Woodberry Day Nursery and Pre-School- Waterlooville

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers when children first start at the setting. They spend time getting to know children and their families from the outset. Staff gather detailed information about children, such as the languages spoken at home, cultural celebrations and any identified special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff use this information effectively to help children settle quickly and feel secure within the setting.

Leaders and staff work in partnership with families and other professionals to meet children's needs, including children with SEND and those who face other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. They make prompt assessments, timely referrals and put in place personalised plans to support children's individual needs and development. Staff use strategies learned from other professionals to help children make progress. They typically adapt their interactions to children's needs using appropriate communication strategies, such as simple language, repetition, gestures and one-to-one support. Staff provide focused activities to help those children who need further support with their communication and listening and attention skills. This helps to reduce barriers to children's learning and wellbeing and supports them to make progress.

Leaders and staff use additional funding effectively. For example, they purchase new resources to support children's developmental and care needs and provide small-group and one-to-one sessions as appropriate.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to learning, take part in a broad range of activities that reflect all areas of learning. For example, older children play happily with their friends as they become engrossed in playing with mud and talk about how they are caring for the 'dinosaurs'. Babies and children thoroughly enjoy sensory experiences, such as exploring dough, shaving foam and sand. They interact with their friends as they explore these textures.

Staff support children's developing language skills well. They offer encouragement and engage in interesting back-and-forth conversations, giving children appropriate time to process and respond to questions asked. Staff use mealtimes to provide older children with opportunities to develop their social skills as they excitedly talk and discuss with their friends and staff. Babies and children enjoy singing familiar songs and listening to familiar stories, using puppets to act out the story.

Leaders have worked on establishing a clear curriculum, which staff know and understand. All staff interact warmly and positively with children and, overall, know what each child needs to learn next, including children with SEND and those who face other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. However, they do not consistently fully identify the purpose of activities and what they want children to gain from them. Therefore, although all children progress well, their learning is not consistently coordinated as precisely as possible.

Achievement: Expected standard

Overall, children progress well and are appropriately prepared for their eventual move on to school. They are motivated to learn and confidently explore the range of resources and experiences available to them. For example, children of all ages enjoy playing with baby dolls, pretending to feed and comfort them and washing them in water. Children build secure relationships with staff, which helps them to feel safe, settled and ready to learn. They enjoy spending time outdoors in the fresh air. Here, they develop their physical skills, such as jumping, running and balancing.

Babies and children develop communication, language and social skills through conversations, stories, play and interactions with adults and peers. Babies and children develop mathematical language and understanding. For example, babies enjoy counting and problem-solving as they complete puzzles with staff's support. Furthermore, older children learn about numbers and quantity as they problem-solve with their friends. They work together to consider how many more blocks they need to match the picture.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Expected standard

Children form close relationships with staff. They approach them for comfort and support as needed. Children generally play well together. They receive support to wait patiently and take turns during routines. For example, during mealtimes, children wait for their turn to self-serve their lunch. This helps them to develop patience and consideration for others. Children generally apply what they learn during everyday routines.

Overall, children's behaviour is positive. Older children use their manners, as they say 'please' and 'thank you' when taking part in activities with their friends. Most of the time, children receive encouragement to be kind to each other. For example, when babies use the steps and slide, staff support them to take turns. However, staff do not consistently support all children to understand how to share and take turns. This means at times, children do not always receive support to demonstrate kindness and consideration for others. This does not support children to consistently demonstrate positive attitudes to learning.

Leaders promote the importance of attendance. They monitor children's attendance and know which children are expected each day. Leaders promptly follow up on any unexplained absences with parents and carers. This helps to promote children's safety and wellbeing.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders have significantly improved mealtime procedures throughout the setting since the previous visit. Leaders and staff have a clear understanding of their responsibilities when preparing food and checking that it meets each child's individual needs, including dietary needs and when preparing food for babies.

Leaders and staff provide a warm and welcoming learning environment where children are safe and feel valued. Children have personalised settling-in sessions when they start and when they are due to move to other rooms. This supports children to settle quickly and build nurturing relationships with staff. Staff work in partnership with parents and carers to meet children's individual needs and follow their routines. They have a secure understanding and follow safe-sleep practices. For example, staff check the temperature of the rooms and ensure babies and children are checked regularly when sleeping.

Children recall what they have learned about their own health and wellbeing. For example, they confidently wash their hands before mealtimes and know the procedures for self-serving their lunch. Furthermore, they know to put appropriate clothing on when they go in the garden, such as sun hats or coats. However, at times, staff do not consistently promote self-care practices throughout the setting, which does not support babies to learn about personal hygiene. For example, children are regularly reminded and supported in an appropriate way to use a tissue to wipe their nose independently, while babies do not always receive the same level of support. This means, at times, staff do not promote opportunities to enhance babies' understanding of self-care routines, especially for older babies.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

There have been recent developments to the leadership team since the previous visit, which are bringing about positive changes to all aspects of the setting. Leaders and staff have recently completed additional safeguarding training. Those staff with designated safeguarding responsibilities have improved their knowledge and understanding of whistleblowing procedures. Leaders have developed the support for staff wellbeing and workloads to ensure a positive work-life balance, which staff value greatly. Leaders are identifying staff training needs to further support practice in the setting. For example, they are providing all staff with Makaton training to further support children's communication and language development.

Leaders have improved the procedures for the induction and supervision of staff. They are providing consistent support through coaching and mentoring. For instance, they carry out peer-on-peer observations and provide staff with constructive feedback to improve practice. Leaders have identified staff's strengths and areas of development. For example, they have recognised the need to improve the implementation of the curriculum and the quality of teaching across the staff team. However, these actions have not yet been fully embedded to have a positive impact on staff's understanding of what it is they want children to learn from planned activities.

Leaders know families well and tailor support to meet a range of needs, recognising different family structures and circumstances. They work effectively with other agencies and use funding appropriately to ensure that children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to learning and/or wellbeing, receive the support they need as quickly as possible.