Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Lightwater

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders implement effective systems to identify disadvantaged and vulnerable children who may require help to access educational programmes and reduce barriers to, and close gaps in, their learning. Leaders build on their relationships with parents and carers to coordinate referrals to partners such as the local authority early years support service or other agencies.

Leaders deliver regular training and updates to staff to improve aspects of their practice. More experienced staff act as mentors to newer practitioners. There are monitoring arrangements in place to ensure that assessments of children's current stage of development are accurate. Areas where any additional support may be needed for a child are identified quickly and acted upon swiftly. Leaders ensure that the progress check for two-year-old children is completed in partnership with parents, and they highlight areas where additional support may be required. Leaders are proactive in supporting parents, use additional funding well and offer flexibility to ensure that children can attend regularly.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Staff are clear on what they want children to know and remember from activities. They plan with purpose to support children's development based on what they need to know next. Staff use children's interests to make play experiences engaging and fun.

Leaders support staff to ensure that a carefully sequenced curriculum is in place. This offers all children access to a broad and well-balanced range of educational programmes. Focus is on promoting children's communication and language and the physical development skills they need to be independent in their play and self-care. Staff use stories, books and songs to support children's knowledge and understanding in all areas of learning, including in mathematics. Staff working with babies ensure that planned experiences are appropriate. For instance, to support their physical development and encourage crawling, they place objects of interest beyond their reach for them to explore, promoting their inclusion and development.

Leaders monitor staff's practice well. This helps to establish an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching and identify areas for improvement, particularly as the staff team is fairly new.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children demonstrate significant progress in their communication and language development. They benefit from a curriculum that focuses on building children's vocabulary through books and rhymes. Staff also support children's understanding of language through visual aids, gestures and signs. This supports young children to learn new words more quickly. Leaders coach staff to adapt teaching strategies to help all children achieve well and to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities effectively. All children, including those with barriers to learning, learn to recognise numbers, basic shapes and common colours, for instance.

Staff support children's physical development consistently well indoors and outdoors. Children have ample opportunity to move, stretch, balance and practise their fine-motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Children become increasingly independent throughout their play and care routines. Babies wash their own hands with support at low-level sinks and recognise their belongings, such as water bottles, at mealtimes. Babies learn to feed themselves, using cutlery. Toddlers self-serve cereal from the breakfast bar. Older children recognise their name and make meaningful marks on paper. This helps to prepare children well for the next stage of their education.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children arrive eager to start their day and settle quickly into their learning. They remain engaged in activities for prolonged periods of time and contribute confidently, sharing their thoughts and ideas. Children behave very well and demonstrate an understanding of what is expected of them. Staff consistently reinforce rules and act as positive role models, encouraging good manners. Children wait patiently and are happy to take turns and share resources. Staff get down to children's level and help them negotiate and understand their friends' feelings when they struggle with their emotions. Leaders are responsive to reducing barriers that families may face that have an impact on their children's attendance. They are proactive in following up unexpected absence and promote children's access to their full early years entitlement.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Staff and leaders know children well. Children feel safe and secure and demonstrate this by arriving happy and eager to start their day. They listen carefully to staff and seek comfort and support when they need it. Staff use their detailed knowledge of each child to support them to recognise, express and manage their emotions, and develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.

Leaders ensure that important information is gathered when a child first starts and that this is kept up to date. Staff know key information about children's health and dietary needs, and practices are effective to help keep them safe. Staff supervise all children closely while they eat and understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to the safe preparation of food and the stages of weaning for babies. Staff working with the youngest babies and non-verbal children are responsive to their needs, such as when they are tired or unwell. They make changes to routines to ensure that children's wellbeing is prioritised.

Staff use their knowledge of child development to make adaptations and ensure that learning experiences and the environment are as inclusive as possible. They work effectively in partnership with parents and carers, and other agencies, to support children's learning and development well.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders are experienced and make effective decisions about how to teach children and ensure their wellbeing and safety. Leaders model the care, compassion and education that they want staff to provide to children and their families. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive in their praise for the quality of care and learning their children receive. They say that their children are happy to come to nursery. Staff keep parents well informed about children's progress and approach any concerns sensitively.

All staff benefit from a robust induction that provides them with key information to fulfil their roles and responsibilities. This is built on through regular one-to-one supervisions with leaders, supporting them well. Staff feel valued and respected, and their views are well considered. Staff's wellbeing is a focus. In turn, the wellbeing of leaders is supported by the provider. Opening a new setting and forming a new staff team has been managed well. Leaders recognise the scope to focus professional development to enhance staff's teaching skills and accelerate children's achievement further. There are effective monitoring arrangements in place to ensure that support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or who face other barriers to their learning, receive the support they require at the earliest opportunity.