Puddleducks Children's Day Nursery Pickering Ltd

Inclusion: Strong standard

Leaders and staff have consistently high aspirations for all children and what they can achieve. They are passionate about ensuring all children can access all areas of the provision. They carefully monitor interventions to ensure they are having the desired impact. Additional funding, such as the early years pupil premium, is used effectively to support children it is intended for. For example, staff offer children smaller group sessions or provide targeted training to help develop staff skills.

Those overseeing special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are highly knowledgeable and experienced. They have completed relevant training to perform their role effectively. Highly effective strategies ensure children who may need additional support are identified early, allowing the right interventions to be put in place promptly. Through targeted interventions, those children who are at risk of falling behind make excellent progress in relation to their starting points. Children with SEND are supported well. Staff work with external professionals to ensure the environment is safe and effective for all children. This includes making adaptations to the environment.

Activities are routinely adapted so all children can take part. For example, in the baby room, staff consider how to make activities inclusive for children who are not yet able to pull themselves up to stand. This approach ensures all children consistently have access to the same learning opportunities.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders and staff have recently reviewed the curriculum. This ensures it fully reflects what they want children to learn as they move through the nursery. The curriculum is typically taught well. However there are some inconsistencies in the delivery. This means children do not consistently benefit from the otherwise high-quality teaching. For example, not all staff consistently take advantage of spontaneous opportunities to enhance and extend children's learning.

Staff teach children a range of mathematical concepts within play and through focused activities. For example, staff support toddlers to climb steps while counting them. This supports their early understanding of number while supporting their physical development. Staff teach older children about shapes and the properties of them, such as how many corners and sides they have.

Regular assessments ensure activities are well planned to support individual children's next steps. Staff set up a range of engaging activities which support children to investigate and explore for themselves. For example, children experiment with magnets. They enjoy finding items which are magnetic and those which aren't.

Staff support children's communication and language effectively. There is a focus on developing children's enjoyment of books and reading from an early age. Staff point out pictures within books for babies and model the words, such as a hot air balloon. This introduces children to words they may not have heard before.

Achievement: Strong standard

Children are thriving within this setting. Children with special educational needs and disabilities are making particularly rapid progress in relation to their starting points.

Children develop a range of skills, including valuable independence skills. Preschool children have developed skills such as pouring themselves water and serving their own meals. They enjoy helping to set the table before meals. Toddlers practice these skills to support them when they move to the preschool room.

Children are confident to express themselves and have a sense of pride in their achievements. Toddlers confidently sit independently in the playhouse, happily chatting and engaging with one another. They also practice early mark-making skills using clipboards, paper, and pens.

Children learn about the world around them. For example, they explore the life cycle of a butterfly and learn new words such as chrysalis. Children learn to focus their attention, such as during songs and rhymes. They pay close attention as visitors speak about the local farming community.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Behaviour is consistently well managed across the nursery. This has been a recent area of development. Leaders and staff have effectively established well-structured routines for children. This helps children to know what is happening next. Behavioural expectations are understood by children who demonstrate positive behaviour. Unwanted behaviour is addressed promptly and calmly by staff. Responses are tailored to each child, in line with their individual support plans. Staff also focus on understanding the underlying cause of the behaviour rather than the behaviour itself.

Leaders share absence policies with parents. This helps parents to understand the importance of attendance. The nursery supports children who may find regular attendance challenging. They implement effective strategies to ensure children access their full entitlement of funding.

Children learn to work together. For example, at mealtimes, they help by handing out cutlery to their friends. Children have formed secure and trusting relationships with staff, who promote positive attitudes to learning. Reassuring staff support children to build their independence and resilience as they support them to balance along a balance beam. They then suggest ideas of how children could do it independently, putting their arms out to help them balance. Children are delighted by their achievement.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Passionate and dedicated staff greet children with enthusiasm as they arrive. There are effective settling-in procedures in place. This helps children to feel secure when their parents leave them. A well-established key person approach ensures staff know the children well. They understand children's individual care needs, such as those who may require more frequent nappy changes. Staff are especially attentive to babies' routines and how these change over time. Daily routines are well planned and regularly reviewed to ensure they continue to meet the needs of all children.

Children have ample daily access to well thought-out and planned outside spaces. These support children's development across the areas of learning. For example, children develop their physical skills on large climbing apparatus with the support of staff. Staff promote and discuss healthy food choices. Meal times are sociable occasions when staff sit and engage in discussions with children. They are beginning to grow their own food in a dedicated allotment space. Specialist guests are invited into the setting to teach children about British farming and where food comes from.

Effective hygiene practices are in place. Children learn the importance of washing their hands before meal times. They are becoming increasingly independent in doing this. Children are taught how to recognise their own emotions. Babies are comforted when they are feeling unsure. Staff use books and stories with older children to help them understand a range of emotions.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Dedicated leaders understand the setting's strengths. They continuously review practice and provision to make improvements when necessary. Leaders have a clear plan for further development, including enhancing the outdoor space even further. Leaders regularly monitor and observe staff practice. They have identified further ways to improve staff practice to ensure teaching is consistently of a high standard. However, these are in the early stages of implementation.

Leaders have a good understanding of how to support staff's well-being and mental health. Staff say they feel well supported and report high levels of well-being. They attend training that meets the needs of the current children. For example, staff have recently attended training on supporting children's eating. This has had a positive impact on children's eating habits and healthy attitudes towards food. Apprentices are well supported through a buddy system. Leaders have developed their own induction process to ensure their ethos and values are embedded in practice. This includes additional induction activities for staff who regularly work with babies, taking into account their specific needs.

Staff engage effectively with a range of other professionals and parents. They plan events in nursery which parents can attend, being mindful of children's individual circumstances. The nursery works closely with other professionals to support individual children and ensure a collaborative approach to children's learning.