. For instance, staff do not always adjust adult-led activities to make sure they are matched to all children's needs. As a result, some children lose interest or are confused by the task.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children do not always make the best progress they are capable of or are fully prepared for the next stage in their learning, including starting school. They are not always helped to learn sequentially, particularly for mathematics.

Babies and children, including those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable, achieve in their personal and social skills overall. Staff encourage children to make decisions about the songs and stories they would like to hear. They largely encourage children to persist and to finish a task. Children learn to work together to tidy away and become independent in serving their drinks and food at snack times.

Children build their fine and gross motor skills well. Babies enjoy handling mixtures of foam and thicker liquids in their sensory play. Older children develop their finger and hand control as they tear, cut and stick paper for their collages and draw and shape their play dough.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders and staff have improved routines for supporting the behaviour and positive attitudes of children, including those who are disadvantaged, since the last inspection. They create a culture of respect and clear expectations for behaviour. They work closely with parents to share knowledge and understanding of babies' and children's needs. Children are well behaved and learn to be polite towards each other. The staff help children to share and take turns through role play and games. They talk to babies and children about their emotions and feelings. For example, they make use of well-chosen books and stories to help children recognise and name their different feelings and match them to colours. Staff are warm and patient. They praise children as they play. However, sometimes the language staff use, such as 'well done' or 'good', is too general to help children precisely understand what they have succeeded at or improved.

Parents appreciate the strong contribution leaders and staff make to their children's social and personal skills. Staff help children who find it difficult to manage their emotions to work independently and start to regulate their own feelings. Leaders set clear expectations for children's punctuality and attendance, which are understood by parents.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff establish a caring and positive ethos to support the wellbeing of babies and children. They have improved the learning environment since the last inspection to reduce distractions that impacted on babies' and children's welfare and learning. Key persons develop close bonds with babies, children and their families. Staff are positive role models, and children, including those who are disadvantaged or vulnerable, learn to be confident and secure.

Staff make use of clear expectations and routines to teach children how to wash their hands regularly before eating and after toileting. Staff are well informed to work with parents to establish and follow safe sleeping routines for babies and support feeding and weaning development. The nursery provides nutritious and balanced food that children can enjoy during the day. However, staff do not consistently reinforce children's understanding of healthy eating through, for example, the conversations they hold at mealtimes. There are robust procedures to manage children's allergies and food preferences. Staff help children to manage their own safety as they engage in physical activities, such as using climbing and sliding equipment or learning about road safety on their regular walks around the village.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders do not yet have an effective oversight of the curriculum, and the monitoring of the quality of teaching is not fully established. There have been staff changes to leadership and other significant events since the previous inspection that have contributed to delays in planning and implementing good practice. As a result, there has been inconsistent development to the quality of teaching and the curriculum. Leaders have undertaken recent work alongside other early years professionals to review and evaluate the quality of provision. They have largely identified priorities for improvement but are yet to implement them fully and set and achieve the highest expectations for all aspects of the nursery's provision.

Leaders identify that some children have barriers to their learning. They take positive steps to help children who are disadvantaged or vulnerable to get appropriate and targeted support. Leaders work well with parents and carers to share ideas on what will help children to continue to develop their skills outside of the setting at home. Parents identify the caring ethos and support for babies' and children's personal skills as a strength of the setting, and aspects of these areas have improved since the previous inspection. Staff feel generally well supported in their roles and comment positively on their wellbeing.