Summary
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- Achievement verified
Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and routines verified
Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing verified
Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching verified
Expected standard
- Inclusion verified
Strong standard
- Leadership and governance verified
Expected standard
- Framework verified
Report card
- Group verified
Marsh Farm Day Nursery Limited
- Inspection datesingle source
3 Dec 2025
- Inspectors verified
Lisa Smith
- Postcode verified
CM3 5WP
- Name on report verified
Twizzle Tops Marsh Farm
- Safeguarding verified
Met
- URN verified
2834045
Deep dive
What this report says
In plain English
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Grade profile
Each judgement on its scale, weakest to strongest.
- AchievementExpected
- Behaviour, attitudes and routinesExpected
- Children's welfare and wellbeingExpected
- Curriculum and teachingExpected
- InclusionStrong
- Leadership and governanceExpected
Tone of the report
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In line with other reports of this type.
How the report reads, start to finish
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Strengths
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Concerns
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No strong criticism found.
Next steps
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What the report dwells on
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Anatomy of the report
How the report is built, against others of the same type and grade.
- Pages
- 8
- Words of findings
- 1,599
- about usual (typical 1698)
- Reading level
- Fairly hard
- Flesch 53, typical 43
- Average sentence
- 14 words
- Next steps
- 1
- typical 3
- Hedged sentences
- 0%
- “some”, “not always”, “most”…
Where the words go
Full report text
Twizzle Tops Marsh Farm
Unique reference number (URN): 2834045 Address: Marsh Farm Day Nursery, Marsh Farm Animal Adventure Park, Marsh Farm Road, South Woodham Ferrers, CM3 5WP Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 01/04/2025 Registers: EYR Registered person: Marsh Farm Day Nursery Limited
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Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
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How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
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How we evaluate safeguarding
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.
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Inclusion Strong standard
The setting ensures that all children are welcomed, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). All staff are very knowledgeable of the process for supporting children who have gaps in their learning. They work together to create plans and targets in a timely manner to build on what children already know and can do. This information is shared with parents and carers.
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Inclusion Strong standard
Staff regularly review assessments and set new and additional targets. This means children are always working on closing the gaps in their learning and development. Staff adapt activities to ensure that all children can complete them. The use of additional funding is rigorously monitored by leaders. Children are supported with additional adults and resources, which makes activities accessible for them.
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Inclusion Strong standard
Staff receive regular training on supporting children with SEND, and, where additional training is required, leaders ensure that this takes place. Parents and carers talk of the exceptional progress their children have made while at the setting, including those with SEND and those who have other barriers to their learning. Staff work closely with parents and other professionals. This ensures consistency for children in all areas of their development and lives. Staff communicate with parents about safety when out on the farm, ensuring consistent approaches, such as hand-holding, when walking outside of the setting buildings.
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Achievement Expected standard
All children make secure progress in their learning and development while they are at the setting. They enjoy activities and remain at them for long periods of time. Children benefit from opportunities to build on what they already know and can do. Children's learning is consolidated regularly, repeating activities to ensure that their learning is embedded. For example, children's language skills are widened through the repetition of a selection of rhymes with children from a young age, which become familiar as they move through the setting. From a young age, communication and language development is prioritised by the setting, and this is evident as the children move through the setting. The eldest children have wide and secure language skills as a result.
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Achievement Expected standard
Children who need additional support are supported accordingly, and, as a result, they make secure progress in their learning and development. Children are well prepared for the next stage of their learning through the work the setting does with teachers from feeder schools.
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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
A secure key-person approach is evident across the setting, and children have close relationships with them. Children demonstrate this as they actively seek out staff for comfort. Staff model their expectations for children's behaviour well. They join children at their level and establish a positive environment. Staff can be regularly heard praising children's achievements. They celebrate children's learning and build on their self-esteem. Staff are kind to each other, which children observe. As a result, children are kind to each other. Staff support children to get along with each other. They build from playing alongside each other to playing with each other and building friendships. Older children actively seek their friends out to play with.
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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Staff encourage children to join in games with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They explain why there may be differences, and children enjoy these times. Leaders work with parents and carers to encourage high attendance and support families where this may be more difficult. It is clear from children's behaviour that children's attendance levels are high, and this impacts on children's knowledge of the setting's routines. Staff work hard to establish routines for children, and all rooms repeat the same process, such as mealtimes. This provides familiarity for children.
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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Staff have secure relationships with all children in the setting. The setting prioritises children's personal and emotional development, taking time to get to know children when they first start. Staff talk to children all the time. At snack time, staff talk to children about healthy food choices. This develops children's understanding of healthy lifestyles. Leaders comment that they support parents to provide healthy lunch boxes for their children when they do not access the food from the setting. They provide parents with additional information and signpost them to external professionals who may be able to support with this. The setting has recently changed its food provider to meet changes to the guidelines.
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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Mealtimes are sociable times. Staff sit with children at each table and talk with them. Children enjoy talking about their morning so far. This makes mealtimes more fun and helps them to become learning opportunities. Children have daily access to the farm area and fresh air. Staff use these experiences to build on children's learning of the world around them. They talk to children about their emotions and encourage them to talk freely about how they are feeling. Staff enable children to have quiet time away from others when needed.
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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
A new curriculum is currently being embedded into the setting. This new curriculum supports children's learning and development using children's interests and staff's knowledge and ability to support children's learning. Leaders are regularly reflecting on staff's knowledge and the embedding of this, and understand that they are still in the initial stages of its implementation. Staff use their own skills and teaching to ensure that activities are accessible for all children. Leaders reflect on how children understand staff's expectations of them. Staff use the on-site farm to enhance children's learning.
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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Staff successfully support children's communication and language skills. They read stories to them and enjoy singing rhymes. Leaders reflect on song times. They repeat a small selection to provide children with familiarity. This enables children to join in and build their vocabulary. When investigating dough, children discuss the different shapes they can make, developing their mathematics skills further.
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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Younger children explore the farm, looking for muddy puddles to jump and develop their physical skills. Later, other children stretch and move in different ways while looking at the animals. Staff use an online platform to share information with parents and carers about their children's development. They provide parents with information on how they can support their children at home, which parents positively comment on.
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Leadership and governance Expected standard
Following a notification from the provider, leaders have recently updated procedures for ensuring that children are always within sight and hearing, and staff deployment around the setting is effective. Leaders reflect that there has been significant improvement in staff's understanding of how to deploy themselves. Staff deployment also supports the new curriculum. Leaders recognise the setting's strengths and recognise priorities for improvement. They check practice through regular observations and discussions with staff and use this information to plan training and support. Leaders comment on the setting's journey to embed their new curriculum and the plan for this moving forward. Staff reflect on this and talk positively about the support they receive from leaders to enable them to begin to embed the changes.
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Leadership and governance Expected standard
Staff's wellbeing is a priority for the setting. Staff comment on the training opportunities that leaders make available to them. Apprentices are appreciative of the help they have received from leaders to manage their workload. This ensures that they are able to meet their professional development goals. Leaders recognise the importance of working with parents and carers. Parents comment on the high levels of communication they receive about their children. They praise the friendly and welcoming staff team.
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What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children arrive at the setting ready and excited for their day. Children's attendance is a high priority of leaders. Key persons greet children, who separate from their main carers with ease. When children find this more challenging, staff work with parents and carers to support children and welcome parents into the setting. An effective key-person system is in place. Children build strong relationships with their key person, and staff know the children very well.
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What it's like to be a child at this setting
Leaders have recently introduced a new curriculum into the setting. Staff speak positively of the changes and how these have enabled them to build on children's individual learning and development. Staff create activities based on children's interests. As a result, children spend long periods of time at activities. They concentrate well and build on the skills and knowledge they already have. Staff talk confidently about the differing starting points of the children. Staff use their skills and knowledge of child development to adapt and change activities to support each individual child. This means that activities are suitable for all children. All children make progress in their learning and development, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
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What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children learn to be independent from a young age. Staff in the baby room discuss how activities, such as scooping sand in the sand tray, build on children's motor skills. This supports children to learn skills, such as hand–eye coordination, ready for feeding themselves independently. As children enhance their skills, staff praise them. This builds their confidence, and they proudly show other staff their new skills. Children build on their physical skills as they explore the farm, walking, running and jumping as they move through the different areas.
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Next steps
Leaders should strengthen staff's knowledge of the newly created curriculum so children consistently make the best possible progress all the time.
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About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator, children and parents and carers during the inspection.
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About this inspection
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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Address:
Marsh Farm Day Nursery Marsh Farm Animal Adventure Park, Marsh Farm Road South Woodham Ferrers CM3 5WP
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Address:
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
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Address:
Registered person: Marsh Farm Day Nursery Limited
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Address:
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:00 - 19:00
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Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
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Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
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Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.
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Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.
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Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.
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Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.
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Urgent improvement
services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.
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Urgent improvement
If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .
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Urgent improvement
You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .
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Urgent improvement
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Urgent improvement
T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted
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