Nunthorpe Children's Day Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Staff are swift to identify when children require additional support. They ensure that referrals to outside agencies are made, including accessing funding where appropriate. Funding is used effectively to ensure that all children can fully access the nursery provision. Staff take time to build relationships with children and their families and this helps them to understand any barriers to learning. Bespoke support is put in place to minimise any challenges faced by children and their families. Parents state that the support provided by the nursery has had a very positive impact on their children, both when attending the nursery and when at home.

Leaders closely monitor the progress of children and areas for development are broken down into achievable next steps. They are developing consistency across the nursery to ensure all staff understand what support children need and to ensure that children with barriers to their learning are given effective support.

Leaders work with staff, families and external agencies to ensure that they have a full understanding of the needs of any children known or previously known to social care. They use this information to ensure that the nursery provides the right care and support, ensuring all children have every opportunity to thrive.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have thoroughly evaluated the quality of curriculum and teaching and used their findings to make improvements where needed. For instance, to provide greater support for children's physical development improvements have been made to the indoor and outdoor spaces, providing a wealth of opportunity for children to practise these skills. Leaders are also developing the consistency of teaching across the nursery, to ensure high quality practice is fully embedded.

Assessments are used to check for gaps in children's knowledge and skills and the curriculum is then adapted to ensure that all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are making progress in all areas of learning. Staff identify opportunities to support children's understanding across multiple areas of learning, through open-ended activities and resources.

Children's communication is well supported throughout all areas of the nursery and a love of books is promoted. Staff engage in positive eye contact and smiles with babies as they roll balls back and forth. Older children benefit from practising Makaton sign language. Staff are tuned in to supporting children's personal social and emotional development and establish secure relationships with children, which helps them to have the confidence to explore and participate in nursery life. Mathematical skills are explicitly taught. For instance, in pre-school, staff support children to understand quantities of objects using visual resources.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children develop appropriate skills across all areas of learning and they show enjoyment as they interact with their environment and activities. For instance, they giggle with happiness as they practise their drawing skills, using chalk to draw around members of staff in the outdoor play area.

Children generally develop key social skills and learning behaviours which support them in the transition to school. They sit together on the carpet to listen to the practitioner during story time and participate with their own contributions. On the whole, children demonstrate positive communication skills. For instance, they confidently use Makaton sign language alongside spoken words. They understand and use terminology in relation to books, such as 'author' and 'illustrator'. They are confident to share their knowledge with others, such as explaining the correct pronunciation for the name of a children's illustrator.

Children with barriers to their learning make progress, such as developing the ability to follow the transitional routines in the nursery calmly. They learn to accept unfamiliar foods on their plates and to try new flavours and textures. Their ongoing achievements help prepare them to move to the next phase in their learning journey.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

On the whole, there are high expectations for children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. Practitioners apply these in an age-appropriate manner for the children they work with. For instance, older children are supported to focus on the learning that has been delivered and develop positive concentration and listening skills. When babies try new skills, such as rolling a ball to a member of staff, this is celebrated with lots of praise and encouragement. This builds babies' self-confidence and encourages them to keep practising these new skills.

There are very warm and respectful relationships between adults and children throughout the nursery. Practitioners model kindness, care and respect towards children. Attendance and punctuality are promoted and, as a result, children in this nursery attend well. This means they are very familiar with the daily routines and confidently join in with these.

Behaviour across the nursery is, in the most part, calm and children are happily engaged in play and learning. On occasion, there are instances where practitioners do not recognise and intervene when children need support in collaborative play skills, such as when struggling to share and take turns, especially at times when areas of the nursery are busy. As a result, children are not consistently receiving highly impactful teaching to help them understand how to resolve conflict with others and to learn to play collaboratively.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders actively support children's welfare, mental health and wellbeing in the setting. They describe a family-feel approach in this nursery where the relationships between staff and children are genuinely kind and caring. When staff identify children have barriers to establishing connections with others, they take great care to gently establish trusting relationships. This helps children to blossom in their confidence and overall development.

The provision is safe and welcoming and children enjoy their time here. They benefit from the exciting and well-planned outdoor space, which appropriately challenges their development and supports their skills across all areas of learning.

There is a focus on supporting children's independence skills. Children learn about the importance of self-care and hygiene, such as by taking part in handwashing routines before mealtimes. Nutritious foods are provided and this teaches children to try a variety of textures, flavours and food groups. Fresh air and exercise are also promoted, and staff plan time into the daily routine for children's physical development outdoors.

Routines are in place to meet children's care needs, such as nappy changing and sleep times. However, these routines are not consistently effective in meeting young children's needs swiftly. For instance, babies become a little unsettled while waiting for their bottles to be prepared and to be put down for their naps.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders are ambitious for all children. They drive improvement and have high expectations for education and care. They have taken a proactive approach following the last inspection and have implemented an action plan which has been successful in raising standards in the nursery. Leaders evaluate the nursery on an ongoing basis and identify further areas for development, such as supporting less experienced staff to improve their knowledge and skills.

Senior leaders in the organisation are engaged in the day-to-day practice of the setting and support staff effectively. They agree to providing new equipment when staff identify children with learning needs which require more support, such as specific resources for toddlers to safely practise their climbing skills. As a result, children are making greater progress in their physical development and gaps in their skills are addressed.

The workload of practitioners is well considered by leaders, with regular reviews in place. Learning and development opportunities for staff are provided. Supportive supervisions are effectively used to help staff in developing their knowledge and skills.

Parent partnerships are valued and impactful. Parents speak highly of the nursery and of the support that they have received, such as ensuring children's allergens are catered for. Transition arrangements are in place with local schools, to support pre-school children and their families when the time comes to move on.