Little Gardners Nursery

Little Gardners Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): EY473827 Address: Main Road, Marchwood, Southampton, SO40 4ZH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 02/01/2014 Registers: EYR Registered person: Little Gardners Nursery Ltd

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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 Expected standard

Leaders and staff support all children to take part in the daily routines of the setting. They make adaptations when needed to support their individual needs and to provide an inclusive environment. Leaders monitor attendance appropriately. They speak to parents and carers about the importance of regular attendance and have suitable procedures in place to follow up on children's absences.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children's behaviour is generally positive. They learn the importance of kindness and respect, as part of the nursery ethos. Children learn to take turns, listen to each others ideas and suggestions and to play together. Staff praise children's positive behaviour. Where children need extra support with their self-regulation, staff recognise and respond to this with sensitivity. Strategies staff use to help children understand how they feel and respond in positive ways include modelling emotional language, offering calm support, and guiding children to use simple self-regulation techniques. This helps children to develop skills that support their future learning.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff promote and build trusting relationships, from the outset. They work with parents to understand the care needs of children to ensure that routines are centred around what children need to help them feel safe and secure. Children build secure attachments with staff. For instance, babies nestle into staff's arms as they fall asleep and older children seek out staff for cuddles, when they need reassurance.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders and staff create a safe environment for children. Mealtimes are used to help children learn routines that promote their safety. For instance, older children learn the importance of sitting to eat at mealtimes. Babies and younger children are offered foods that are suitably prepared for their stage of weaning, with staff ensuring that textures, portion sizes, and serving methods are appropriate for each child's age and ability.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders implement suitable hygiene practices to help ensure children's personal care needs are met appropriately. Overall, staff support children to become increasingly independent in managing their own self-care routines. For example, children learn how to wash their hands before they sit to eat and manage toileting tasks independently, where appropriate.

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Inclusion Expected standard

All children are welcomed into the nursery and leaders and staff work closely with parents to identify how they can best support each child. Leaders provide targeted support for disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), children known or previously known to children's social care, and those who face additional barriers to learning. Staff quickly identify children's needs and put in place timely, appropriate support that has a positive impact on their well-being, engagement and early progress. Leaders consider carefully how additional funding can best support children's

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Needs attention

development. For example, they provide resources to support children's sensory play and learning.

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Needs attention

Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children and work effectively to reduce barriers to learning. Staff work closely with other agencies involved in children's care and share information with professionals to ensure a shared and consistent approach to children's care and learning. This supports positive outcomes for children with SEND and those who face additional barriers to learning. Leaders generally monitor children's progress to ensure that support remains targeted to their needs. Staff receive relevant training to help them understand and respond to children's specific needs, which has been particularly effective in supporting children's personal, social and emotional development and their self- regulation

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Achievement Needs attention

Weaknesses in the curriculum and teaching have an impact on children's achievements. Activities, including those related to mathematics, do not always build effectively on what children already know and can do. At times, children take part in learning activities that are not matched to their stage of learning. This limits children's progress and reduces opportunities for them to develop the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage in their learning.

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Achievement Needs attention

Despite this, children readily take part in a range of activities across the nursery. For instance, older children explore how to fill and empty jugs of water to transfer this down pipes to larger trays. Babies share favourite books, as they hear new language in their play. Children develop their independence skills. For example, younger children learn how to feed themselves during mealtimes and older children sort and tidy away toys, when asked to.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders do not ensure the curriculum is designed effectively, so that it is clear what children need to know or to be able to do next. Staff are not always clear about what they want children to learn next. This means that learning experiences are not tailored to enable staff to direct teaching in a purposeful way, to further children's knowledge and skills. Leaders have recently begun to take action to improve the curriculum and the quality of teaching. As this work is still in its infancy, it is too early to evaluate its full impact on all children's learning and progress.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff provide a range of activities which ignite children's curiosity. For instance, children readily take part in planting herbs, as staff talk about the textures and smells of different herbs. Staff teach children how to coordinate their hand-eye coordination skills, as they build block towers. However, teaching is inconsistent and some staff do not use their interactions to extend children's learning effectively. At times, teaching is not matched appropriately to children's typical stages of development., particularly for older and more capable children, which hinders how every child is supported to reach their full potential.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leader's recognise the changes to the staff team has had an impact in the quality of the nursery. They understand the settings strengths and areas for development, however, this is not targeted well enough to bring about rapid improvement. This leads to weakness in the quality of teaching and some children's learning experiences.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

The support for staff who are new to their roles are in their infancy. While leaders recognise that although supervision is in place for staff, it is not robust enough to bring about rapid improvement. Staff do not receive the targeted support they need, to address weakness in their knowledge and teaching practice. As a result, staff do not consistently support all children's learning effectively.

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Leadership and governance Needs attention

Leaders build positive relationships with their staff team. They take appropriate action to support staff's wellbeing and help to ensure workloads remain manageable. Staff say they feel valued and supported in their roles. Partnerships with parents and families are a focus for leaders and staff. When leaders work with other external agencies and services, they establish regular sharing of information which supports a collaborative approach to children's care. Additionally, leaders have established links with local schools to help support children's transitions to the next stage in their education.

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

Children do not consistently benefit from a curriculum that is planned or tailored to meet their individual needs. At times, staff provide activities that do not match their stages of development. For example, staff teach older children to explore how water can be transferred and engage them in conversation about the activity. However, they do not use these opportunities to extend children's mathematical understanding, such as introducing language of capacity, volume or introduce or build on this aspect of their knowledge The learning environment excites children to learn, such as when they make potions using flowers. Staff do not use these interactions successfully to extend children's learning. As a result, not all children make the best possible progress in preparation for the next stage in their learning. Children benefit from the welcoming nursery environment and the warm positive relationships staff build with them. Children settle quickly and feel safe and secure in the

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

care of staff who are kind and caring. Children enjoy spending time with their peers and play with and alongside friends, building their early social skills well. Children are confident and learn how to understand their own emotions, as staff teach them encourage positive behaviour through their praise and caring interactions. Children remember and share what they learn. For instance, during shared play, older children explain 'we have kind hands,' as they learn how to resolve small disagreements.

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

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those known or previously known to social care are supported. Leaders work closely with other professionals and agencies to ensure children's individual needs are understood and met. This collaborative approach helps secure consistent support and promotes positive outcomes for children who may face additional challenges.

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Next steps

To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date:

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Action Completion Date

plan and deliver a curriculum that builds on what children already know and can do, offering challenging, enjoyable experiences that match each child's individual stage of development 03/08/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve staff's understanding of children's next steps in learning to help them tailor teaching which provides more-effective, targeted support and encouragement, so that every child is supported to reach their full potential. 03/08/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve the supervision of staff to ensure they develop their knowledge and skills to effectively support all children in their learning and development. 03/08/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, children and staff 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

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Address:

Main Road Marchwood Southampton SO40 4ZH

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Little Gardners Nursery Ltd

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00

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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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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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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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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