Sunshine Day Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders gather information from parents and carers about children, when they first start. This includes information about their needs, interests and prior learning. Staff assess children's ongoing development through observation and use this information to identify gaps, monitor progress and plan appropriate support. For example, leaders adjust staffing levels when children require additional support. This helps to ensure children's needs are met.

Staff generally work well with other professionals, parents and carers. They get to know children and provide effective support through targeted activities for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, they place objects on the floor to encourage children to squat and on tables to promote reaching. These activities help to build children's physical skills. However, sometimes, staff do not make the most of opportunities to promote children's communication skills during their interactions. This means that children, including those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language, have fewer opportunities to hear, practise and develop their language skills.

External professionals recognise staff's contributions to supporting children with SEND. They highly praise those working directly with children, reporting that their support has led to improved outcomes.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have a clear curriculum focus that aims to provide children with plenty of time for independent, exploratory play. This gives children opportunities to practise and develop skills such as thinking and problem-solving. However, sometimes, staff do not make the most of opportunities to promote children's communication and language while they engage in independent play and learning. This includes during routine activities such as mealtimes. This reduces children's opportunities to hear, practise and develop their thinking and language skills.

Staff find out about children's starting points. They plan activities around children's interests and build on what children know and can do. This supports children's learning. As a result, activities generally promote high levels of engagement and participation.

Teaching in the pre-school room is well developed. For instance, during planned group activities, staff use effective questioning, repetition and descriptive language to extend children's learning. They introduce new vocabulary and support early mathematical understanding. In the toddler room, children make choices in their play. For example, they take turns selecting wooden spoons linked to songs they would like to sing. Staff respond to children's interests by repeating favourite songs, helping them to build a range of familiar songs and rhymes. Staff support children's physical development. For instance, they say 'ready, steady, go', as children tip and pour water and squeeze pipettes, strengthening small-muscle skills.

Achievement: Expected standard

Where teaching is most effective, children develop effective communication and language skills and build early mathematical understanding. For example, children count fruit, such as plums, and learn the days of the week. During group activities, they participate actively and make meaningful links to their own experiences, such as talking about the strawberries they have at home. They enjoy familiar stories and predict what might happen next. Children confidently share their knowledge, recognising that a cucumber belongs to the pickle family, for instance. They explore and discuss food, considering whether strawberries are sweet or sour, and begin to understand growth, as they talk about what plants need, such as soil, sun and water.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make secure progress from their starting points. They develop strength and coordination, alongside increasing confidence and independence. Children who previously needed one-to-one support to regulate their behaviour, now manage this more independently. They show improved emotional regulation and take part confidently in daily routines alongside their peers. Children make clear progress from their starting points towards the next stage of their education.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Leaders and staff maintain oversight of children's attendance. They follow up on any absences with parents and carers and record explanations of why children are not present, supporting consistent attendance. Routines help children to know what is expected of them. For example, staff support babies to wash their hands before lunch. Toddlers gather on the play bus after tidying up the garden. They sing a song about a bus before moving indoors. At the end of the session, children collect their shoes and independently put them on, demonstrating confidence in the routine.

Staff build positive relationships with children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. When unfamiliar people are in the setting, staff identify which children need additional support and adapt their practice to ensure these children continue to feel safe. They use targeted strategies to reassure children, such as speaking to them in their home language and offering them comfort items. This promotes children's happiness and helps them to engage in the routine.

Children engage happily with their peers and make progress in their self-regulation skills. For instance, children who previously needed support to manage their behaviour now engage securely in their learning. Children show enthusiasm to participate and listen to others, developing their social skills.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff demonstrate a secure understanding of safeguarding, risk assessment and care procedures. For example, they take effective steps to minimise risks and promote children's safety during routines, such as nappy changing, mealtimes and sleep times. Leaders prioritise children's comfort and wellbeing by monitoring room temperatures, promoting hydration and providing calm indoor activities, for instance, during more extreme weather conditions. This helps to protect children.

Staff encourage children to develop their independence skills, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. For example, children practise taking on and off their own shoes and their all-in-one suits, after they have finished water play. Babies are supported to feed themselves, promoting early self-help skills and confidence. Staff generally provide appropriate support to children where needed.

Staff support children's personal needs. For example, they keep drink bottles topped up and offer children a drink when they cough. Children who attend half-day sessions benefit from a healthy meal as part of their morning or afternoon routine. This helps to ensure that they are well nourished. Staff promote healthy eating through books and activities, such as feeding the 'hungry caterpillar'. They ask questions to extend children's understanding of which foods would help the caterpillar to grow 'strong and healthy'. This helps children develop their knowledge of healthy lifestyles and learn to make positive choices.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders recognise and respond to the diversity of the community, which includes families who speak various languages. They employ staff who speak children's home languages to support communication with parents and carers. Leaders provide parents with information, through an online application, about their children's day and the staff who work directly with them. However, they do not check whether parents have accessed or understood this information and, therefore, cannot be assured that it is reaching all families to effectively promote home learning.

Staff are happy and have positive relationships with leaders. They feel well supported, valuing the guidance they receive throughout the day. Leaders monitor practice through observations and supervision meetings. They generally identify individual professional learning needs and put plans in place to support staff's development. However, leaders do not fully identify opportunities where staff could better promote children's communication and language during their independent play and learning. This means that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, have fewer opportunities to hear, practise and develop their language skills. Leaders share key updates with staff, such as safe-sleep guidance, and routinely ask for staff's feedback about what is working well and what could be improved.