Partou Nursery Lane Day Nursery & Pre-School

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff with oversight for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) know children's needs well. They carry out regular assessments and observations of children's development. This assists leaders and staff to promptly identify any gaps in children's learning and development.

Leaders and staff liaise with other professionals, such as the inclusion team from the local authority. They seek and take on board advice and strategies to inform how they will plan for the learning and development of children with SEND. For instance, staff use physical items to represent an activity or routine, to support children's understanding. Leaders and staff make sure that plans for children's learning are reviewed each term. This ensures children's ongoing progress towards their next steps in learning.

Leaders use additional funding to purchase specialist equipment and resources to support children's sensory needs. They target the use of early years pupil premium funding to purchase resources that meet children's interests. These help to support their play and develop their social skills. Children who are known (or previously known) to children's social care are nurtured and very well supported by the caring staff team. This ensures that children feel settled and secure. They arrive at the nursery ready to play and learn.

Children who speak English as an additional language are happy and settled in the nursery. Staff build relationships with their families and find out some key words in the children's home languages. However, at times, some staff members are not confident in the use of these to consistently promote the understanding of children who would benefit from their use.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders and staff outline the skills and knowledge that they want children to learn. This is typically sequenced well throughout the nursery. Staff continue to review and adapt the curriculum to ensure that it meets the needs of all children. This supports children to build on their prior learning and continue to progress in their development.

Staff provide frequent opportunities for children to listen to familiar rhymes, songs and stories. They repeat simple words and phrases for children to hear and copy. Staff use prompts and pictures in the outdoor area to promote conversation. For example, children are fascinated when staff explain to them how a frog's teeth are different to human teeth.

Staff provide children with opportunities to crawl through tunnels and climb up and over climbing equipment. Children enjoy creative activities. For instance, they enjoy pressing leaves and pine cones into clay, which helps to develop the muscles in their hands and fingers. Staff ensure that children receive a broad range of experiences to support their physical development.

Sometimes, staff consider ways to further challenge children's thinking and abilities. For example, they tape balls to a tray for babies to solve the problem of how to remove them. However, this approach is not consistently applied across the nursery. For instance, staff do not consistently consider how to strengthen their teaching and planning for children's learning, or ways to follow up on their curiosity, in order to further extend their skills and knowledge.

Achievement: Expected standard

Babies show a great love of books. They listen intently as staff share books with them and point with interest at the pictures. Older babies show their growing knowledge of a range of songs and action rhymes. They show impressive concentration skills and sit for long periods, asking staff to sing more songs to them. Children typically follow daily routines well, such as finding their place for snack time. They become confident in developing their physical skills. Children climb on or under equipment, thinking carefully about how to move their bodies safely. Children make choices about their play and learning. They generally manage their self-care needs with growing independence. Children continue to develop their speaking and listening skills and an enjoyment of imaginary play.

Children who are known, or previously known, to children's social care show that they are making progress with their communication and language skills. They are supported well by staff to play with others and develop their relationships with their peers.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders and staff ensure that the nursery environment is well planned to promote collaborative play and spark children's interests. Consequently, children generally play well together. They show positive attitudes to their learning and a sense of wonder about the world around them. Parents and carers acknowledge the beneficial experiences that the nursery provides for their children. As a result, most children continue to attend regularly.

Children typically behave well and follow instructions from staff. For example, they line up sensibly to go back inside after outdoor play. Staff use visual timetables to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to know what is happening next. Staff are calm role models for children. They explain to children how they can work and play together, to promote positive behaviour. For instance, staff encourage children to help their friends to rebuild a tower when it has been knocked over.

Leaders have recognised that, on occasion, daily routines and tasks are not organised effectively to support staff to respond quickly to children's needs. Leaders and staff have begun to make improvements to these routines. However, these changes are not yet fully embedded to ensure that these times of the day are better organised, in order to provide a smoother flow to the day for children.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders place extra staff in rooms when there are new children attending. This supports staff to dedicate time to supporting these children to settle into nursery life. As a result, children quickly develop secure bonds with staff and feel content in their care.

Safer sleep and mealtime policies are understood and implemented well by staff. Staff work hard to support children to adapt to routines which may differ from their home experiences. They share information and policies with parents and carers to promote safer sleep practices. Staff are respectful towards children. For instance, they ask for their permission to carry out care routines, such as putting on a bib. Leaders have purchased sensory toys to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to regulate their behaviour and emotions.

Children have daily access to the wonderfully spacious and well-resourced outdoor space. Consequently, they receive regular opportunities to be physically active. Leaders ensure that mealtimes provide healthy options for children. Staff talk to children about what is in their food and help them to identify the healthy vegetables in their meal. This supports children's understanding of a nutritious and balanced diet. Staff support older children to develop their independence skills. For example, they encourage children to serve their own portions of food.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders have evaluated the nursery and put in place additional support for managers and staff. This has ensured that the nursery continues to maintain standards. Leaders have outlined their plans to continue with these evaluations, to promote the ongoing improvement and enhancement of the nursery.

Leaders ensure that staff receive the necessary support and training for their roles. For example, staff have carried out training in relation to children's development across the areas of learning. This has helped staff's knowledge in assessing and planning for children's learning and development. Leaders work closely with staff and observe their practice. They provide regular feedback to support their ongoing professional development. Leaders promote an open-door policy to support staff to feel able to raise issues or concerns. As a result, staff report positive levels of wellbeing.

Parents and carers say that they feel warmly welcomed into the nursery. They highly value the love and care that leaders and staff show towards them, as well as their children. Parents feel well informed about their children's learning and experiences in the nursery. They comment positively on the high levels of communication from staff.

Leaders previously notified Ofsted of a breach of requirements relating to organising the premises for confidentiality and safeguarding. The notification means that the provider met their legal responsibility, as set out in the 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage', to notify Ofsted of significant events. Leaders have taken appropriate action to address the breach. They have improved staff's knowledge of the policies for when children are collected from the nursery. They have also improved the procedures for staff to check who has authorisation to collect each child. Leaders are continuing to monitor how staff manage home time arrangements as part of their regular checks. This ensures children's ongoing safety at these times.