Kings Heath Grange Day Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities from the earliest stages of their placement. They use baseline assessments and information from parents and carers to build detailed knowledge of children's individual strengths and needs. Leaders work with external professionals to plan additional support where required. They identify the practitioners best placed to deliver targeted support and provide guidance through each child's individual targets and support plan. Leaders also help parents to access additional funding and contribute to statutory assessment processes where appropriate. They support families to understand the strategies that best support their children.

Leaders use their knowledge of children who face barriers to learning and wellbeing to plan targeted support that reduces those barriers. Practitioners assigned to deliver targeted support use strategies, including visual prompts, signs and gestures and additional adult guidance. This helps children to participate fully alongside their peers in nursery life. This typically helps children who face barriers to learning make progress from their individual starting points.

Leaders build detailed evidence of children's needs and progress over time. This contributes to statutory assessment processes and helps leaders share children's strengths, needs and the strategies that support their learning with receiving schools. This helps to maintain continuity of support when children move on to the next phase of their education. Leaders use assessment information and advice from external professionals to adapt support as children's needs change. They continue to develop practitioners' expertise so that children who face barriers receive appropriate support.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure that the curriculum is implemented consistently across the nursery. As a result, not all children benefit from ambitious and well-sequenced learning that builds securely on what they already know and can do. The quality of teaching is inconsistent across the nursery. Practitioners do not consistently use their interactions, questioning and modelling to extend children's learning. This means that not all children consistently experience high-quality teaching.

Leaders do not always deploy practitioners in ways that fully support the intended curriculum. As a result, practitioners are not consistently available to engage purposefully with children, extend their learning or adapt teaching to children's individual interests and stages of development. This reduces opportunities for children to build securely on what they already know and can do.

Practitioners do not consistently use effective teaching strategies to develop children's communication and language skills. Interactions do not always build on children's ideas, extend their thinking or deepen their understanding. As a result, opportunities to develop children's speech and language are inconsistent.

Leaders design a curriculum that reflects children's interests and provides opportunities to broaden their knowledge and understanding across the areas of learning. Children who face barriers to learning benefit from targeted support that helps them access the curriculum successfully.

Achievement: Needs attention

Children do not consistently develop the knowledge and skills they need across all areas of learning because they experience inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. While children typically make progress from their individual starting points, the rate and quality of this progress varies across the curriculum. As a result, some children do not attain the age-and stage-appropriate knowledge and skills they need to be fully prepared for the next stage of learning, including school.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress from their starting points, because practitioners identify barriers to learning and provide appropriate support. However, children do not consistently achieve equally well across the curriculum.

Children typically make progress in their personal, social and emotional development. As a result, they demonstrate positive attitudes towards learning and enjoy their achievements. Practitioners recognise and celebrate children's achievements. They share these with parents and carers through daily handovers and regular meetings.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders establish high expectations for children's behaviour. They support practitioners to understand children's behaviour and emotional development. Practitioners greet children warmly and help them to separate sensitively from their parents and carers. They establish routines that help children feel safe and ready to learn. Practitioners typically respond calmly when children become upset or struggle to manage their emotions. They help children to recognise and express their feelings, and learn strategies to regulate their emotions. Children who face barriers to learning or behaviour benefit from tailored support, enabling them to make progress from their starting points and fully take part in nursery life.

Practitioners model respectful relationships and promote positive behaviour through everyday interactions. They use praise to recognise children's efforts and encourage children to be kind, take turns and consider the feelings of others. Practitioners help children take responsibility through daily routines, such as recycling and caring for their environment. This supports children's confidence, sense of belonging and positive attitudes to learning.

Leaders promote positive attendance and work with families to encourage regular attendance. Practitioners help children to settle quickly into nursery routines. Leaders monitor attendance and follow up absences where appropriate. This helps children to benefit from consistent routines and learning.

Practitioners promote a positive culture, where children play together and develop positive friendships. Children typically use appropriate manners and suggest ways to share resources during their play. Practitioners' calm and respectful approach helps children develop positive attitudes to learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure that policies, procedures and agreed ways of working are consistently understood and implemented across the nursery. As a result, they do not assure themselves that children's welfare and wellbeing are promoted effectively. While leaders review policies and procedures to reflect statutory changes and support practitioners through training, induction and supervision, some ways of working are not yet embedded consistently. This is because leaders do not identify quickly enough when agreed practice is not being followed.

Leaders do not ensure that learning spaces and resources are organised to consistently promote children's welfare and wellbeing. The organisation of learning spaces and resources does not consistently support children's physical wellbeing and independence. On occasion, practitioners complete routine tasks that children could undertake independently. While children enjoy daily opportunities to be physically active, opportunities to develop their independence and engage in purposeful active play are not consistent.

Leaders establish secure key-person relationships that help children to feel safe, settled and emotionally secure. Practitioners know children who face barriers to learning and wellbeing well. They adapt care to meet their individual needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities benefit from targeted support that reduces barriers to their wellbeing and participation. Practitioners work closely with parents and carers to support children's development and emotional wellbeing.

Leaders promote children's health and wellbeing through nutritious meals and routines that encourage healthy choices. Practitioners support children to wash their hands before meals and implement food hygiene procedures appropriately. Staff implement safer-sleeping procedures consistently and provide a safe-sleeping environment. Children are happy, settled and well cared for. Practitioners meet their care needs consistently.

Leadership and governance: Needs attention

Leaders review the quality of practice through supervision sessions, observations and other quality-assurance activities. They do not use this information rigorously enough to identify the nursery's most significant priorities for improvement or secure sustained improvements in practice. As a result, leaders do not secure consistent practice across the nursery.

Leaders do not sufficiently evaluate whether changes they introduce improve practice. For example, leaders have recently introduced changes to assessment systems. They do not assure themselves that these changes are proportionate or have improved practice. As a result, leaders do not consistently identify whether practitioners understand and follow policies, procedures and agreed ways of working. They do not always identify when further support is needed to secure improvement. Leaders provide regular supervision sessions for practitioners. These sessions support practitioners to meet expectations in areas such as safeguarding, health and safety and risk management. It is less effective in identifying staff's individual development needs or ensuring that professional learning is closely matched to these. As a result, leaders do not improve the consistency and quality of practice across the nursery.

Leaders promote a culture where practitioners feel valued and well supported. Practitioners describe leaders as approachable, and say that they regularly check on their wellbeing. This helps to maintain positive morale across the staff team. Leaders promote an open-door culture, where practitioners and parents and carers can raise concerns, share ideas and contribute suggestions for improvement.

Leaders support practitioners to work closely with parents through daily handovers, detailed learning reports and suggestions to continue children's learning at home. Leaders provide effective oversight of support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They build particularly effective partnerships with parents and external professionals to reduce barriers to children's learning and wellbeing.