Kaleidoscope Day Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

The provider has established an inclusive culture where staff identify children's needs early and take appropriate action to reduce barriers to learning and wellbeing. Staff use ongoing assessment to understand children's starting points and plan support that closely matches their developmental needs. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), they tailor strategies and implement specialist guidance to help children develop communication, physical and self-help skills. The provider makes suitable adaptations so that children participate alongside their peers. Staff also act quickly when emerging needs are identified, such as speech and language delay, using individual plans and targeted activities while referrals to external agencies progress.

The provider uses funding purposefully to provide additional sessions and sensory-based interventions that help children build confidence and make secure progress. A sensory room and a virtual immersive room have been developed. These enable children, especially those with SEND or those anxious about unfamiliar places, to build confidence as they rehearse real-world experiences, such as visiting shops or exploring new environments. Support for children who speak English as an additional language is developing well, with management oversight strengthening the use of dual-language resources.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

The provider has designed a curriculum that reflects children's developmental needs and the context of the setting. Staff understand the leaders' intentions clearly, including the emphasis on early attachment, emotional regulation and preparation for more structured learning in the pre-school rooms. Across rooms, practitioners make purposeful use of everyday moments to build children's vocabulary and communication. For example, children engage in conversations and explore new words through discussions about sea creatures.

Teaching typically supports children's development well, particularly in personal, social and emotional development. The provider adapts teaching appropriately for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities using specialist guidance, individual plans and small-group interventions to target communication and physical skills. Assessment is used effectively to check what children know and can do and supports staff to adapt their curriculum to meet individual children's needs.

Routines for babies are efficient and calm, enabling secure relationships and uninterrupted opportunities to learn through stories, songs and early communication activities. In pre-school, experienced staff extend learning through language and model thinking during focused activities. However, the quality of teaching is not yet consistent. Occasionally, staff do not engage all children effectively when teaching them, meaning some children do not have the opportunity to learn more deeply from the learning experiences that have been prepared for them.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children make steady progress through the curriculum from their different starting points. Many develop the communication and language needed for later learning through play that encourages problem-solving and discussion. For example, children concentrate well when building tall structures with magnetic tiles. They talk with staff about shape, balance and what they predict will happen next. Others explore early mathematical and scientific ideas through activities such as colour mixing with paint or making marks using unusual tools, such as chopped carrots.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress through tailored small-step assessment and targeted activities that develop early communication, physical skills and social interaction. Children known to children's social care also make secure progress because staff maintain consistent routines and responsive relationships that help them feel safe and ready to learn. Most children are prepared for the next stage of learning. They sustain focus, cooperate with others and participate confidently in group activities.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children thrive in a consistently calm and harmonious environment where the provider has embedded clear expectations. Relationships between staff and children are warm, respectful and highly responsive. Staff model kindness and gentle communication, helping children understand how to get along with others. Young children, for example, wait patiently to wash their hands because staff give simple, consistent instructions that children recognise and trust. Older children collaborate well, showing growing independence and responsibility during transitions, such as tidy-up time.

Mealtimes across the setting are calm, sociable and well organised. Children sit together, talk with adults and peers, and experience eating as a pleasant, unhurried part of the day. Staff facilitate conversation and maintain a peaceful atmosphere that supports children's social development and emotional wellbeing. The provider's approach to behaviour is embedded through shared training and consistent application of strategies that help children regulate their emotions. Staff use familiar songs, routines and proactive interventions, such as adjusting the tempo during circle time singing, to sustain engagement and ensure that all children can participate meaningfully.

Attendance is monitored carefully. Staff follow up unexplained absences promptly, and the provider works closely with families when patterns emerge, ensuring that children's participation, safety and wellbeing remain central.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children's individual needs are met well through care practices that are calm, responsive and thoughtfully organised. In the baby room, children form secure attachments as staff follow children's cues closely, offering comfort, shared attention and gentle interactions that help them settle quickly and feel safe. Children develop an early understanding of health and physical wellbeing through everyday routines. Staff talk with children about healthy food choices, and even very young children join in age-appropriate conversations during snack times. Outdoors, babies and toddlers explore freely, such as splashing in puddles, supported by staff who respond to their curiosity and extend their physical confidence through well-judged supervision.

Children are supported to recognise and manage their emotions through calm spaces and consistent approaches to co-regulation. Staff help children identify feelings and settle into routines that reduce stress, including smooth transitions between activities and predictable routines through the day. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, the provider ensures that care plans, medical guidance and sensory strategies are followed consistently so that children remain comfortable, included and ready to participate.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The provider has taken purposeful action to improve the setting following the previous inspection. Recruitment processes have now been strengthened to ensure that staff working with children are suitable. The provider demonstrates a clear understanding of the setting's strengths and where further development is needed. They have acted on identified priorities by developing an immersive sensory space to strengthen children's preparation for new experiences and support those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The provider makes decisions in the best interests of children, including those who are disadvantaged or known to children's social care.

Staff's wellbeing is supported through reflective supervision, induction and open communication, enabling staff to access training that strengthens their responsibilities and practice. The provider has also embedded training that promotes children's positive behaviour. This consistent approach is evident across rooms and contributes to the calm, settled atmosphere where children feel secure and know what to expect throughout the day. Staff apply shared strategies confidently, helping children regulate their emotions and maintain harmonious relationships. While the provider monitors staff's wellbeing effectively, the precision of feedback to strengthen teaching and assessment is still developing. This limits how precisely staff receive guidance to enhance their teaching skills further.