Hikmat Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Inclusive practice is fully embedded in this setting. Leaders and staff provide a welcoming and nurturing environment. Children are fully accepted, respected and valued regardless of their background, ability or culture.

Leaders and staff identify children's emerging or changing needs quickly and accurately. This includes the needs of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care and those who face barriers to their learning.

Staff offer small-group work so children who are reluctant to play with their peers can take part. They use visual cards when children need support with regulation. This helps children choose a calming strategy, such as a favourite toy. Staff combine speech with signs and symbols to help children with communication difficulties express themselves. They provide consistent support to help reduce barriers to children's learning and/or wellbeing.

Leaders and staff collectively speak many languages. This helps to reduce barriers for children and families who speak English as an additional language. Leaders and staff are very aware of the impact that moving to a new country with a young child and entering them into a nursery provision has on parents and children. They maintain open, regular communication with all parents and serve as the primary introduction to local community life and friendships for many parents.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders and staff ensure they provide all children with a high-quality, motivating and ambitious curriculum. Staff successfully combine adult-initiated experiences with child-led ideas to expand on what children already know and can do. Staff understand that every interaction they have with children is an opportunity for teaching and learning. They also offer targeted time for children, who may face barriers to their learning. This enables all children to have full access to the curriculum.

Mathematical learning is fully embedded in everyday play and routines. For example, staff encourage children to count their eyes and ears as they create their self-portrait. Children learn about size as they take part in exercise routines. Staff use words such as bigger, huge and enormous as children move their arms.

There is an extremely sharp focus on developing children's communication skills and their love of books. Staff use signs and symbols alongside words to support children, who may face barriers to their learning. Children point to their eyes to confirm that they are looking at the book. Staff read stories with bright, bold illustrations, which encourage children's engagement and interaction with the story.

Resources within the nursery reflect the diverse communities the children come from. This inclusive approach helps to promote respect, inclusion and an understanding of different cultures and family backgrounds. Children feel represented and valued within the setting.

Achievement: Strong standard

All children, including disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those known to children's social care and those who may face barriers to learning, make excellent progress from their starting points. For instance, children with SEND who start at the nursery with no language skills progress to using 2 or more words in a sentence. Children with barriers to their learning say, 'moo, quack' and 'ribbit' to show they know what the animal is in the book. They show how they have the skills to express themselves to their peers and adults.

Children show their enjoyment of exploring and confidence to try new things. For example, they cut cucumber into pieces with safety knives. Children make handprints with paint outdoors and enjoy the sensory exploration of the brush on their fingers and palm. Children look at themselves in the mirror and create their self-portrait, adding their unique facial features. They demonstrate their imagination and extend their own play. For instance, children create a crocodile from dough and say, 'snap', showing their knowledge of the world. Children confidently identify colour, such as the red bird, blue horse and the white dog. They are incredibly well prepared and ready for the next stage in learning and transition to school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders and staff hold high expectations for the achievement of all children in terms of their behaviour and attitudes. Staff are excellent role models. They demonstrate and teach children the importance of treating others with kindness and respect.

Staff consistently enable children's best possible behaviour. They make reasonable adjustments and support interventions that allow all children to express their feelings appropriately. Children have opportunities to speak about and label emotions throughout the day. For example, they explain how characters feel when they read books together with staff. Children use resources to decide whether the mouth shape on their self-portrait will be happy or sad. All children demonstrate a consistently positive attitude to their learning and to each other.

Key-person arrangements, care practices and routines are highly effective in supporting children's emotional development. Children who are new to the setting leave their parents with ease and enter the setting confidently. They build strong bonds with their key person and all staff from the start.

Leaders ensure any absences they are not informed of are followed up swiftly. This reflects leaders' unwavering ethos to support and protect children's welfare. Leaders promote attendance and support families to develop positive routines and habits for children's learning in preparation for starting school.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Leaders and staff implement well-structured routines that motivate all children to develop and understand healthy habits. They are aware of local data and health statistics for young children, such as high obesity rates. Consequently, leaders and staff work with all parents to ensure they provide healthy packed lunches for their children. Positive hygiene practices are carried out consistently with all children. Children enjoy brushing their teeth, which supports their awareness of oral health. Staff ensure mealtimes provide a platform for children to learn essential social skills, such as sharing, taking turns and active listening.

Staff offer stimulating activities that support children to build physical strength, emotional regulation and mindfulness through playful movement and breathing exercises. Children enjoy daily outdoor play, including opportunities to explore and learn in the forest school. Indoor activities also support their physical development. During yoga, children listen attentively and follow instructions to move their arms. They persevere as they practise balancing on one leg and proudly show staff when they have mastered the pose. Staff remind children how breathing techniques can help them feel calm.

All children develop a sense of belonging through warm, positive relationships with all staff, which promotes their wellbeing and welfare effectively.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

This highly inclusive setting consistently and thoughtfully supports all children and families. Leaders and staff have an excellent understanding of the community they serve. They offer stay-and-play sessions and workshops for parents and grandparents. This helps them to better support their children's learning and development at home. These social activities also help combat isolation for some families in the community by connecting them with others. This impacts greatly on children's wellbeing. Leaders and staff offer trusted advice and act as a frontline service, connecting families with local charities and resources. This goes beyond expectations. Parents and grandparents speak highly of the care and learning children receive. They value the individual support leaders and staff provide to their families.

Leaders are aware of staff's wellbeing and carry out regular supervisions and observations of staff's practice. This helps staff to feel listened to and valued. Professional development is given high priority. Staff attend specialist early intervention training to support the development of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders implement well-targeted action plans to continually review and improve all aspects of the provision. This demonstrates highly reflective and ambitious leadership.