The Village Nursery

Inclusion: Needs attention

Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to take part in activities. For example, children are provided with one-to-one support and extra resources, such as weighted blankets and sensory baskets, to support their individual needs. However, this support is not consistent across all age groups. As a result, not all children always receive support through appropriate adult interactions to help them progress.

Staff support children with allergies to minimise the risk of cross-contamination. However, some arrangements, such as seating children separately from their peers, may limit their sense of inclusion.

Children who speak English as an additional language are supported through tailored communication strategies. For example, staff provide multilingual books and invite parents and carers at the setting to share their cultures and backgrounds. This helps children to feel valued and included. Although there are no children on roll in receipt of additional funding, leaders have a clear understanding of how they would use additional funding. For example, they explain that they would provide children with extra resources and would ensure access to experiences they might not get otherwise.

Curriculum and teaching: Needs attention

In the main, staff observe children, assess their ongoing development and identify their next steps in learning. Leaders have a vision for high-quality interactions to promote children's development across the areas of learning. However, teaching is not consistent across the setting, and the implementation of the curriculum is too variable to ensure children fully benefit. For example, a focus of the curriculum is for the children to be independent. However, staff complete tasks for children that they are able to do for themselves. For example, they hold cups for younger children when they need a drink and often tidy-up resources, rather than encouraging children to help.

Some children have access to activities that extend their learning. For example, pre-schoolers carefully use scissors to cut paper and ribbons for their creations. They concentrate and take their time to neatly place their decorations on cardboard rolls while staff describe what they are doing. However, these activities are not consistent enough across all age groups and available throughout the day. As a result, not all children have access to purposeful play and learning experiences across the day and the setting.

Staff promote children's communication skills. They provide opportunities for children to read books, sing songs and engage in some conversations. Younger children are encouraged to observe 'shelly' fish and the shark's 'sharp and shiny' teeth while reading stories. Older children learn new words as they test their hand-eye coordination playing with 'spanners and wing latches'.

Achievement: Needs attention

Although children enjoy attending the setting, their achievement is inconsistent across the groups. This is due to variations in how staff support and extend children's learning. Children are offered opportunities to explore and investigate. However, the organisation of resources and environment does not always support children's engagement. In addition, these experiences can lack consistency as there are times when staff are busy with routines and do not effectively build on children's learning. As a result, children do not always make secure progress from their starting points. For example, younger children enjoy story time. However, their attention and listening skills are hindered because staff walk through the group while the story is being read. This disrupts their concentration and makes it difficult for them to remain engaged.

Older children make better progress as they are offered a wider range of motivating activities. They use positional and mathematical language as they build structures with magnets. They play cooperatively at the kitchen corner and engage in imaginative play. Pre-schoolers communicate well between themselves and adults. They are confident to tell visitors about their future schools. For example, they excitedly explain where their new school is and that they will be wearing a 'purple t-shirt' there.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Needs attention

Children are not fully supported to follow expectations for their behaviour and develop positive attitudes to learning. However, they are more motivated and engaged when staff provide interesting learning experiences that meet their stage of development, although this is not consistent across the setting. Older children show a positive attitude to learning and independently choose what they want to play with. They cooperate with their peers and show concentration while exploring busy boards. Staff support them to understand how their actions impact others. However, staff working with younger children do not always respond effectively to children's care and learning needs. For example, they do not consistently provide purposeful learning experiences. This reduces the quality of interactions children receive and impacts their engagement and attention. In addition, they do not set clear enough behavioural expectations. As a result, younger children do not always show that they understand and respect boundaries in different situations. For example, at times, some children run indoors and throw resources.

The organisation of some routines and the learning environment is not always effective. For example, younger children are interrupted during play and activities to receive care . This limits their concentration and disrupts their learning. In addition, at times, there are too many resources available at once or activities are not carefully set up to sustain children's engagement. As a result, some children lose focus and then do not engage in meaningful learning. Attendance is monitored and children attend regularly.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Needs attention

Weaknesses in recruitment procedures mean that not all individuals working with children have undergone the required suitability checks. Although leaders have put some controls in place, such as ensuring these staff are never left alone with the children, this does not eliminate the risk.

Information about allergies and dietary requirements is gathered from parents before children start attending, reviewed regularly and understood by all staff. Younger children with allergies sit separately from the rest of the group during mealtimes. While this is done to support their safety, the arrangement can make them feel singled out and different to other children. Children enjoy healthy meals that encourage them to explore a variety of food. They are supervised to help reduce risks such as choking. However, staff do not always challenge younger children when they grab food from their peers' bowls. This does not support children to develop safe eating habits and good manners.

Children enjoy fresh air and develop their motor skills. They have opportunities to be physically active, including during sport sessions, which support their health and wellbeing. Older children run and negotiate space skilfully during football lessons in a nearby park. Younger children strengthen their small muscles while using pegs to hang laundry in the home corner. Children form positive relationships with familiar adults and seek support when needed. If children become upset, staff comfort them with cuddles and reassurance. This supports children's emotional wellbeing.

Leadership and governance: Urgent improvement

Leaders do not consistently follow safer recruitment procedures. For example, they allow staff who are personally known to them to begin work before references are obtained. This is a breach of the statutory requirements of the early years foundation stage because leaders have not fully checked that all adults are suitable to work with children. This places children at potential risk of harm and demonstrates that leaders' oversight of safer recruitment and ongoing suitability is not robust enough.

Leaders know what they want to achieve at the setting. However, their plans have not yet had sufficient impact to secure improvements in practice. For example, although staff receive some day-to-day directions from leaders, there is not a secure system in place to closely monitor all staff practice to quickly identify gaps in teaching and drive improvement. Furthermore, professional development is largely limited to mandatory training. This limits staff's ability to improve their practice.

Despite these weaknesses, leaders show commitment to improvement. In addition, they maintain positive partnerships with parents and carers. Parents report that their children are happy to attend the setting. They praise the 'energetic' staff and are pleased with the service and the level of communication they receive.