Priory Explorers

Inspection of Priory Explorers Priory Family Centre, Wednesbury WS10 0JG

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Overall effectiveness at previous inspection Good

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The provision is good

Children are happy and loved at this nurturing setting. They receive warmth and reassurance from the caring staff. This helps them to settle well and build strong bonds with their key person and other members of the team. Children learn to play cooperatively with their friends while staff spend time teaching them how to share and take turns. Older children take part in imaginative role play together. They create their own ice-cream shop, offering a variety of flavours in a cone or a pot. Children creatively seek out objects to use as props. They confidently use number language to share the cost of the ice creams and work together to seek new customers.

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The provision is good

Babies begin to develop strength in their hands and fingers as the creative team helps them to roll dough. Staff sing with children as they roll it out together and explore the feel of the dough between their fingers. They introduce children to other resources that they can use to make butterflies. Children explore the texture of the wings with interest. Outside, children practise climbing up steps and travel down the slide. They smile with pride as staff clap and praise them. Older children climb and travel over grassy mounds and through tunnels, exploring different ways of moving outdoors.

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need to do better?

n Children engage in a curriculum that is uniquely developed to support their individual needs. Children and families are invited to attend settling-in sessions where they share information about their backgrounds and early experiences. Staff and managers build on this to provide children with opportunities to learn and grow. For instance, they build on children's learning about butterflies by teaching them about their life cycle, with real caterpillars to observe and explore. n Staff use observation and assessment to identify children's individual next steps. This helps them to plan unique opportunities that spark children's interests. Children take part in sensory activities where they explore coloured rice. They sprinkle it between their fingers and fill and empty containers. Children demonstrate interest in the marks they can make in the rice. The attentive staff support them to use clockwise movements to draw circles.

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need to do better?

n All children make good progress from their starting points. Staff and managers take swift action when they recognise that children require additional support. They work with families to request advice from outside agencies. Staff work collaboratively with these agencies to enhance the delivery of education for children with identified needs. Children who attend additional settings receive smooth transitions to this nursery. Staff and managers work with other settings to moderate their assessments of children. This means that children have consistency through this important stage of early education.

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need to do better?

8 April 2025 n Children are confident communicators. They develop their speech and vocabulary through repetition of stories and rhymes. Staff and managers recognise the importance of literature in engaging children in repeated words and phrases. Children listen attentively to stories. The creative team prepares exciting activities that enhance children's knowledge and language skills. Children talk about the foods that they recognise from the story, and staff use careful questioning to find out what children remember. n Children's individual care needs are prioritised throughout the setting. At mealtimes, children receive food that meets their unique dietary needs. They practise feeding themselves, and staff sit with them to maintain safety as they eat. Staff understand the importance of safe sleep routines. They prepare children's individual sleep areas with their own sheets and comforters, and check

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need to do better?

on children regularly to ensure that they remain safe. n Parents speak highly of the setting and the team. They say that their children are happy to attend and settle well. Parents are grateful for the regular opportunities to attend the setting for stay-and-play sessions, where they can join their children at play. However, staff do not always share detailed information about children's next steps with parents in a timely manner. This means that parents are not always aware of how they can best support their children at home. n Leaders and managers demonstrate a positive vision for the future of the setting and how they will provide ongoing support for the families and local community. Staff speak positively about the well-being support that they receive and are confident about their roles in the nursery. They receive routine supervision sessions where they discuss professional development opportunities. However,

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need to do better?

staff are not always aware of how they can improve their daily practice and take their teaching to the next level.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

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should:

n continue to build and strengthen communication with parents to keep them fully updated and informed about children's next steps and to help them support their children's learning at home n develop supervision arrangements further to provide targeted support for staff to help them to continue to improve their practice and understand how to take their teaching to the next level.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY545218 Local authority Sandwell Inspection number 10376133 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises Registers Early Years Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 55 Number of children on roll 89 Name of registered person The Family Nursery Company Ltd

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reference number

Telephone number 0121 505 5950 Date of previous inspection 17 May 2019

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Information about this early years setting

Priory Explorers registered in 2017. The nursery employs 18 members of childcare staff. Of these, 14 hold appropriate early years qualifications at level 3 to level 5. The nursery opens from Monday to Friday all year round. Sessions are from 7.30am until 6pm. The nursery provides funded early education for children from nine months.

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Inspection activities

n The inspector viewed the provision and discussed the safety and suitability of the premises. n The manager joined the inspector on a learning walk and talked to the inspector about their curriculum and what they want the children to learn. n Children spoke with the inspector during the inspection. n The inspector talked to staff at appropriate times during the inspection and took account of their views. n The inspector spoke with the nominated individual about the leadership and management of the setting. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning. n The manager and the inspector carried out a joint observation. n Parents shared their views of the setting with the inspector. n The inspector looked at relevant documentation and reviewed evidence of the suitability of staff working in the nursery.

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Inspection activities

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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Inspection activities

8 April 2025 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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Inspection activities

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