Castle Kindergarten

Inspection of Castle Kindergarten Haswell Children's Centre, Church Street, Haswell, Co. Durham DH6 2DZ

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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 Not applicable

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The provision is good

Staff provide a nurturing and supportive environment where children thrive in the care of the dedicated staff team. Staff prioritise building secure, trusting relationships with children. Their enthusiasm for learning is contagious, and children delight in the positive interactions with staff and friends, such as when painting in the garden.

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The provision is good

Staff in the nursery provide a broad and ambitious curriculum for children. They make good use of a range of key texts to support children's development across all areas of learning. For instance, children are supported to explore their knowledge of story characters and engage in high-quality discussions while painting vegetables to create representations of the characters. Staff carefully plan the indoor and outdoor learning environments to meet the needs and interests of children. Children are supported to become curious and independent learners.

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The provision is good

Behaviour in the nursery is very good. The well-embedded transitions and routines ensure that there is a calm and purposeful atmosphere. Staff are organised and well prepared for all elements of the nursery day. All children are well engaged and are making good progress during their time there. This prepares them well for the transition to school.

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need to do better?

n Leaders have worked hard since the recent registration of this nursery to ensure that they provide children with a high-quality, safe learning environment. Senior leaders are actively involved in the day-to-day running of the nursery, including role modelling good practice and coaching staff within the nursery rooms. This has a very positive impact on the success of the nursery. n Leaders place high value on the relationship between the nursery and parents and carers. They take careful note of all feedback and utilise this information to design staff training to ensure that, where needed, improvements are made. This includes raising the quality of daily handovers. Parents say they are very happy with the nursery and state that their children are making very good progress there. They particularly praise the friendliness of all members of staff and have found it to be a very supportive nursery. n Staff consider how to encourage all children to develop good personal care

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need to do better?

habits, such as handwashing before mealtimes, and this good practice starts in the baby room. The positive relationships with parents are utilised to provide ongoing support that is consistent between home and the nursery, for instance with toilet training. n The well-established routines in the nursery ensure that transitions between different periods of the day are smooth and positive for all children. For instance,

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need to do better?

13 August 2025 young babies are given their lunchtime solid meal while their bottle of milk cools. This means there is no delay in giving babies their milk, which takes place while they are snuggled in a cosy rocking chair. They are then settled down for their afternoon sleep. These well-planned routines ensure that babies are extremely settled and happy in the nursery. The calm, well-organised environment also contributes to children's positive behaviours and attitudes towards learning throughout the nursery. n There is a chatty environment in the nursery. Staff enthusiastically talk to children as they play and take part in activities. They model vocabulary, read high-quality texts and sing songs, which all contribute to children's developing understanding of language. However, at times, adults' talking is overly used, and not enough time is provided for children to listen, think and respond when staff

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need to do better?

talk to them. This reduces opportunities for children to use and practise their own speaking skills. n Staff engage well with all children and are always on hand to support and interact during play. However, the quality of these interactions is not always well aligned to the curriculum aims for the age-phase room children are in. While staff understand the broad intentions of the curriculum, their knowledge is not consistently deep enough to match support precisely to children's developmental needs. This reduces how effectively some child-led activities promote children's next steps in learning.

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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 further develop strategies to support children's language and communication so that they have more time to process their thoughts and responses when adults interact with them n support staff to gain a deeper understanding of the intended curriculum so that they consistently provide the right level of support for differently aged children with even greater precision.

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Setting details

Unique reference number 2803670 Local authority Durham Inspection number 10412283 Type of provision Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Registers

Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Day care type Full day care

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inspection

Total number of places 59 Number of children on roll 64 Name of registered person Castle Kindergarten Limited

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reference number

Telephone number 0191 3671231 Date of previous inspection Not applicable

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Information about this early years setting

Castle Kindergarten Limited registered in 2024 and is located in County Durham. The nursery is open five days a week, from 7.30am to 6pm, all year round, other than bank holidays and a week at Christmas. The nursery employs 15 members of childcare staff, with 13 holding a qualification at level 2 or above, including staff who hold level 6 and 7 qualifications. The nursery provides government-funded places for childcare and specific funding for disadvantaged children.

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Inspection activities

n The manager and the inspector completed a learning walk together of all areas of the nursery and discussed the early years curriculum. n The 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 senior leadership team about the leadership and management of the nursery. n Leaders spoke to the inspector about how they support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. n The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this is having on the children's learning. n The inspector carried out a joint observation of a group activity with the manager. n The inspector spoke to several parents during the inspection and viewed written parental feedback. n The inspector looked at relevant documentation and reviewed evidence of the

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Inspection activities

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

13 August 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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