Kaleidoscope Day Nursery

Kaleidoscope Day Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): EY411243 Address: Sherborne Business Centre, East Mill Lane, SHERBORNE, Dorset, DT9 3DR Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 28/07/2010 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Kaleidoscope 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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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children thrive in a consistently calm and harmonious environment where the provider has embedded clear expectations. Relationships between staff and children are warm, respectful and highly responsive. Staff model kindness and gentle communication, helping children understand how to get along with others. Young children, for example, wait patiently to wash their hands because staff give simple, consistent instructions that children recognise and trust. Older children collaborate well, showing growing independence and responsibility during transitions, such as tidy-up time.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Mealtimes across the setting are calm, sociable and well organised. Children sit together, talk with adults and peers, and experience eating as a pleasant, unhurried part of the day. Staff facilitate conversation and maintain a peaceful atmosphere that supports children's social development and emotional wellbeing. The provider's approach to behaviour is embedded through shared training and consistent application of strategies that help children regulate their emotions. Staff use familiar songs, routines and proactive interventions, such as adjusting the tempo during circle time singing, to sustain engagement and ensure that all children can participate meaningfully.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Attendance is monitored carefully. Staff follow up unexplained absences promptly, and the provider works closely with families when patterns emerge, ensuring that children's participation, safety and wellbeing remain central.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children make steady progress through the curriculum from their different starting points. Many develop the communication and language needed for later learning through play that encourages problem-solving and discussion. For example, children concentrate well when building tall structures with magnetic tiles. They talk with staff about shape, balance and what they predict will happen next. Others explore early mathematical and scientific ideas through activities such as colour mixing with paint or making marks using unusual tools, such as chopped carrots.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities make progress through tailored small-step assessment and targeted activities that develop early communication, physical skills and social interaction. Children known to children's social care also make secure progress because staff maintain consistent routines and responsive relationships that help them feel safe and ready to learn. Most children are prepared for the next stage of learning. They sustain focus, cooperate with others and participate confidently in group activities.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children's individual needs are met well through care practices that are calm, responsive and thoughtfully organised. In the baby room, children form secure attachments as staff follow children's cues closely, offering comfort, shared attention and gentle interactions that help them settle quickly and feel safe. Children develop an early understanding of health and physical wellbeing through everyday routines. Staff talk with children about healthy food choices, and even very young children join in age-appropriate conversations during snack times. Outdoors, babies and toddlers explore freely, such as splashing in puddles, supported by staff who respond to their curiosity and extend their physical confidence through well-judged supervision.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children are supported to recognise and manage their emotions through calm spaces and consistent approaches to co-regulation. Staff help children identify feelings and settle into routines that reduce stress, including smooth transitions between activities and predictable routines through the day. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, the provider ensures that care plans, medical guidance and sensory strategies are followed consistently so that children remain comfortable, included and ready to participate.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

The provider has designed a curriculum that reflects children's developmental needs and the context of the setting. Staff understand the leaders' intentions clearly, including the emphasis on early attachment, emotional regulation and preparation for more structured learning in the pre-school rooms. Across rooms, practitioners make purposeful use of everyday moments to build children's vocabulary and communication. For example, children engage in conversations and explore new words through discussions about sea creatures.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Teaching typically supports children's development well, particularly in personal, social and emotional development. The provider adapts teaching appropriately for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities using specialist guidance, individual plans and small- group interventions to target communication and physical skills. Assessment is used effectively to check what children know and can do and supports staff to adapt their curriculum to meet individual children's needs.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Routines for babies are efficient and calm, enabling secure relationships and uninterrupted opportunities to learn through stories, songs and early communication activities. In pre- school, experienced staff extend learning through language and model thinking during focused activities. However, the quality of teaching is not yet consistent. Occasionally, staff do not engage all children effectively when teaching them, meaning some children do not have the opportunity to learn more deeply from the learning experiences that have been prepared for them.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The provider has established an inclusive culture where staff identify children's needs early and take appropriate action to reduce barriers to learning and wellbeing. Staff use ongoing assessment to understand children's starting points and plan support that closely matches their developmental needs. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), they tailor strategies and implement specialist guidance to help children develop communication, physical and self-help skills. The provider makes suitable adaptations so that children participate alongside their peers. Staff also act quickly when emerging needs are identified, such as speech and language delay, using individual plans and targeted activities while referrals to external agencies progress.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The provider uses funding purposefully to provide additional sessions and sensory-based interventions that help children build confidence and make secure progress. A sensory room and a virtual immersive room have been developed. These enable children, especially those with SEND or those anxious about unfamiliar places, to build confidence as they rehearse real-world experiences, such as visiting shops or exploring new environments. Support for children who speak English as an additional language is developing well, with management oversight strengthening the use of dual-language resources.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The provider has taken purposeful action to improve the setting following the previous inspection. Recruitment processes have now been strengthened to ensure that staff working with children are suitable. The provider demonstrates a clear understanding of the setting's strengths and where further development is needed. They have acted on identified priorities by developing an immersive sensory space to strengthen children's preparation for new experiences and support those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The provider makes decisions in the best interests of children, including those who are disadvantaged or known to children's social care.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff's wellbeing is supported through reflective supervision, induction and open communication, enabling staff to access training that strengthens their responsibilities and practice. The provider has also embedded training that promotes children's positive behaviour. This consistent approach is evident across rooms and contributes to the calm, settled atmosphere where children feel secure and know what to expect throughout the day. Staff apply shared strategies confidently, helping children regulate their emotions and maintain harmonious relationships. While the provider monitors staff's wellbeing effectively, the precision of feedback to strengthen teaching and assessment is still developing. This limits how precisely staff receive guidance to enhance their teaching skills further.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children experience a calm, predictable day where they feel safe, welcomed and able to explore with confidence. Well-established routines mean that all children, from the youngest to the oldest, experience efficient, purposeful routines. Babies transition smoothly between care and play, indoors and outdoors, helping them feel settled from the moment they arrive. Because staff understand children's needs well, children develop trust in their key persons and show growing confidence in exploring their environment. Children achieve securely from their different starting points. Babies develop early communication through shared stories

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About this setting

and songs, while young children build language through ongoing discussions about what they notice. They talk about the trains passing by as they look through the windows in the fencing and discuss the seaside creatures in water play outdoors. Older children sustain focus during activities and show readiness for more structured learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) also make steady progress because staff use small-step assessments and adapt activities thoughtfully so that all children can participate meaningfully. For example, staff provide tools or specialist equipment to help them join in alongside their peers.

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About this setting

Children feel they belong. Staff relationships are warm, respectful and inclusive. Children learn alongside others, form friendships and cooperate well during routines, such as tidy-up time and mealtimes. The provider values partnerships with parents, reinforcing an effective communication between home and the setting. Children thrive because leaders prioritise their wellbeing and safety. Staff are vigilant, and children benefit from clear expectations and calm spaces that help them regulate their emotions. Attendance is monitored closely, and leaders work with families when additional support is needed. Children with SEND experience nurturing care that helps them flourish, build confidence and feel part of the community.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen staff's teaching skills so that the curriculum is taught consistently well and all children benefit from high-quality learning. Leaders should sharpen the precision of monitoring so that feedback to staff consistently improves staff's practice.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, parents, the special educational needs coordinator and children during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 006 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. Unique reference number (URN): EY411243

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Address:

Sherborne Business Centre East Mill Lane SHERBORNE Dorset DT9 3DR

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Kaleidoscope Day Nursery Limited

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 17:30

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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

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Urgent improvement

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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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