Jungle Tots Day Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders have created an inclusive environment where children and their families feel welcome. Leaders and staff work closely with parents, which helps them to identify children's needs and implement support effectively. Leaders work alongside other agencies and professionals, which helps them to target intervention for children requiring additional support and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff share strategies with parents to provide continuity in children's learning. Leaders monitor children's progress and support children's key persons to implement plans to reduce any identified gaps in their learning and development. Typically, staff are knowledgeable about the individual needs of children, including those with SEND.

Additional funding is used to support gaps in children's learning, for example, to build on children's interests and experiences in the outdoor area. Leaders and staff have adapted the environment to create quiet areas. These allow children to receive calm and nurturing support from staff to help them to regulate their emotions. Parents speak positively about the support they receive, and the progress children make. They value the advice staff provide to help them to continue to support their children's learning at home.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders and staff plan a well-balanced curriculum that includes all areas of learning with an emphasis on promoting children's health and physical development. However, it is not implemented consistently well in practice. Children are expected to sit for long periods, which limits their engagement and affects their ability to sustain attention. Staff are not consistently clear about how to implement agreed strategies for managing children's behaviour. As a result, teaching during routines is disrupted and learning is limited. This means that the curriculum is not delivered as intended and does not support children's learning effectively across the day.

Children benefit from a wealth of high-quality physical play, both indoors and outdoors. They welcome the playful interactions of staff as they support children to develop their large muscles and coordination skills through climbing, digging, balancing and ball games. Staff promote children's communication and language skills. They introduce vocabulary during play and regularly share books to support early language development. Children enjoy taking books home to share with family, helping to promote reading at home. Staff introduce early mathematical concepts, such as counting, singing number rhymes and opportunities to explore shapes in the environment.

Children of all ages learn to play cooperatively in the outdoor area. Staff help older children to be mindful of younger children. Staff provide a wide range of play opportunities for children to choose from. They have a good understanding of children's interests and incorporate these into the play environment. Children are confident about joining activities, such as role play and exploring sensory materials.

Achievement: Needs attention

Inconsistencies in supporting children's behaviour and poorly organised routines interrupt learning and limit children's ability to engage and sustain attention. As a result, children do not consistently maintain high levels of engagement during their learning which has as impact on their overall achievement. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are supported to make progress in their communication and language. Babies and younger children show increasing engagement and confidence during care routines and play. They communicate through sounds, babbling and gestures, and staff respond sensitively. Older children engage in discussions with staff and share their thoughts and ideas. This supports early progress in communication and language. Children begin to develop important social skills, learning to play alongside others. They gain skills that help prepare them for school. Children become more independent and complete tasks by themselves, for instance, self-care routines, dressing for outdoors and using cutlery at mealtimes. However, due to the variability in staff teaching, some children do not make consistent progress across all areas of the curriculum.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure that staff implement a consistent approach to help children to understand the expectations for behaviour and routines across the setting. Routines are not planned well enough to engage children effectively. For example, children wait for long periods during mealtimes. The environment becomes very noisy, making it difficult for children to listen or follow instructions. As a result, some children display unwanted behaviour. Although staff's expectations are appropriate, they sometimes lack confidence when setting boundaries and guiding children, limiting children's understanding of the impact of their behaviour on others.

Leaders monitor and implement an effective attendance policy. They work closely with parents to share the importance of regular attendance on future learning. Staff liaise with leaders and parents to create support plans for children requiring additional support. They create strategies to help children as they move through the routines of the day. However, these are not always consistently followed. Following recent staff training, changes have been made to rooms to incorporate a quiet space with resources to help staff to support children to regulate their emotions. While appropriate, these strategies are in the early stage, meaning it is too soon to determine the impact of this work.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff promote children's physical health particularly well. Children have plentiful opportunities for physical play in all weathers. In addition to the large indoor soft-play centre children can access, leaders have created an extensive outdoor learning environment. Staff interact well to support children as they learn to take appropriate risks. They access large climbing apparatus and develop their core strength as they balance on beams and master wheeled toys. Staff remain close by to support all children requiring additional support.

Children's care routines are sensitive and tailored to children's individual needs. Staff interactions are warm and responsive, helping children to feel safe, secure and emotionally supported during personal care routines.

Children enjoy tending their garden, planting, watering and harvesting food that they can sample to encourage healthy attitudes to food. Children receive freshly prepared, home cooked meals and snacks that are nutritious and appropriate for their ages and stages of development. Staff have a clear understanding of children's individual dietary needs and follow agreed procedures to ensure children are kept safe at mealtimes. During some mealtimes, staff take a more supervisory role and do not always provide high-quality interactions to support children's learning further.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders recognise areas for improvement and have taken appropriate initial steps, including providing training on behaviour management. However, this work is at an early stage and has not yet resulted in consistent improvements in practice. Leaders do not yet have an accurate understanding of how behaviour is managed across the setting, particularly during routines, transitions and unplanned events. As a result, agreed strategies are not embedded or applied consistently.

Leaders place a strong emphasis on partnership with parents and maintain positive, open relationships with families. Parents are invited to information sessions to discuss their children's learning and leaders organise social events for parents to help strengthen relationships further.

Staff feel well supported by leaders and report that they are valued. Leaders work closely with other professionals to assist staff in meeting the needs of all children. Leaders consider staff workload and wellbeing, which helps to promote positive morale. Staff work effectively together as a team and share responsibilities and support one another. Leaders continue to grow the provision. For instance, the addition of a gardening area has enabled children to grow and harvest food. Further plans include extending children's learning of lifecycles to further develop their understanding of the world around them. Leaders have invested in creating a large, covered area in the garden to further enhance the play opportunities outdoors and provide a private area for when children need changing.