Mini Treasures Day Nursery Morden

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders have established an inclusive culture in which every child is recognised as an individual and supported to take part fully in the setting. Children's needs are identified quickly and consistently. Leaders work closely with parents and other professionals to reduce barriers to learning and wellbeing. Staff make thoughtful adaptations to routines and provision, including support, tailored settling-in arrangements and targeted strategies for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders and staff monitor children's progress carefully and review support regularly. Funding is used purposefully. This includes providing sport coaching and a sensory room to help disadvantaged children and those with additional needs to engage confidently and make progress from their starting points. When children, including those with SEND, struggle with daily routines, staff use picture timetables and one-to-one guidance to help them anticipate what will happen next. This reduces frustration, supports emotional regulation and helps children to feel secure and make steady progress. Partnerships with parents and carers are robust, and regular communication ensures that parents can meaningfully contribute to the support their children receive.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have designed a curriculum that reflects all areas of learning and is sequenced across all age groups. Staff plan opportunities that build on what children already know and can do. They provide a range of engaging learning experiences, and interactions are warm and purposeful. Staff model language effectively and engage children in meaningful conversations, which supports children's communication and language, as well as their personal, social and emotional development. Older children engage from purposeful activities that build vocabulary and help them make links with their experiences at home. For example, while using basil and coriander in their activity, children will talk about how their parents are using it at home.

Staff support early mathematical learning through shapes, colours and counting in the toddler room, for instance, encouraging children to recognise a range of different shapes through planned activities. Babies are settled and engaged in their environment. Staff promote early communication through songs, warm interactions and naming objects. Some babies show emerging language by pointing to familiar people and objects and attempting to say their names.

Staff also adapt activities and routines for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning, helping them participate alongside their peers. However, teaching is not consistently strong in all areas, and this inhibits children from always making the best progress they could.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children make secure progress across the curriculum, particularly in communication and language. In pre-school, they listen attentively, explain their ideas and connect new learning to experiences at home. Toddlers develop early mathematical understanding through shapes, colours and counting, while babies build communication through songs, gestures and first words. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning are supported well and make progress from their individual starting points. They are also developing the confidence, independence and knowledge they need for their next stage of learning, including school. However, leaders do not yet ensure that staff consistently build on children's thinking and reasoning. For example, during free play, some staff miss opportunities to extend children's ideas and deepen their learning. As a result, children do not always benefit from the richest possible learning experiences across the curriculum. However, leaders do not yet ensure that staff always build on children's thinking and reasoning, for example knowing how they could extend children's free play further to deepen children's learning, to consistently strengthen children's progress across the curriculum.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children and babies demonstrate highly positive behaviour, curiosity and a secure understanding of daily routines. They engage enthusiastically in activities, listen well for their age and show growing resilience and self-regulation. Leaders have established a warm, respectful and inclusive culture in which children are consistently kind to one another and feel safe and valued. Staff reinforce expectations through calm guidance, positive role modelling and purposeful routines. Children understand what will happen next and respond with confidence; for example, at lunchtime, they independently go to wash their hands.

Children collaborate well, share resources and take turns with increasing independence. Staff support them consistently and sensitively to reflect on their feelings and behaviour, helping them to repair friendships and understand how their actions affect others. Staff build secure relationships with all children to support children's emotional wellbeing and behaviour. For example, they talk with children about their home books and encourage them to share how they felt during family experiences. This helps children feel safe, understood and emotionally secure. Consistent routines promote independence in everyday tasks, such as tidying away, serving meals and managing personal care.

Leaders work closely with parents to support attendance, settling in and transitions between rooms, and they monitor this closely. As a result, children, including those who are disadvantaged, develop consistent routines and the confidence, cooperation and independence they need for their next stage of learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are typically promoted effectively through attentive care, secure routines and warm, trusting relationships with staff. Children develop independence in hygiene, toileting, mealtimes and other self-care routines. Staff encourage them to wash their hands, manage their belongings and follow familiar routines with confidence. At snack and mealtimes, children generally learn to wait, use good manners and serve themselves responsibly. Babies are supported sensitively to feed themselves in ways that match their stage of development. These experiences help children feel safe, settled and increasingly capable.

Staff understand children's dietary, medical and emotional needs and respond thoughtfully through tailored settling-in arrangements and close work with parents. Children benefit from healthy meals, daily outdoor play and opportunities to learn about healthy lifestyles, including oral health and physical activity. The key-person system helps children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing additional barriers to learning, to feel safe, understood and ready to engage. Staff generally adapt care thoughtfully to meet individual needs, supporting children through transitions and helping them participate positively in the setting. As a result, children are well cared for, develop a sense of belonging and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders understand the setting's strengths and areas for development and are reflective in the actions they take to improve provision. Since they opened, they have maintained a clear focus on inclusion and behaviour. Leaders support staff through regular supervision, spot checks, training and discussion, and staff speak positively about the support and respect they receive. Leaders monitor statutory responsibilities carefully, including safer recruitment, safeguarding training, accident and incident procedures and staff's knowledge of key policies. However, leaders do not yet ensure that staff benefit from tailored training specific to each room. As a result, some staff do not always have the depth of knowledge needed to fully support and extend children's learning.

Leaders also make decisions that directly benefit children, such as developing the sensory room, using funding purposefully to widen experiences and strengthen support, and building positive partnerships with parents, schools and the wider community. However, leaders' current monitoring of teaching does not consistently identify variations in practice across all area of learning. This means that some children do not always benefit from the same high-quality learning experiences as others.

Partnership working is a significant strength. Leaders work very well with external professionals, particularly when securing support or clear information that is required to prioritise children's learning and wellbeing. They build trusting relationships with families and support them sensitively. Leaders recognise that close collaboration improves children's outcomes.