The Bloom Childcare Group

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders are committed to provide children with high-quality care and education. They aim to ensure that all children thrive and make consistent progress from their starting points. Leaders have created an inclusive culture to ensure that children's individual needs are swiftly identified and supported. Leaders regularly monitor children's progress and review support in place to ensure that it is responsive to needs and remains effective. That said, while leaders have identified a need to improve the space of the baby-room area, to ensure it does not impact on the older children and opportunities to access all resources, this is not yet effective.

Leaders positively promote a variety of opportunities for parents and carers to regularly share what they know about their child and that important information is shared. Leaders value partnership working and work collaboratively with families to shape children's experiences, and this contributes to ensuring that early interventions are positive. This approach strengthens the quality of provision for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those children known, or previously known, to social care.

Leaders are aware of the importance of how additional funding is being used in a purposeful and targeted way to enable disadvantaged children to access enrichment and support. When needed, leaders and staff work closely and with families and any external professionals to ensure that consistent support is in place. Parents' comments are extremely positive. They speak highly of the leaders and staff team. They are appreciative of the support they receive and for their children's experiences at nursery. Parents' say their children have made very good progress as a result of attending nursery, are keen to attend and have flourished.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders and the staff team typically understand the curriculum. It is designed around the nursery ethos of nurturing strong relationships, supporting independence and social skills, while supporting communication and language. Generally, leaders monitor the quality of teaching and have plans in place to strengthen this process further. The curriculum supports the skills needed to be independent learners and typically provides some challenge for children to ensure positive outcomes. Initial assessments and ongoing observations are completed. Children's key people are aware of children's individual needs. This is successfully achieved through meaningful discussions with parents and carers regarding their child's progress. This means they identify children's next stages in learning effectively to ensure that all children, including those who may have special educational needs and/or disabilities, can participate.

Staff prioritise children's physical, personal and emotional development. Staff understand the importance of children feeling secure and happy to develop a positive attitude to learn. The provision and presentation of activities however, does not always effectively support this. For example, children who choose to read books quietly or want a calm space to relax or regulate how they feel, are interrupted due to the position of this activity. In addition, while staff say role play is a familiar and popular activity, particularly for younger children to act out real-life scenarios, it is not presented or positioned well for them to easily access and play independently.

Leaders and staff encourage children to be confident communicators and support communication and language well. Staff model a wide vocabulary to children through meaningful engagement. For example, children listen to and follow instructions. They interact with spontaneous group stories and listen with intent. Staff introduce new words to extend vocabulary. For example, children report that the easel is 'wobbly', and staff ask them how they can make it 'sturdy'.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children develop a positive attitude to learning and are eager to try new things. They typically focus, engage and are keen to 'have a go' and demonstrate their enjoyment of learning. Children's personal, social and emotional development and communication and language skills are typically developing well. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities who have attended in the past. Children, including babies, show increasing independence. For example, babies are familiar with the routine at mealtimes and they independently find and offer their friends their drinking water bottle. Children are learning the skills required to ensure they are suitably prepared for the transition to the next room or the transition on to school.

All children, regardless of their starting points and including children who may have barriers to learning, typically make progress in their development. However, minor weaknesses in the consistency of teaching and routines impact on children's overall achievement.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children are cared for by nurturing and calm staff. Leaders and staff provide a positive learning environment and this fully supports children's personal, social and emotional development. A very effective key-person system is in place and children have secure attachments with their key person. The expectations for behaviour in the nursery are reinforced throughout the day as staff model behaviour well. Children learn through stories, such as 'The Colour Monster' and discussion with staff to understand their feeling and how to regulate their emotions. Children are supported well to negotiate amongst themselves when they struggle to take turns. They use egg timers and also are supported to learn the vocabulary to express how they feel. As a result, children's behaviour is very positive.

Leaders and staff place a focus on promoting positive attitudes through established routines. They encourage good attendance, which ensures children's welfare and helps children to build secure relationships and fully participate. Staff gather comprehensive information regarding babies' individual routines. These are respected and discussions take place with parents and carers during settling in to ensure that staff are fully aware of their wishes. Babies are cared for with kindness by attentive staff. While children are familiar with the routines in place, on occasions, they impact children's learning. For example, the organisation of snack time means that children have to leave what they are doing, and staff are sometimes busy with other tasks. Therefore, they are not able to focus on supporting the children in meaningful learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff promote children's welfare effectively through nurturing and responsive care. The nursery is small and cosy and has a homely feel. Care practices meet children's individual and emerging needs. An effective key-person system is in place, and all staff speak knowledgeably, not only of their key children, but of all the children attending. Children feel safe, secure and they seek reassurance and cuddles when needed. This provides emotional security. Children typically learn about their own personal safety and the safety of others. For example, they are careful when playing outdoors so that they do not bump into the younger children. Children typically challenge themselves and confidently request they engage in risky play. For example, they show excitement at wanting to climb trees. While attentive staff explain the boundaries and rules in place to keep safe and offer some support, this type of play is not typically encouraged. This means that opportunities for children to problem solve, build resilience and engage in risky play is not consistently promoted.

Children relish their time outdoors in the fresh air. They have opportunities to develop their physical skills. They strengthen muscles through climbing and balancing using planks. They use tweezers to select fruits during snack to strengthen hand muscles. They enjoy a range of healthy snacks. Conversations take place during mealtimes and children learn the importance of a healthy lifestyle. They are encouraged and supported to take care of their personal needs and understand the importance of washing hands. Children explain with confidence that they need to wash away germs. Activities that are planned promote the importance of cleaning teeth. For example, children excitedly engage as they use toothbrushes and foam to clean pretend teeth and learn the importance of oral hygiene.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders have a clear and ambitious vision of what they want children to learn. They have a graduated approach to learning and staff carefully observe children. Leaders ensure that accurate initial assessments effectively inform children's next steps in learning. Leaders are committed when needed, to work effectively with external professionals to meet the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders thoughtfully engage parents and carers in the care and education of their children. They have daily discussion about their child's day and progress during collection. In addition, they routinely communicate learning and share next steps and ideas to continue learning at home, electronically. Leaders understand the importance of smooth transitions to support children moving on to school.

There is a culture of continuous evaluation and leaders highlight areas to develop. These are aimed to enhance children's opportunities and have a positive impact on outcomes for them. Leaders are realistic in identifying priorities, such as building a strong team of staff. Leaders prioritise staff wellbeing through regular supervision meetings and opportunities for professional development. Generally, training is impactful. All staff complete mandatory training, such as first aid and safeguarding. Typically, staff have opportunities to complete some relevant courses and apply new knowledge to their practice. Staff report that they are well supported by leaders, who foster a positive, collaborative working environment. Staff's contribution to the nursery is recognised and celebrated. For example, through recognition of 'employer of the month'. Leaders have not yet fully developed staff practice to a consistently high standard.