Tip Top Day Nursery Moxley

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders work hard, alongside staff, to ensure that all children receive their full entitlement to early education funded hours. They speak to parents about the importance of children attending regularly to promote good habits for the future. Leaders recognise that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from learning alongside their peers as they gain skills to equip them for their future learning. They are flexible in their approach, which helps support parents who sometimes struggle to bring their children to nursery.

Effective observations and assessments by staff mean that gaps in learning or barriers to learning are identified. Staff receive training to provide support for children with SEND, and they work closely with parents and ensure that early intervention is swiftly obtained. Leaders and staff support parents of children who may have complex medical needs. They supply comprehensive information and photos to support parents as they attend appointments with consultants to help with diagnosis. This holistic approach ensures that children receive the care they need.

Leaders use early years pupil premium funding well to benefit children who may be behind in their communication and language skills. They purchase resources, using children's interests, that specifically target language skills. Staff provide additional support to children in smaller groups or as individuals. This helps to promote effective communication skills. However, leaders do not always fully review and adjust the specific targets for children with SEND. This means that some children's more particular needs across the prime areas of learning are not addressed as well as they could be.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have implemented a renewed curriculum, designed to continually build on and enhance children's knowledge and skills to equip them to be confident, independent learners and be ready for school. Staff are involved in the planning and delivery of this curriculum. As they understand it well, the curriculum is embedded into practice.

Leaders carry out effective self-evaluation and have a deep understanding of the community they serve. This helps them to identify areas of the curriculum that need most focus. For example, they are focusing on developing children's physical skills to meet the needs of the current cohort of children. Mathematics is taught throughout all rooms as children learn to count and recognise shapes and colours.

Communication and language skills are at the forefront of the curriculum and underpin the teaching from staff and their quality interactions with children. All children benefit from lots of dialogue and staff repeating words back to them so that they hear the correct pronunciation. Staff sing songs to children. For example, when babies have finished their snack, staff clean their faces while singing 'let's wash, wash, wash your face'. This makes babies giggle and smile, and they try to copy staff as they babble. Staff use open-ended questions as they engage children in imaginary play. This means children have lots of opportunities to practise their conversational skills. However, in-depth targets for communication for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities so that they are very well prepared for their next stage of development have not been fully considered.

Achievement: Expected standard

Overall, children make progress in their learning. They are gaining the skills needed to move on to the next stage of their learning as they transition through the rooms or make their eventual move to school. Staff use communication tools to assess children's ability. Children who may need extra support are observed and assessed by staff, and targeted support plans are implemented. This means children make suitable progress in their communication skills.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported by staff to learn and achieve some skills to provide a secure foundation for their learning. They make progress from their starting points, such as being able to sit with their peers while eating. However, while individual targets are in place for children with SEND, these do not always tightly focus on the in-depth knowledge and skills required so they are fully prepared for their next stage of learning.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Staff have consistently high expectations for children's behaviour. Children develop positive attitudes to learning. They learn to take turns, share and be kind to their friends. Children behave well and play cooperatively together around the sandpit. They talk about their ideas and suggest things they can do together as they add cars to roll over the mounds of sand they have made. Staff praise children for making good choices. For example, when a group of children start to interrupt their friend's play and realise their friends do not like this, they decide to move away without needing to be prompted by staff. Staff praise children for making the right choice. This reinforces the behaviour expectations and shows that expectations for children's behaviour are embedded and have a positive impact on children.

Leaders work with parents to highlight the importance of regular attendance and how this helps their children establish positive routines in readiness for school. Routines in the nursery support children's understanding of what is expected of them. Children independently get their own coat and put this on before they go outdoors to play. There is a respectful relationship between staff and children. Staff talk calmly to children, who listen attentively. In turn, children are polite when asking questions, and they listen to their friends as they speak.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Children benefit from freshly prepared hot meals and snacks. Their dietary needs are catered for. Leaders have recently reviewed and updated their menu in line with recent guidance for healthier choices. Children enjoy snacks, such as apple and cucumber with a fresh natural yoghurt mint dip. Staff talk about the fruit being crunchy and juicy, and gentle encouragement is given to children who are reluctant to try. An effective key-person system supports children's emotional wellbeing. Staff support children to feel like they belong. They play games with babies, such as peekaboo, which helps form strong bonds. Recent changes within all the rooms and their environments mean children see more of all the staff, and they become familiar faces. This has a positive impact on children's transitions between rooms.

Staff support children in developing their physical skills as they play outdoors. Older children enjoy making scarecrows for their vegetable garden. Younger children practise using their small-muscle skills as they scoop compost using spoons and fill containers. The setting has policies and practices in place that support children's welfare and wellbeing, but these are not always rigorously followed. For example, leaders have not ensured that documentation is completed as fully as it could be to record any action taken to keep children safe.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The setting has undergone a change in management since registration, and parents and staff report the positive effect this has had for them and the children. The provider supports leaders and staff in the changes they make to the curriculum and the organisation of the childcare and routines, which has a positive impact on children's achievement and behaviours. Leaders recognise that children need more support with their communication and language skills. Some children benefit from working with staff in a quiet space to develop their communication and language skills. This space has been carefully designed by leaders to minimise distraction and promote children's concentration. Staff work individually with children or as a small group to complete activities to build on and enhance children's learning. The space is also used for children who need additional support and is where one-to-one support can be offered.

Staff feel supported and are encouraged to undertake professional development. Regular supervision meetings and access to training support staff to fulfil their roles and responsibilities effectively.

Partnership with parents is effective. Parents say their children are happy and that they receive in-depth and detailed information about their child's learning. Staff talk to parents about how they can continue to support children's learning at home. Regular meetings are held with parents whose children need additional support to ensure that care plans are up to date and for external agencies to be involved, where necessary. Appropriate procedures are followed to ensure children's welfare, but leaders do not always ensure that the documentation is as robust as it could be.