Little Angels Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders have established an inclusive culture in which staff identify children's individual needs promptly. Staff use their daily interactions and observations to recognise when children need additional support, including those with speech, language and communication needs. Leaders take purposeful action by training and modelling to staff how to reduce barriers. They adapt routines, offer focused language sessions and create quieter spaces when children become overwhelmed. Leaders monitor progress through ongoing assessment, although next steps are not always precise and consistent across staff, which slows how rapidly some children's gaps close.

Leaders strengthen support through effective partnership working. They engage positively with families by sharing clear information, responding to parents' questions and ensuring they feel listened to. They work closely with external professionals, including local authority support and speech and language services, to shape children's experiences. The provider makes considered use of early years funding. They support children to access additional assessments. Funding has also been used to purchase resources linked to children's specific interests, helping them engage more deeply in learning. Leaders maintain appropriate oversight of children known to social care, ensuring that information is shared effectively so support remains responsive and safeguarding needs are met.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

The provider understands the curriculum and focuses improvement where it matters. Leaders work directly with children and alongside staff, modelling expectations, prompting staff to notice where children need help and strengthening teaching in the moment. The curriculum meets children's learning and development needs and is accessible to all children. Activities are purposeful. For instance, staff use a role-play 'plane' to build language, encourage conversation and extend children's imaginative thinking. Children love boarding the plane and find it fun when staff offer them drinks of water while 'on board'.

Staff support communication and language throughout the day, narrating play, asking questions that prompt thinking and modelling vocabulary. Mathematical concepts are woven into activities, such as grouping and matching quantities when building block towers.

Children's physical, personal, social and emotional development is prioritised. Staff help children manage routines, share resources and take turns, adapting their interactions so children who need additional help can participate. Staff use assessment to check what children know and can do. However, occasionally, next steps are too broad, leading to inconsistencies in teaching. When this happens, it limits how precisely teaching is adapted for some children's individual needs.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children make secure progress through the curriculum and build the foundational knowledge they need for later learning. Many children, including those with speech, language and communication needs, have moved from vocalising to using words and short phrases, practising their skills daily. Children explore mathematical ideas confidently when matching quantities, counting towers or recognising numerals within planned ranges.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities sustain attention for longer, engage more consistently in activities and demonstrate increasing social interaction, reflecting steady progress from their starting points. Children who face barriers in their learning are settled and able to learn because routines and expectations are predictable. Across the setting, children are prepared for future learning. They listen for sustained periods, follow simple routines, practise early mark making and talk about number, shape and pattern during play. However, where next steps lack precision, some children do not always make the rapid progress they are capable of, and gaps in their learning are not always closed as quickly as they could be.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children experience a positive environment where expectations for behaviour are clear and consistently reinforced. When routines are disrupted, for example when number blocks are knocked over, children are reminded calmly and asked to put them back, with peers readily helping to restore the activity. Children form warm, trusting relationships with staff, which supports their confidence to join in, take turns and share resources during play, such as at the play dough table or when passing food at snack time.

Children collaborate well. They build together, take turns during activities and listen attentively during group times, responding to questions and instructions. Where children find group activities difficult, staff adapt sensitively, for example offering a quieter, meaningful one-to-one experience so children can continue learning without becoming overwhelmed.

Attendance is treated as a safeguarding priority. Leaders monitor patterns and contact families promptly when children are absent, helping to ensure that regular routines are established. Leaders coach staff continually. They recognise when staff give positive feedback and help them make this feedback specific, so that children understand which positive behaviours are being encouraged. Leaders' coaching is helping staff refine how they communicate positive behaviours, strengthening children's understanding of what is expected of them.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Care practices meet children's individual needs well. The environment is warm and welcoming, and children form secure attachments with staff, helping them feel confident and ready to explore. Children understand daily routines and are supported to develop independence, such as helping themselves to water. During feeding routines, children line up and talk about healthy foods. When one child calls out 'apple', staff celebrate this choice. When another calls out 'chocolate', staff use the moment to explain that chocolate is a treat and not an everyday food. These discussions help children begin to understand what helps their bodies stay healthy, although providing unhealthy options alongside fruit gives children mixed messages about healthy eating, making it harder for children to develop life-long positive habits.

Children benefit from their teeth cleaning routine. Younger children use mirrors while they brush, watching themselves as staff gently sing and talk to them about why brushing matters. Children know they should clean their teeth twice a day and follow the routine with enthusiasm, showing growing awareness of personal hygiene. Children are supported to recognise and manage their emotions, benefiting from calm, responsive interactions. Staff adapt routines sensitively, for instance, creating quieter spaces for children who become overwhelmed, helping them feel safe and emotionally secure.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The provider has made positive improvements since its last inspection. It has recruited a largely new staff team, and leaders lead from the floor to model expectations and guide staff practice. The provider has strengthened staff deployment so that children are consistently supervised and supported, ensuring their needs are met throughout the day. Improvements to the curriculum mean activities are purposeful, engaging and linked to children's developmental needs, enabling staff to focus on meeting children's needs.

The provider makes sure parents feel informed by greeting them personally, sharing clear daily updates and using a provider app to communicate children's experiences and progress. Parents feel listened to and confident to raise questions. Staff respond promptly and ensure that information is accessible. Leaders evaluate risk, act swiftly on concerns and work appropriately with the local authority and external professionals to secure the right support for children. Staff wellbeing is promoted through coaching, supervision and constructive feedback, helping the new team develop confidence. Leaders' self-evaluation identifies the broad strengths of the setting but does not yet precisely identify where practice could be strengthened across the team. This means some areas have not yet been prioritised for improvement.