Little Fireflies Nursery at High Hurstwood

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders have established an inclusive culture in which every child is known well and ambitious expectations underpin the support they receive. Emerging needs are identified early through careful assessment, detailed knowledge of children's development and strong partnerships with families. Staff adapt teaching, routines and the learning environment swiftly, reducing barriers to learning and wellbeing and enabling children to participate fully from the earliest opportunity.

Children receiving additional support benefit from highly personalised provision that reflects their individual strengths, interests and next steps. Staff consistently use signing, visual supports, personalised communication systems and strategies to help children manage their feelings and communicate their needs. As a result, children develop positive relationships and grow in confidence. Children become increasingly independent because adaptations are reviewed regularly and refined as their needs change. For example, children confidently use communication aids to ask for a turn, understand expectations and participate successfully alongside their peers.

Leaders work collaboratively with families and a wide range of other services involved in children's care and development, implementing specialist advice thoughtfully and evaluating its impact carefully. Additional funding is targeted strategically and reviewed regularly to ensure it improves children's experiences, development and access to the curriculum. Consequently, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to learning make sustained progress, participate confidently in nursery life and flourish in an environment where they are respected, valued and fully included.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum that reflects the setting's curiosity-led ethos and provides children with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need for future learning. From the earliest stages, leaders prioritise children's communication, physical development, emotional security and independence, before progressively broadening learning across all areas as children get older. Staff implement this through carefully planned environments and interactions. For example, babies independently access low-level resources, while staff use songs, stories, signing and visual prompts to develop their communication and confidence. As a result, even the youngest children increasingly communicate their needs, make choices and explore independently. Planning reflects children's individual development alongside the needs of each group of children, ensuring learning remains purposeful and responsive.

Teaching consistently encourages children to think, investigate and solve problems for themselves. Practitioners observe carefully, extend children's ideas through skilful questioning and allow them time to test different solutions before intervening. During sustained play, children compare containers, testing their ideas and confidently explaining why one container holds more than another. Staff introduce ambitious vocabulary naturally within children's play. For example, while children create 'crocodile food', staff introduce words and concepts such as 'seasoning', 'capacity' and 'opposable thumbs'. This broadens children's vocabulary while maintaining their curiosity and extending their ideas.

Communication, language and independence are prioritised from the earliest stages. As children develop, staff progressively increase the challenge, encouraging them to make decisions, test ideas and apply what they know independently. Purposeful professional development, coaching and peer support ensure teaching continues to evolve in response to children's emerging needs, resulting in a curriculum that is implemented consistently well across the setting.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children build securely on what they already know and can do because teaching develops their knowledge and skills progressively from their individual starting points. Babies develop secure communication, physical and personal skills as they confidently explore their environment, communicate their needs using signs and become increasingly independent in their play and daily routines.

Toddlers build successfully on these foundations as they collaborate with others, confidently communicate their choices, persevere when solving problems and adapt their thinking when their first ideas are unsuccessful. Older children confidently explain their thinking, test ideas, solve practical problems and apply newly acquired vocabulary naturally in their play. For example, they proudly describe their potion as 'overflowing' and explain why one container holds more than another after investigating their ideas together.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to learning make sustained progress because support is carefully tailored, reviewed regularly and adapted as their needs develop. Consequently, children leave the setting with the confidence, independence, knowledge and skills needed for the next stage of their education.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children behave consistently well because leaders have established a calm, respectful culture with clear expectations that are understood by staff, children and families. Warm, responsive relationships help children feel emotionally secure, enabling them to approach new experiences with confidence and enthusiasm.

Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. They remain engaged in purposeful play for sustained periods, show perseverance when tasks become challenging and readily revisit previous ideas to deepen their understanding. For example, children create an imaginary helping squad, riding bikes to help others before developing their story together. Staff recognise children's individual stages of development and provide sensitive support that enables them to manage transitions successfully and develop increasing independence while maintaining high expectations.

Children collaborate thoughtfully with one another. They take turns, listen to different viewpoints and work together to solve problems during play. Staff use gentle explanations, signing and visual prompts to help children understand turn-taking and the needs of others. They model respectful communication consistently, helping children resolve minor disagreements independently and develop empathy for others. Children confidently express their feelings using familiar strategies and increasingly manage their emotions without relying on adult intervention.

Leaders work closely with families to promote regular attendance and consistent routines, recognising the importance of continuity in children's learning and wellbeing. Where children require additional support, staff use personalised visual communication aids and adapt transitions between rooms to children's individual needs. For example, children move to their new room alongside a familiar key person and can return to their previous room until they feel secure. These approaches help children understand expectations, communicate their needs and manage change successfully. Consequently, children develop resilience, confidence and secure attitudes that prepare them well for the next stage of their education.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are promoted consistently well through warm, nurturing relationships and care practices that reflect each child's individual needs. Babies receive responsive care from practitioners who know their routines well. Staff follow safer sleep guidance and safer eating practices consistently, enabling children to feel safe, secure and settled throughout the day. Older children confidently manage age-appropriate self-care routines, independently accessing tissues, washing their hands thoroughly and explaining why these routines help prevent the spread of germs.

Children develop healthy lifestyles through well-established daily routines. They serve themselves at mealtimes, pour drinks, use real crockery and cutlery confidently and enjoy nutritious meals in a relaxed, sociable environment. Staff promote physical development through daily opportunities to climb, balance, explore and take managed risks, encouraging children to think carefully about keeping themselves and others safe while remaining curious and active.

Children's emotional wellbeing is supported consistently. Staff use sensitive interactions, signing, visual supports and emotional support resources to help children recognise, express and manage their emotions with increasing confidence. Children talk openly about their feelings, recall strategies to help themselves feel calm and develop positive relationships built on kindness and respect. For example, staff use colour-coded emotional resources to help children identify and talk about their feelings. Children learn strategies such as breathing in deeply and slowly blowing out to help themselves feel calm, which they can recall when they need them.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders are ambitious and reflective, with a clear vision for providing a curiosity-led curriculum that enables all children to flourish. They have an accurate understanding of the setting's strengths and use regular monitoring, professional dialogue and careful evaluation of children's progress to identify priorities and continually improve the quality of education. Leaders review the impact of changes thoughtfully, adapting practice where necessary to ensure improvements continue to enhance children's experiences and outcomes.

Professional development is purposeful and closely aligned to the needs of children and staff. Leaders use training, coaching and peer observations to make specific improvements to teaching. For example, following training about how 2-year-olds learn, staff now gain children's attention before speaking, break instructions into manageable steps and give children sufficient time to process what they hear. Consequently, staff are more confident in their teaching, and children's language is developing more rapidly. Staff confidently articulate the curriculum, know children's starting points and next steps well, and consistently implement leaders' high expectations across the setting.

Leaders support staff wellbeing and manage workload through accessible room-based leadership, coaching and opportunities for professional development. Staff value having a manager who knows their room, children and priorities well, enabling them to seek support readily and continually develop their practice. Leaders foster strong partnerships with families and other services to support children's learning, development and wellbeing. Additional funding is targeted carefully and reviewed regularly to maximise its impact.