Wales Woodland Nursery

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders prioritise the needs of children who are in any way vulnerable and need additional support. Staff closely monitor and accurately assess children's skills, knowledge and understanding from the start and throughout their time in the nursery. This helps staff to promptly identify any children who may need further help, such as children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work closely with parents and carers to understand children's immediate and longer-term needs, such as medical or communication concerns, and to identify the support and guidance needed. Leaders support staff well to monitor children's progress and identify the next steps for their learning. These are regularly reviewed and adjusted to secure and build on their achievement.

Staff act in consultation with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists and the local authority inclusion team, to secure the best advice to support children's specific needs. They make generally effective use of additional funding. For example, to develop staff's skills in supporting children with communication difficulties. As a result, these children typically acquire the skills and knowledge they need to support their future progress.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

The experienced leadership team has established a curriculum framework to support children's overall progress through the nursery. They have worked with staff to create clear goals for children to achieve as they progress through the nursery and to build a breadth of skills, knowledge and understanding that aim to support children's future learning. Staff are enthusiastic and committed to the caring and positive ethos the nursery promotes. They make effective use of observations and assessments to understand what children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, need to learn next. However, the planning does not always ensure staff consistently reinforce and embed children's recent and new learning. For example, staff introduce older children to words and phrases to describe the weather and seasons. They do not take opportunities to reinforce this learning through children's further activities, including their plentiful time in the woodland outdoor grounds.

Staff are skilled at asking children questions and engaging them in conversations that further promote communication and language skills. They often ask questions that encourage children to think and explain their reasoning. However, they do not consistently follow up on the answers that children give to deepen and enrich their learning further.

Leaders place a positive emphasis on supporting all children's independence and confidence, particularly those who are vulnerable, such as those who are known or previously known to social care. Staff develop clear routines that help children understand what happens during the day to build their confidence in creating positive relationships and working and playing together.

Achievement: Expected standard

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make progress throughout their time in the nursery from their individual starting points. They generally acquire the skills and understanding they need for their future learning. For example, children who need additional support for their physical needs are carefully encouraged and guided to develop their movement skills and sense of balance through a range of activities.

Children develop a love of books. They respond well to staff's skilful reading of a wide range of stories. Children enjoy choosing and sharing favourite stories together. They learn to listen with increasing understanding, to follow the plot and to understand the emotions and thoughts of the characters.

Children develop their mathematical skills progressively. They enjoy counting the bubbles they blow, for instance, and discussing whether they go 'up', 'down', 'near' or 'far away'. Children learn to develop their creative skills as they make large chalk pictures on the ground or create interesting designs as they mix powder paints to produce new colours.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders and staff have very high expectations for children's positive behaviour and attitudes throughout the nursery. Staff are consistently strong role models and establish warm relationships with all children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. They build positive routines from the start so that children soon learn to feel confident and assured. Staff work closely with parents and carers to reflect home routines, such as sleep times. Children confidently settle into nursery life. As a result, all children are very well behaved and show care for others. For example, they are patient and polite at snack and mealtimes and follow staff's very positive example.

Staff make effective use of carefully considered routines to develop children's sense of belonging. For instance, welcome songs at the start of the day encourage children to greet each other warmly and to recognise each other's names. Children are proud to share their ideas with adults and other children. For example, they keenly explain that they are gathering lavender and other wild flower seeds to create special food for the bees to enjoy.

Children's attendance and punctuality is positively encouraged. There are well-established routines for staff and parents to communicate if there are any unexplained absences.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff focus on promoting children's welfare and wellbeing needs overall. This starts with the children's key workers establishing positive relationships with parents and carers to understand all children's personal needs. As a result, children settle effectively into the daily routines and care of the staff. Staff ensure that children who have additional concerns, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive timely support to engage in nursery life.

Leaders and staff work together to ensure children are safe indoors and out. They are vigilant when children travel and play indoors and out. They involve the children in considering their own safety and encourage them to follow instructions and recognise each other's needs.

Staff follow nationally agreed safe-sleeping procedures to ensure young children get the rest they need in a caring and secure environment. Staff generally support children's personal hygiene and toilet training, ensuring children have the privacy and protection they need during nappy changes. Children are supported and encouraged to recognise their own personal and emotional needs. For example, they learn to independently wash their hands thoroughly after activities and before eating. Staff work with parents to ensure that children's packed lunches are healthy. Children learn about the benefits of eating healthily as they plant, nurture and harvest vegetables and flowers.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

The experienced leadership team has established a positive, warm and caring ethos throughout the nursery. Staff feel valued and respected. Leaders provide a generally clear oversight of the nursery's strengths through regular self-evaluation procedures that include regular parental questionnaires, staff supervision and links with the local authority. However, leaders do not make full use of a broad range of external research and guidance to provide the sharpest direction for further development, to achieve the highest quality of provision.

Staff are well qualified for their roles overall, and there are positive procedures for recruitment and induction into the nursery. Leaders ensure all staff have training in paediatric first aid and safeguarding. However, further opportunities for staff training are not fully based on analysis of the curriculum and learning the nursery provides.

Leaders take positive steps to help children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities or have other possible barriers to their learning. Leaders work very well with parents and carers to share ideas on what will help children to continue to develop their skills outside of the setting at home. Parents are very positively committed to the nursery's ethos and warmly appreciate the relationship and communication with staff.