Partou Silchester Manor Day Nursery & Pre-school

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations for all children. They are proud of their multi-cultural setting and ensure that all children gain a sense of belonging. Leaders are committed to ensuring that all children make continual progress in their learning, no matter what their background or barriers they face to their learning. This includes how to identify when children might be entitled to additional funding. Staff demonstrate a clear understanding of the importance of undertaking regular observations and assessments to identify any gaps in children's development. Leaders review and monitor staff's assessments to ensure that those children with identified delays in their learning are well supported. They also provide staff with effective training and coaching to enable them to support children with identified special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Leaders and staff work collaboratively with parents and carers, and other professionals where necessary, to help children with identified gaps in their learning to catch up with their peers and/or make the progress they are capable of. Staff take account of advice from external professionals to provide support for children with SEND. This includes providing personalised, targeted resources and activities with clear learning goals to ensure that those children make continuous progress. As a result, children with SEND are making steady progress and gaining important communication and social skills in readiness for the next stage of their learning.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have a clear vision for their curriculum. They know what it is they want all children to achieve as they move on to the next stage in their learning throughout the nursery and in readiness for school. Staff have a clear understanding of how to support children's development. For example, they recognise that younger children struggle to sustain concentration and focus during group activities and provide targeted activities to help them build up to becoming active participants. Staff gain detailed information from parents and carers about their children's development when they start. They monitor children's progress regularly and accurately, setting clear goals to help them move on to the next stage in their learning.

Overall, staff provide teaching that supports children's learning and development well. For example, staff support babies' early communication and language positively during shared reading activities. They point out key single words and encourage children to look at the pictures to attach meaning to those words. Staff encourage older children to use mathematical language as they compare shape, size and number during a 'What is in the box?' activity. However, at times, staff do not fully extend children's learning or ensure that all children benefit fully from the intended learning during focused activities.

Staff provide a wide range of stimulating activities based on children's individual needs and interests, which children of all ages can access independently, particularly in the indoor environment. Children enjoy the outdoor environment, where they have ample opportunities for fresh air and exercise. However, the curriculum for outdoor play does not ensure that children can consistently access a broader ranger of meaningful learning opportunities when playing outside.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language make clear progress in their learning. Children with SEND receive targeted support, which has a positive impact on building their communication and social skills. Overall, children develop the key skills they need in readiness for school. Older children are confident communicators and use a wide range of language as they role play with their peers. Young children develop their coordination skills in the garden as they climb apparatus, navigate obstacle courses and successfully pedal on tricycles. They delight in the warm praise, build their resilience and keep trying. Babies are beginning to follow simple instruction. For instance, they 'stop' and 'shake' bells and maracas in time to the instruction during a musical activity. Enhancements to the quality of the curriculum and teaching could support children further to help them make the most progress possible in their learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Staff establish warm and caring relationships with children. They provide children with praise and encouragement, which supports their self-confidence. Children visibly relish the company of staff, who act as positive role models as they play alongside them during planned and independent activities. Older children form positive friendships. They play collaboratively and willingly share resources, such as utensils in the role-play kitchen. Staff provide calm and consistent support to help children to understand the expectations for their behaviour. They set clear expectations and boundaries during focused activities. For example, staff remind children to take turns and wait for their friends to finish speaking without interruption.

Leaders carefully consider the daily routines to support younger children and those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who may need more help to regulate their emotions. They have adapted the transition from outdoor play to lunchtime to ensure that children are not spending too long waiting for their meals. This prevents children from becoming restless and dysregulated. Staff use the daily routines as opportunities to help children to develop important self-care skills in readiness for school. For example, younger children are becoming competent in changing from their outdoor clothing and take themselves off to wash their hands before lunch. Leaders have secure systems in place to monitor and check on children's attendance.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders provide a sensitive settling-in process that is tailored to meet the individual needs of all children, particularly babies and those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff gather important information about children's routines, health and care needs before they start to help them to settle as quickly as possible into their transition to nursery.

Leaders ensure that the key-person system in the baby room is flexible to meet the needs of individual children, such as enabling babies to form a clear bond before finalising a permanent key person. This helps babies to form secure attachments and prepare them emotionally for their future learning. Staff provide a sensitive and tailored approach for those children who need more time to adapt to change when they need to move on to the next room. This helps children to settle quickly in their new environment and prepare them for the next stage in their learning. Staff support younger children positively to help them to understand their emotions. Subsequently, they are starting to recognise when they feel sad or angry and adopt strategies to regulate their emotions.

Staff supervise children effectively to ensure their safety. This includes at key transition times, during meals and while children have their nap. They teach children how to keep themselves safe by sitting properly at the table while eating. Staff support children to take safe and managed risks in the outdoor area as they grow in confidence navigating obstacle courses and climbing apparatus.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The nursery has been through a period of transition, and the new management team has clear ambitions for what it wants to achieve. There is a clear focus on benefiting outcomes for all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and who face barriers to their learning. The management team recognises that more could be done to enhance the outdoor curriculum but has not yet had the opportunity to address this as leaders and staff have worked hard to make the required improvements since the last inspection.

Staff feel valued and well supported by leaders. The manager has recently implemented more peer observations with the aim of driving the quality of teaching to a consistently high standard. This helps staff to recognise aspects of their practice they can celebrate and aspects that need to be enhanced further. However, this process is in its early stages, and professional development opportunities are not precisely tailored to match the individual needs of staff to ensure that the quality of teaching is of a consistently high standard.

Overall, parents and carers are highly positive in their feedback about the nursery. They generally feel well informed about their child's achievements and ways in which they can support their children in their development. Parents are able to borrow books from the nursery's lending library to read to their children, which further helps to continue children's learning at home.