Katey's Nursery & Pre-School

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders provide staff with support and training to enable them to successfully use their knowledge of children to skilfully assess and plan for their continued development. As such, delays in children's development are swiftly identified, which helps leaders to implement highly effective support. Leaders work in close partnership with parents and other agencies involved in children's care, such as speech therapists and physiotherapists. This enables them to create targeted plans to securely support children in their development. These are regularly reviewed and amended in line with children's developing needs. Leaders also ensure that staff undertake training that is precisely matched to children's individual needs. This includes specialist training to support children's developing communication skills. This ensures that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive high-quality support from staff. Leaders ensure that the learning environment is sensitively adapted to meet the needs of children with SEND, such as creating cosy areas where they can spend time to regulate their emotions.

Leaders know families very well. They use this knowledge to ensure that children who may face barriers to learning, such as those known to social care or those who are eligible for additional funding, are skilfully supported in their continued development. This includes closely monitoring and supervising children so that staff can sensitively provide emotional support when needed. Leaders also carefully consider how to use additional funding to ensure that it successfully meets children's needs.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations for children's development, and they have designed a curriculum that enables children to make secure progress in all areas of learning. They provide staff with effective support to understand the knowledge and skills children should gain during their time at nursery. Leaders monitor practice and provide staff with feedback that helps them to strengthen their teaching skills.

Staff assess children's development regularly, identifying what children know and can do and what they need to learn next. Staff adapt teaching to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, they encourage children with delayed speech to use visual prompts to support their communication skills. Staff repeat back what children are trying to communicate to them, which helps children to hear and understand the meaning of different words.

Children have opportunities to develop their physical skills. For example, they enjoy using different-shaped rolling pins to roll out the play dough and make different-sized hearts with cookie cutters. Children show a good attitude to learning as they actively engage in this activity of their choosing and work independently to achieve their own goals.

Staff generally follow children's interests well to build on their learning. For instance, when children show an interest in the sensory activities, staff sit and talk to them during their play. This helps children to build bonds with staff. At times, some staff do not consistently implement teaching well. However, leaders know this and have plans in place to support them.

Achievement: Expected standard

Overall, children make steady and secure progress from their individual starting points, and gaps in learning reduce over time. Children with delayed speech use visual supports to communicate their needs and feelings, enabling them to interact confidently with adults and peers. This helps them to build on their ability to interact with others.

Children are generally well prepared for the next stage of their learning. They settle quickly when they first start at the nursery and when they move up to the next room, demonstrating confidence and emotional readiness. Children develop key independence skills that support their future learning, including taking responsibility for simple routines. Older children proudly take on helper roles, such as laying tables for mealtimes. They also manage tasks such as serving their own food and taking their plates to the kitchen when they have finished eating. These opportunities support children to gain the foundational skills they need for their continued learning and transition into school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Staff arrange the learning environment well to meet children's needs. This enables children to quickly engage in independent play. For example, children play collaboratively as they extend their activity with cars. They show positive behaviour as they work out who will have each of the cars and how they will play with them. Overall, staff offer gentle guidance and support at appropriate times, giving children opportunities to build on their own learning.

Children show their familiarity with the daily routines and expectations. For instance, they know to put their high-visibility jackets away in the box when they return from outings. They also know to take their plates into the kitchen after they have finished eating. This helps children to learn to do things for themselves.

Overall, staff support children's behaviour well. For instance, they remind children to use 'kind hands' and support them to be gentle with others. However, staff do not always provide consistent messages about how children are expected to behave. For example, on occasion, staff ask some children to modify their behaviour, but they do not ensure that all children listen and follow their instructions. This means that, at these times, some children continue to show unwanted behaviour.

Leaders work with parents to support them to understand the importance of regular attendance and punctuality. Leaders and staff have effective procedures in place to check children's absences, which helps to keep them safe.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children show that they have developed strong bonds with staff. For instance, they go to staff for hugs and cuddles. Staff respond warmly, which helps children to feel emotionally secure. Children new to the setting settle in well and enjoy interactions with staff, such as exploring the herbs and potatoes. Staff are gentle and kind. They generally follow children's leads and recognise when to step in to engage with them. Babies respond positively and enjoy showing staff what they have discovered.

Children are supported to develop their understanding of how to look after their bodies. For instance, they are taken on daily outings to nearby amenities, such as parks and gardens. Additionally, staff ensure that children wash their hands when they return, which helps children to learn about how to lead healthy lifestyles.

Staff implement the daily routines well to meet children's needs. This includes deploying themselves effectively to safely supervise children as they eat and sleep. Staff also work in partnership with parents to ensure that children's needs continue to be met. For example, they communicate about weaning so that food is prepared in line with children's current stage of development.

Staff adapt routines to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For instance, they recognise that some children with SEND struggle to sit during group activities, so they give them time to engage in quieter activities with staff. This helps children with SEND to engage well in their learning.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Since the last inspection, the nursery has gone through a period of change, including a change of ownership and management. Following this transition, leaders have prioritised improving partnerships with parents and are continuing to work on strategies to strengthen this based on feedback they actively sought from them. This includes creating newsletters to share relevant information, such as general ideas for how parents can support children's learning at home that links to their curriculum, and recipes from their new menu. Parents report that they have seen some improvements and appreciate that leaders make themselves available to listen to any queries or concerns they may have. Although leaders share ideas via their parent app for how parents can support their children with their individual next steps, not all parents are aware that this information is available. This does not fully enable children to receive consistent support in their development.

Leaders support children's emotional needs as they manage changes in the nursery, such as moving up to the next room and to school. For example, they routinely move children's key person to their new rooms, which supports all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to swiftly adapt to these changes.

Leaders have successfully identified strengths in practice, such as how staff support children to settle at nursery when they first start. As such, children who are new to the setting quickly develop bonds with staff and enjoy warm interactions with them. Leaders, overall, identify inconsistencies in staff practice and put strategies in place, such as additional training, to address gaps in staff knowledge and skills. Staff undertake specialist training to enable them to successfully support children with SEND. As such, staff report high levels of wellbeing, and, overall, they receive effective support from leaders to help them to understand their roles and responsibilities.