Lake View Nursery Ltd

Inclusion: Strong standard

This is a highly inclusive setting. Leaders ensure that all staff have an in-depth understanding of the individual needs of babies and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning. They work with parents, carers and staff to promptly identify and assess gaps in children's learning and implement targeted strategies to support and close them. Leaders ensure that staff follow an appropriate approach to monitor the impact of interventions.

Leaders work in close partnership with parents, signposting them to and engaging specialist support when needed. They proactively work with a wide range of professionals. Parents of children with SEND value this collaborative working and the support they receive. Leaders ensure that care plans are in place to support the next stage of children's education. Additional funding is specifically targeted for maximum impact. For example, resources and activities encourage children's social interactions, and visiting music specialists and books help develop vocabulary and listening skills. Leaders seek permission from parents to speak to other professionals involved in their children's care before they join the setting. This enables them to identify staff training needs and make necessary adaptations to staff roles and the provision. This ensures that children's needs are met from the very start.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have extremely high expectations for and of all children's learning. They ensure that all staff understand how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to their learning. Leaders identify areas for improvement and have successfully implemented action plans to improve the quality of teaching. Leaders have developed a curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do. Leaders evaluate, review and adapt the daily routine to maximise children's learning. Staff seize learning opportunities throughout the day, including at routine times. For example, they engage children in songs at tidy-up time, during nappy changing and while they wait for lunch. They help older children identify numbers, such as those on the nursery toilet doors, by counting the corresponding dots.

Staff play alongside children, expertly supporting their communication and language skills. Through observations and assessments, they monitor children's development, promptly identify concerns and plan next steps. High-quality one-to-one interactions maximise children's progress.

Staff plan opportunities for children to be physically active. Babies engage in dance sessions and climb low-level climbing frames. They negotiate slides and push and pull toys around. Toddlers enjoy large-scale mark making on outdoor chalkboards. They join in with dance sessions led by visiting specialists before exploring further challenges in the nursery garden. Pre-school children pedal toy tractors, climb, and develop their physical skills. Staff have received gymnastics training to learn how to further develop children's core strength and balance.

Staff explicitly teach mathematical concepts. This builds children's mathematical confidence and gives them a firm foundation for future learning. Children join in with counting songs, count accurately and identify numbers. Children practise and embed this knowledge when they play cooperatively with their friends. They pretend to be bus drivers selling tickets for 5 pounds, showing 5 fingers, and they kindly help their younger peers to count accurately.

Achievement: Strong standard

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to learning, make excellent progress in all areas of development. They are well prepared for the next stage of their education. Babies and children develop a love of books. They actively engage in story times and choose to look at books independently. They become familiar with the text of core books through linked activities. Babies babble as they look at board books. Toddlers carefully turn pages and copy the words and actions they have heard. They explore textures as they recall a story about a bear hunt in sensory play. Pre-school children relax and read books in the garden. This all helps develop children's vocabulary and build firm foundations for their future literacy development.

Children are highly active, motivated learners. They have time, space and resources to develop their physical skills inside and outside. Pre-school children learn about sea creatures and explore concepts such as floating and sinking in water trays. Children practise their creative skills as they draw, paint and make marks in the garden. They develop their imagination as they role play with staff and their peers. Children with specific interests confidently share their knowledge and teach their friends. Babies and children gradually develop the skills required to share, participate and cooperate respectfully with others.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children are incredibly motivated learners. They become highly engaged in all activities, participating with joy and enthusiasm. Leaders have identified behaviours, attitudes and routines as key areas for further development. Adjustments to routines have had a positive impact on staff, interactions and all children's engagement in learning. Leaders are planning to build an additional outdoor classroom to provide a quiet space for children to engage in focused activities to help prepare them for school even more effectively.

Staff play alongside children. They remind children of the behavioural expectations of the setting and assist them in following them in line with their age and stage of development. Staff help children develop an understanding of their emotions. They use cuddles, positive reinforcement and praise to sensitively support children in learning how to regulate their emotions. This approach is supported with the use of emotional-regulation toys and stories throughout the setting. Staff plan precise activities to support children's social interactions, including turn-taking and sharing. Leaders have plans underway for all staff to receive social, emotional and mental health training to support these elements of children's care and learning even further. Leaders closely monitor and promote the importance of children's attendance and punctuality and have procedures in place if they identify concerns.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Close, supportive key-person relationships help children feel safe and secure. Leaders invite parents and carers to open days to meet the whole staff team. This helps build trusting parent partnerships. Staff understand how to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to their learning, and they adapt the provision to accommodate children's individual needs. They sensitively support children in developing their social skills and interacting with their peers. Children of all ages spend extended periods playing outside every day in the very well-resourced outdoor provision. Covered outdoor spaces and all-weather clothing make this possible all year round. This promotes children's physical health and wellbeing.

Staff teach children the importance of personal hygiene. Older children discuss the need to wash their hands before eating to prevent germs from entering their bodies. Children receive healthy, nutritious meals prepared by the nursery cook. Families receive recipes and sample pots, which parents say have helped children try different foods at home. Staff liaise closely with parents to safely guide babies through the weaning process. Leaders work with parents to create care plans for children with specific medical and dietary needs. They ensure that all staff clearly understand these. Staff have received training to support children with allergies, and they clearly understand the emergency procedures. Staff identified some allergens in art and craft resources and have removed them from the provision to minimise risks to children. Staff follow stringent safety measures at mealtimes to prevent the cross-contamination of food. On occasion, staff place children's snacks directly onto tables without using plates, which does not help children develop the best possible eating habits for the future. Leaders now recognise this practice as an area for development and plan to introduce changes at snack time.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders have a clear oversight of the provision. They robustly monitor the setting, ensuring that it meets the requirements of the early years foundation stage. When weaknesses are identified, leaders swiftly respond and make changes to improve the provision. They review assessments and the quality and impact of staff teaching. Despite changes to the staff team since the last inspection, leaders have developed a secure team with a shared vision. Leaders carry out regular supervision sessions with staff, support their wellbeing and monitor their ongoing suitability. They identify staff's strengths and areas for further professional development. They seek specialist training for staff that is specifically targeted to the ongoing and emerging needs of children attending.

Leaders have created a supportive, trusting ethos in the staff team. They recognise the challenges staff face, both professionally and personally, and offer bespoke support. Staff reflect on practice and provision and contribute to action plans to further improve outcomes for all children.

Leaders are passionate about providing high-quality care and education for all children, especially children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who face other barriers to learning. Parents of children with SEND appreciate the support they receive from leaders. They describe how this support extends beyond the nursery and has a positive impact on children at home. Parents value the professionalism of staff and the child-centred care and education they provide.