Munchkins Nursery and Pre-School

Inclusion: Strong standard

Staff create a highly inclusive culture where children's needs are identified early and met precisely. Robust assessments, individual plans and ongoing observations ensure emerging needs are quickly recognised. For example, staff swiftly identify delays in children's physical development and implement targeted strategies alongside physiotherapy and support from other professionals. Therefore, children make significant progress from limited mobility to confidently crawling, cruising and engaging with peers.

Leaders take decisive action to remove barriers through well-targeted adaptations and use of funding. Early years pupil premium is used effectively to provide specialist training, sensory resources and additional sessions, enabling children to regulate emotions and re-engage in learning.

Communication is prioritised by staff using Makaton, visual strategies and home-language support. Children who join with no English communicate confidently, demonstrating rapid progress from their starting points. Highly effective multi-agency working and essential parent partnerships underpin support. Staff work closely with therapists, social care and schools, while maintaining sensitive relationships with families. Children known to social care attend regularly, feel secure and make sustained progress.

Leaders invest heavily in staff training and monitor the impact of provision closely, adapting strategies where needed. Consequently, all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and English as an additional language, are fully included. They develop communication and independence, and thrive within this nurturing, highly responsive environment.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Leaders design an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum deeply rooted in children's communication, independence and emotional security. They demonstrate a clear understanding of its effectiveness and adapt provision in response to cohort needs. For example, leaders strengthen staffing and room leadership to support a younger age range.

The curriculum is implemented consistently through a highly enabling environment, where free-flow access and forest school experiences promote exploration and autonomy. For example, babies independently choose resources such as musical instruments or books and bring them to adults to share. Outdoors, they confidently explore the climbing frame and engage in sensory activities like feeling flower petals. Staff immediately respond, supporting curiosity and early communication.

Teaching is purposeful and responsive. Staff use secure knowledge of child development to adapt interactions. They adjust their language carefully during activities and follow children's interests closely. Communication is prioritised. Staff model, narrate and extend language using Makaton, songs and rich vocabulary. They embed mathematical concepts naturally through counting, comparison and problem-solving in play. For example, staff introduce concepts such as big and small during outdoor exploration.

Assessment is used effectively to tailor teaching. Staff know children very well. They plan next steps precisely, adapting provision for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or English as an additional language. The flexible teaching results in learning that is consistently relevant, inclusive and builds progressively on what children know and can do.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children make sustained progress from their starting points, particularly in communication and language. Children with little or no English rapidly develop confidence to speak, interact and express their ideas. Children quickly progress from non-verbal communication to speaking in sentences and engaging in shared storytelling. Babies and younger children show secure development as they confidently explore, make choices and engage in purposeful play.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those facing additional barriers make notable progress. For instance, children with delayed physical development move from limited mobility to crawling, cruising and actively engaging with others. Those with social and emotional needs learn to regulate their feelings, seek support and re-engage in play. Children gain independence and emotional security. They engage confidently in learning and build essential foundations for future development.

All children demonstrate high levels of cooperation and curiosity. They manage self-care, communicate effectively and sustain engagement in learning. Children are thoroughly prepared for their next stage, showing the confidence, language and self-regulation needed for school and future learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Staff establish a highly positive and consistent culture where expectations for behaviour are clear, age-appropriate and embedded across the setting. Warm, respectful relationships underpin practice. Children actively seek out adults for reassurance and confidently engage in play, demonstrating they feel safe and secure. Staff model kindness and explicitly teach positive social behaviours, such as sharing, turn-taking and helping others. As a result, children are considerate, cooperative and mindful of each other's space when navigating busy outdoor areas.

Routines are well established and support independence. Children are sensitively supported by staff to confidently manage self-care, follow hygiene practices and make choices about their learning. Those who need additional support are helped to regulate through calming spaces and consistent approaches, enabling them to re-engage positively. This strengthens their sense of responsibility and pride in their achievements.

Leaders work effectively with families, including those facing challenges, to promote regular attendance and punctuality through supportive strategies such as telephone wake-up calls. As a result, children attend consistently, settle quickly and demonstrate positive attitudes to learning. Children exhibit high levels of engagement and infinite emotional security in this nurturing and inclusive environment.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Staff create a highly nurturing and inclusive environment where children's welfare and wellbeing are prioritised. Care practices are tailored effectively to individual needs. For example, children with medical or developmental needs receive carefully adapted routines, including safe sleep arrangements and personalised care plans, ensuring they remain safe and fully included.

Well-established key-person relationships are evident. Children actively seek comfort from familiar adults, respond to soothing interactions and demonstrate secure attachments. As a result, children feel extremely safe and emotionally secure, enabling them to confidently explore their environment.

Staff support children to develop a deep understanding of health and safety through everyday experiences. They manage hygiene routines independently, learn safe use of tools such as hammers and scissors, and engage in discussions about healthy practices, including oral health and nutrition. Mealtimes are well managed by staff, with clear procedures for allergies and supervision, ensuring children eat safely.

Emotional well-being is a clear strength. Children are supported to recognise and regulate their feelings through calm, consistent approaches and access to quiet regulation spaces. Staff respond sensitively to distress, helping children to settle and re-engage. Routines are thoroughly embedded and responsive, particularly for babies. Sleep, care and feeding are managed thoughtfully, safely and consistently. As a result, children feel secure, develop confidence and demonstrate excellent emotional resilience.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leadership and governance is highly ambitious, extending well beyond the immediate setting to influence the wider community and early years sector. Leaders place children at the heart of all decision-making. Children develop confidence, empathy and social awareness as they join in with acts of kindness and learn about local services such as the police. This broadens children's understanding of the world and their sense of belonging.

Leaders demonstrate an uncompromising commitment to improving outcomes for all children, particularly those who are disadvantaged, have special educational needs and/or disabilities or are known to social care. They meet statutory requirements rigorously through robust safer recruitment, ongoing suitability checks and embedded safeguarding practice. This ensures children are consistently safe and well protected.

Leaders have an incisive understanding of the setting's strengths and drive continuous improvement. For example, they have refined school readiness support and strengthened staff training, resulting in consistently high-quality, well-matched learning experiences. Staff benefit from sharply focused professional development linked to children's needs, creating a confident and skilled workforce.

Leaders make decisions firmly in the best interests of children and families. They use additional funding to provide children with more sessions and focused individual support. This helps children to regulate their emotions, engage more confidently, and make secure progress. Effective partnerships with schools and other professionals ensure continuity of care and smooth transitions, so children feel secure and sustain their progress. Children experience consistent support across all areas of their learning, and this helps them settle quickly and make steady progress without disruption.