Stepping Stones Day Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Staff have a strong and consistent understanding of all children's individual needs, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who face other barriers to learning. Staff identify children's needs quickly and ensure that targeted support is planned for. They share information effectively across the team, ensuring that all staff know how best to support each child throughout the day. This joined-up approach means that children receive consistent, tailored support that helps them to feel secure and ready to learn. Additional funding is used to support children's needs effectively. For example, resources are purchased and ratios are enhanced.

Children make rapid progress from their starting points. Staff closely monitor all children's development and use what they know to plan purposeful experiences that build on what children can already do. They carry out termly assessments to ensure that they always understand children's stages of development. Practice is thoughtfully adapted so that all children are able to fully participate. All children experience warm and trusting relationships with staff. Staff take their time to understand children's emotional needs and provide sensitive reassurance, helping them to feel safe and confident. Staff work closely with families and other professionals to ensure that children receive the right support at the right time.

Targeted interventions are embedded across the setting. For example, additional visual aids are used to aid children's communication skills. Children who need support with their speech and language skills benefit from targeted support that is tailored to their individual needs, helping them to make small but consistent steps towards their goals. Staff celebrate children's achievements, which motivates children and builds their self-esteem.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Children benefit from a wide variety of resources and activities that support all areas of learning. The environment is thoughtfully organised to encourage exploration, independence and child-led play. Children engage well in activities they choose for themselves and enjoy playing cooperatively with their peers. However, at times, their attention is fleeting, which means they are not always being encouraged to sustain their thinking or deepen their learning by staff.

Staff take children's ages and stages of development into account when planning and delivering activities. They use what they know about the children to provide experiences that are broadly matched to their needs. For example, toddlers play with dough and pretend to make cookies with cutters. This supports their physical skills and imagination. In pre-school, children play shape-matching games to develop their knowledge of the properties of shapes. A core book approach is used consistently across the nursery, helping to introduce new ideas, vocabulary and concepts in a familiar and engaging way.

Much of the learning that takes place is incidental, arising naturally from children's play and interests. While this supports children's curiosity, opportunities for more precise, intentional teaching are not always utilised, which means children do not always make as much progress as they could. Learning opportunities for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities are much more targeted and refined, which ensures that their learning needs are met. Although leaders have identified this weakness and have some plans in place to develop the teaching skills of staff, this has not yet been fully implemented.

Achievement: Expected standard

All children make steady progress across the areas of development. Children form positive relationships with their peers and staff. They learn to express their emotions appropriately and begin to understand the feelings of others. Books are a key part of the curriculum, and children across the nursery enjoy listening to interactive stories, learning to pay attention and join in with group time. Children learn new words that help to broaden their communication skills, and they practise these in their play.

Children enjoy being active. They spend time in the outdoor spaces, strengthening their physical skills and climbing hills, pushing big trucks through puddles and running and manoeuvring around objects. Children learn strong independence skills. Babies learn to feed themselves, while toddlers learn to pour their own drinks and put on their wellington boots. Pre-school children learn to dress themselves and be independent in self-care skills such as toileting. This helps to ensure that children are ready for their next steps in learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children behave well across the nursery. They respond positively to the calm and consistent approach of staff, who support them to manage minor disagreements with others effectively. Staff build professional and trusting relationships with children, which helps them to feel supported, understood and gently guided to behave well, particularly children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

Expectations are adapted sensitively to reflect children's ages and stages of development. Strong daily routines are embedded throughout the setting, helping children to know what comes next and to feel safe and secure. When children need guidance, staff offer gentle reminders and model positive behaviour, helping children to develop the skills they need to regulate their emotions over time. Leaders monitor attendance closely and follow up on absences to ensure that children are safe and able to benefit from the learning opportunities on offer. This supports children's continuity of learning and helps families to remain engaged with the setting.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing is supported well across the nursery. Staff are attentive to all children's needs, ensuring that children feel safe, understood and emotionally secure. Warm, responsive relationships help all children to settle and build trust in the staff who care for them. Children are encouraged to understand their feelings, with staff often using books and simple language to support emotional development. Each room provides a quiet and cosy space where children can retreat to when they need time to regulate themselves. Children are supported to understand how to keep themselves safe. Staff use gentle reminders and help children to assess risks in their play by asking questions such as, 'What might happen if you…?' This encourages children to think ahead, make sensible choices and develop early risk-awareness skills.

Staff are consistently attentive to children's personal needs. They respond promptly and sensitively, ensuring that children feel cared for. During mealtimes, children enjoy healthy, balanced meals. When packed lunches are provided, leaders work with parents to develop a clear understanding of what to include, promoting healthy choices for all children. Sleep routines are well managed. Children rest in calm and quiet environments. They are checked regularly to ensure that they remain safe and comfortable.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

There has been a recent change to leadership in the setting. The new leaders are committed to making positive changes to further develop the nursery provision and are working closely with the wider support team to implement improvements and ensure consistency across the provision. Staff absences can have an impact on the day-to-day running of the setting. Leaders are actively working to minimise absences and strengthen staffing arrangements so that children's experiences remain consistent. Leaders have also identified that the quality of teaching is an area of development and have plans in place to provide staff with training and support to strengthen practice across the nursery.

Ongoing professional development is a key focus. Leaders provide regular training opportunities for all staff to ensure ongoing development. For example, all staff have recently had training on continuous provision. This has had a positive impact on the team's knowledge and skills, and it has been putting this knowledge into practice effectively. The team has evaluated its room and made thoughtful changes to create environments that better support children's independent play and learning. Staff workload is managed well, and leaders listen to staff feedback and make adjustments where needed. This helps to maintain a positive and supportive working environment.