Step By Step Nursery

Inclusion: Urgent improvement

Support for disadvantaged children is ineffective. Leaders lack oversight and do not support staff to deliver inclusive interactions to children. Staff deployment is poor and key persons are not able to spend enough time with their key children due to having to complete other duties. This does not support children's wellbeing and development. Strategies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are not implemented consistently or shared with other staff who work directly with children. This results in children frequently moving around the room with little purpose and minimal engagement from staff. Due to staffing pressures, those working with children are not able to fulfil their roles in supporting children's learning and development effectively.

Targets for children are often inaccurate and do not focus on enabling children who face barriers to their learning to secure the skills they need. For instance, targets focus on colouring-in, when children are not yet confident communicators. Some staff have received training to help them support children with SEND, however this has not been fully embedded or shared with all staff who work with children. Those with oversight of children with SEND and those who face barriers to their learning are overloaded. They do not have time to fulfil their roles effectively and receive little support to do this. Therefore, children do not make secure progress in their learning and development.

Curriculum and teaching: Urgent improvement

Overall, the interactions that staff provide to children do not promote children's learning effectively enough. They are too varied to securely meet all children's needs. The curriculum has not been carefully considered and there is no clear or ambitious vision for what children need to learn. While some staff consider children's individual needs and next steps when they plan, previous assessments and tracking are frequently inaccurate. This leads to inappropriate next steps that do not focus on the core skills children need to securely develop.

Story sessions in the toddler room are enjoyable and children engage and listen. Older children who are able share their experiences with staff and friends do so during periods while they sit waiting. However, this does not benefit children who are yet to develop the ability to communicate effectively. The overall support for children to develop their communication and language skills is poor and not a focus.

Leaders can identify when practice is weak. They have vision for what should be happening in rooms, but this is rarely delivered by practitioners as they are struggling with their roles and there is a lack of support from leaders. Training opportunities and targets set in supervision meetings are often generic, and leaders are unsure of the impact these will have on raising the quality of teaching across the nursery.

Achievement: Urgent improvement

Children are not suitably prepared for the next stage in their learning. They do not secure the skills they need to be ready for school. Sometimes, children develop skills in one room, but these are lost when they move on. Toddlers learn to complete tasks independently. However, older children then have limited opportunities to develop their independence further as staff complete tasks for them as it is quicker. Some children become effective communicators. However, those who face barriers to their learning do not receive appropriate support to secure the skills they need.

Children's progress is not monitored accurately, and it is unclear what they should be working towards next. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make little progress. They often wander around without purpose. They explore resources that interest them, receiving minimal interaction from staff and appearing to be forgotten.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Urgent improvement

Ineffective monitoring of children's attendance does not assure their welfare. While leaders discuss with parents the importance of their children attending, any periods of absence are not appropriately monitored. Leaders do not recognise how this monitoring contributes towards safeguarding children effectively.

There is variation in how staff support children's behaviour. Some staff use positive reinforcement and praise, but this is not consistently implemented by all staff. There is no clarity about strategies to use across the nursery to promote positive behaviour. This does not provide children with consistent messages or promote high expectations for them. Sometimes, staff speak to, or handle, the youngest children in ways that do not promote care and kindness. They are not always positive role models.

Due to low staffing levels, routines are inconsistent and children spend a great deal of time waiting. Transitions between areas of the nursery are sometimes chaotic and lead to children becoming confused and upset. Leaders do not consider the impact that this disruption has on children's behaviour or emotional wellbeing.

Some children begin to develop positive attitudes to learning. Toddlers focus as staff read them stories, while babies explore with curiosity. However, staff do not consistently respond to these cues to build on children's concentration further.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Urgent improvement

Staff interactions are not always sensitive and responsive to children's needs. The key-person system is ineffective as staff are frequently moved around or away from their key children. This does not fully promote children's wellbeing and progress. A lack of communication between staff means that strategies and information to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those who face barriers to their learning, are not shared. Therefore, frequently children do not receive the support that they need to make progress.

Staff deployment in the garden is poor and leaders have not given enough consideration to the possible risks outdoors. Due to being busy or distracted, staff do not support children to explore and begin to manage their own risks while outside. Children move around the garden with little purpose and are frequently disengaged.

Despite toddlers gaining independence, this is not built on in the pre-school room. Older children have little opportunity to complete tasks for themselves as staff are rushed and do things for them, such as serving them their food and pouring their drinks. They do however learn to move between upstairs and downstairs safely. Children join in with a familiar song as they go downstairs while holding on to the banister, which promotes their understanding of safety. Appropriate action has been taken to ensure that food is safe for children. Food allergies and intolerances are well managed.

Leadership and governance: Urgent improvement

Leaders and staff recognise the impact that staffing issues are having on the nursery. However, weaknesses in practice remain and not enough has been done to address the actions raised at the recent regulatory visit. Those who hold crucial roles in the nursery do not fulfil these effectively. There is a lack of ambition for children, due to unmanageable workloads and a poorly designed curriculum.

Staff supervision meetings remain ineffective. Training opportunities and targets are not focused enough to support staff practice to improve. Discussions about children lack any depth or meaningful identification of progress or issues in children's development. Inductions for new staff and agency staff are poor. Vital information is not shared with agency staff, and they do not always know what is expected of them when they work at the nursery.

On the whole, parents speak positively about the nursery. However, parent partnerships are not fully effective. Some parents do not know who their child's key person is due to frequent staff moves. Inaccurate monitoring and tracking of children's progress does not give parents an accurate picture of their children's targets. This also impacts the information shared with other settings when children move on. Poorly organised and chaotic handovers at the start and end of the day mean that important communication between parents, carers and staff is often missed. This does not fully support children's wellbeing.

Some progress has been made. Documentation is generally better organised and accessible and, on the whole, accident and injury forms are being more closely monitored and shared with parents.