Toad Hall Nursery School

Inclusion: Strong standard

Staff create a fully inclusive environment. They work closely with children and their families and ensure they use funding purposefully to support children's individual needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are swiftly identified and plans are quickly created with targets that are specific, measurable and rigorously reviewed. Regular, timely meetings with professionals and parents to discuss next steps for individual children demonstrate a passion by the leaders to ensure all children achieve the best possible outcomes.

Children make significant amounts of progress from their starting points because of the partnership working with families, external professionals and robust procedures in place for assessing the impact of any planned interventions. Staff ensure that children who speak English as an additional language are well supported and have opportunities to read and talk in their home language as well as in English.

Staff engage in specific, purposeful ongoing training to ensure they are fully up to date with the best practices and strategies when supporting children with specific needs. The new knowledge gained is then personalised and feeds directly into their day-to-day practice. As a result, children gain the confidence they need to move on to their next stages in learning, including starting school.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

Planning at the setting is thorough and based around children's interests and their learning and development needs. Staff ensure their curriculum is exciting and deeply embedded in real-life experiences. The rigorous monitoring in place helps staff to plan effectively to ensure all children are meeting their next steps in learning. Parents are kept up to date, and the setting provides ideas of how activities can be built on and extended at home. The experienced staff team meets regularly to review and enhance the curriculum offering, to ensure the highest possible learning outcomes for children.

The areas of learning within the early years foundation stage curriculum are woven through the activities on offer. For example, during a play dough making activity, staff model language and engage in high-quality interactions with children, recapping and reviewing the different steps needed. They support children's small-muscle development as they stir and mix the different ingredients together. They support children to learn the mathematical concepts of size and capacity as they use different-sized spoons. Staff support children's emotional development by offering them high praise and encouragement. Children enjoy problem-solving as they investigate how best to enhance the overall colour of their play dough by mixing varying amounts of food colouring with water. Children demonstrate high levels of engagement as they approach all the activities on offer for them and show great pride in their achievements.

Staff ensure that children fully understand that they can all access all that is on offer and make small adjustments to meet the needs of individual children. They prioritise children's personal and social and emotional development, and children do really have a sense of belonging and are proud to share their successes with others.

Achievement: Strong standard

All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make significant progress during their time at the setting. They demonstrate increasing control when they make marks and copy the letters in their name as they write letters to their family and friends in the role-play post office. They demonstrate their understanding of number recognition as they enjoy weighing parcels and throwing balls at numbers on a target board. They show excitement for their successes in balancing and throwing and catching different-sized balls in the garden.

Children speak confidently about what they are learning, and staff's expert questioning and modelling of sophisticated vocabulary support their development in the area of communication and language. Children enjoy sharing books with their friends in the reading corner, demonstrating a love for stories and books.

Children freely navigate the space and show increasing confidence in climbing stairs. All children demonstrate they understand the importance of hygiene practices and show increasing competence when using the toilet and washing and drying their hands.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Children respond well to staff's instructions for sitting at group times, turn-taking and tidying up when they have finished playing. Children show they fully understand staff's expectations for their behaviour, for example of the importance of respecting each other's work and creations and listening and waiting for their turn to share their ideas. There are clear, strong bonds between children and staff at the setting. Children regularly check in with their trusted adults for comfort, cuddles and to share their work.

The nursery is harmonious, and children are supported well to play happily alongside their friends, doing puzzles together, learning from each other, sharing stories and role playing. Staff regularly congratulate children and thank them for their manners and acts of kindness. Children enjoy singing the 'wiggle song', which reminds them to use their 'kind hands' with their friends. Children show a positive attitude towards their learning and enjoy looking at their 'celebration of work scrapbooks' with adults.

Children are given regular opportunities to talk about how they are feeling during circle time and while sharing books. There are clear strategies in place to support children to regulate their emotions during one-to-one sessions with staff and through role-play activities. Children respond incredibly well to the rewards on offer to celebrate their achievements. Staff monitor children's attendance and punctuality to ensure they receive continuity in their care and learning.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Staff know the children well and prioritise their welfare and wellbeing. All children are valued and understand they are unique and special. All staff are special to all children. This is reflected in the clear sense of security children show.

Staff work closely with children and their families to ensure they understand the importance of a healthy diet as part of a healthy lifestyle. The setting asks for fruits and vegetables to be brought in to be shared and sends out healthy eating guides to support healthy eating at home. Staff support children well as they begin their journey in exploring the different textures and tastes of new foods. Staff talk to children about the importance of exercise in addition to healthy eating, to support them in developing healthy habits. Children enjoy dancing, jumping and navigating space with confidence.

Children feel emotionally secure and use comforters when they need to, and there are regular group-time sessions to explore and discuss feelings. Parents are welcomed in to resettle children after a period of absence. Regular yoga sessions teach children the importance of stretching and provide them with breathing activities to further support them to develop a secure sense of emotional wellbeing.

The outdoor garden area and regular trips out provide children with opportunities they need to develop physically. Staff regularly remind children of how to keep themselves safe while out, including 'stranger danger'. Visitors who attend the nursery are introduced as 'friends' to ensure children know and understand they are always safe at the setting.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders are incredibly reflective and consistently evaluate their provision and practice. The experienced team of staff support and learn from each other, and daily mentoring is fully embedded to support staff who are less experienced. The rigorous assessment of children's learning and developmental stages and pure passion shown by staff ensure that children become strong, independent learners who are ready for their next stage, including starting school.

Strategic planning to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities is incredibly effective, and staff speak passionately about the huge differences this has made to the outcomes for these children. There is a consistent approach to partnership working to ensure there is always shared, joined-up thinking.

The setting uses external professionals to support and plan interventions for children, and purposeful professional development takes place with specific children's individual needs in mind. The nursery recognises there is always more to learn and is always striving for continuous improvement.

Staff and parents are happy to be part of this family-friendly environment. Staff are supported in gaining recognised early years qualifications. Parents are particularly happy with the abundance of ideas they receive to help at home, to enable them to build on the learning that has taken place at nursery.