The Nivan Lodge Pre-School Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders promote inclusion and provide calm corners in the nursery where children can regulate their emotions. Leaders promptly identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning. They discuss appropriate actions with parents and advise them on how to support their children at home. Support plans are created with parents and monitored in the nursery. When necessary, leaders seek guidance from external professionals and apply their recommendations to reduce barriers to learning. For example, children receive targeted support to develop their speech and language skills. Staff provide activities that meet the needs of children with SEND. For example, children with physical needs demonstrate perseverance as they develop their balance on a balance beam. Staff recognise the importance of extending children's vocabulary and speak to them clearly. They also support children's communication through visual communication boards and the use of sign language. Leaders demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of SEND and plan to strengthen other staff members' knowledge and skills through additional training. This will help them build their knowledge and skills to support children with SEND. The nursery maintains strong links with the schools that children will attend. Teachers and school staff responsible for SEND visit the nursery to observe children and discuss their individual needs with nursery staff.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have designed an inclusive curriculum that covers all areas of learning. Staff routinely observe every child, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning, as they play and interact with their friends. Staff use these observations to identify each child's next steps, and communicate these to parents. Leaders and staff plan a broad range of engaging activities, with a strong focus on communication and language. Staff support children with SEND or other barriers to learning by using signing and communication boards. Children demonstrate concentration when they listen to favourite stories that they choose independently. They follow the story with interest, predicting the ending and turning the pages. However, staff do not always build effectively on children's existing knowledge and skills. For example, they do not routinely help children to use and apply mathematical language in their everyday activities and environment, such as by identifying the circles in the equipment used for making modelling dough.

Children develop their physical skills by balancing, climbing on a climbing frame, jumping on soft foam mats and exploring the local woods. Leaders teach children to use simple tools, such as rolling pins, safely and effectively. Children use paintbrushes to make marks, although staff provide fewer opportunities for other forms of mark making, such as creating shopping lists for the baker's shop. Staff prepare children effectively for the transition to school. Children learn to manage their personal hygiene, follow instructions and routines, form friendships and regulate their emotions.

Achievement: Expected standard

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning, make steady progress in their communication and language skills. Children listen to staff, who speak clearly, and this supports them in pronouncing words accurately. However, children are not consistently supported in developing mathematical language through their environment. For example, children are not encouraged to identify shapes within the nursery and its resources.

Children collaborate as they share resources to build a tower with a slide. After placing a toy cow at the top, they laugh together and discuss how it might travel down the slide. Children build on previous learning by recalling a stop sign and linking it to the barrier they add to their construction. Children enthusiastically observe how mixing paint creates new colours. This helps children to build on their curiosity as they observe the changes they see.

Children enjoy making marks in thick paint to create patterns. However, they have fewer mark-making opportunities in other areas of the nursery, such as in the role-play area, to support their early writing skills.

Children willingly share resources and take turns. They sustain concentration for extended periods, particularly when activities engage and motivate them. Strong links and regular communication with school colleagues help all children, including those with SEND, make a smooth transition to school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders have created a highly positive, purposeful and harmonious environment. They set high expectations for behaviour, and children respond well to these expectations. Children listen attentively and respectfully to instructions, stories and songs. Staff build warm, trusting relationships with children. Children often seek reassurance and comfort from staff, confident that staff will respond supportively. Staff provide a calm corner where children can sit quietly and regulate their feelings when they need to do so. On the rare occasions when disagreements or inappropriate behaviours occur, staff resolve them sensitively. Children collaborate willingly, share resources and take turns. They work together to build a train and decide where to add another carriage. They create buildings with interlocking blocks, making decisions about which colour bricks to use and where to place them. While shaping modelling dough, children pass rolling pins and other tools to one another, without reminders. Leaders routinely and regularly review accident and attendance records. When a child is absent without explanation, they contact the parents to confirm the child's safety. Leaders also explain how regular attendance helps children gain the greatest benefit from their nursery experience.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders prioritise children's wellbeing and create a warm, welcoming and nurturing environment in which new children settle quickly. Staff understand each child's needs and plan activities that capture children's interests. They build strong relationships that help children feel safe and secure. Staff also support children to regulate their emotions and encourage them to use the calm corner when needed.

Throughout their time at the nursery, children develop the skills to manage their personal hygiene independently. They follow established routines by using the toilet and washing their hands before meals. Children independently dispose of their rubbish and use tissues to wipe their noses. Staff enable all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities or other barriers to learning, to participate fully in activities. For example, they provide a range of scissors so that every child can develop the skills required for cutting.

Children and staff sit together at mealtimes, creating a friendly, social occasion. Children listen to others without interruption, which strengthens their social and communication skills. Parents provide appropriate, nutritious food for their children. However, staff do not consistently discuss why some foods support good health more effectively than others.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders set clear expectations for the setting and demonstrate ambition. They reflect critically on their practice, and have identified that staff do not consistently build on what children know and can do in order to extend their learning. Leaders have begun to address this through targeted training and staff observations, with improvements evident, particularly in children's communication and language skills. Leaders also recognise the need to help children understand why some foods support good health more effectively than others, to develop children's use of mathematical language in relation to their activities and environment, and to provide a wider range of mark-making opportunities. The consistent staff team knows the children and their families well. Many families return to the setting and have established long-standing relationships with staff. Leaders identify these relationships among families, staff and children as a key strength.

Leaders provide effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who face other barriers to learning. They seek, and use, the expertise and advice of external professionals to strengthen the support provided for children with SEND.

Leaders regularly discuss practice and professional development needs with staff. Staff report that leaders support them well and provide them with access to a range of online courses, alongside in-house training. For example, staff have applied their learning from training on how boys learn in order to strengthen support for boys across the setting. Leaders ensure that staff renew mandatory training at appropriate intervals.

Parents express high levels of satisfaction with the nursery and value the regular, informative communication they receive from staff. Parents are kept informed about their child's next steps in learning, and receive advice on how to reinforce learning at home. Parents of children with SEND value the coordinated support provided by nursery staff and external professionals.