Botanic Lodge Nursery Limited

Botanic Lodge Nursery Limited

Unique reference number (URN): 2826853 Address: Botanic Road, LIVERPOOL, L7 9LH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 18/02/2025 Registers: EYR Registered person: Botanic Lodge 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 Expected standard

Leaders and staff create a calm and harmonious atmosphere throughout the nursery. Staff have high expectations for behaviour. They set clear and concise boundaries that children respond to very well. Leaders and staff are reflective when considering children's differing needs and types of behaviour. They recognise that many children benefit from extended outdoor play. Children have ongoing opportunities throughout the day to free-flow across different spaces to maximise their interest and engagement. Staff also utilise their sensory room during the day. Children enjoy using the space to regulate their emotions and have some quieter relaxation time.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Children at the setting behave very well. Older children show positive attitudes and great engagement in the activities. They are very polite and curious. They also display developing skills of collaboration as they play. This is evident as they engage in meaningful discussions and play together without always needing an adult fully involved in their play. This means that older children benefit from an positive balance of child-initiated and adult-led play and learning. Overall, babies show suitable levels of engagement as they explore and play. They enjoy singing nursery rhymes and listening to stories, showing that they form trusting relationships with familiar adults. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers to encourage consistent attendance. They are also vigilant and proactive if a child does not attend as expected, and follow up with parents and carers to seek an explanation. This

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

helps to establish positive safeguarding arrangements at the nursery.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Children show that they feel happy and safe at the setting. Babies and children build trusting relationships and seek comfort and reassurance when needed. This helps to build their confidence and curiosity. Children's independence is fostered effectively at the setting. This is evident as older children make choices about their play and self-serve their food at mealtimes. This helps them to develop their independence skills. Children are well supported to learn about active and healthy lifestyles. This is apparent when they benefit from healthy meals, and learn about different foods and their health benefits. They also enjoy having daily opportunities to play outdoors in the garden and benefit from frequent visits to the close-by park. This helps to develop their balance and coordination as they run, jump and climb. Furthermore, children engage in growing vegetables and learn about where food comes from. They also participate in projects to develop their awareness of oral health.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

This helps them to learn about their bodies and self-care skills in a purposeful way.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Equality is at the heart of this nursery. Children learn about different backgrounds and cultures through exploring books and resources. They also engage in cultural celebrations, for instance, when celebrating Eid. This supports them to gain awareness of diversity and the wider world.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders and staff are passionate about offering inclusive care and education. They have high integrity in relation to this. They offer individualised support and care, sometimes without funding in place to meet the differing needs of more vulnerable children. When funding is secured, it is used in an impactful way. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from one-to-one support for key periods during the day. This helps them to manage busier transitions and parts of the day, such as mealtimes, with extra support. Leaders and staff have also invested in creating a welcoming sensory room that is used to help children regulate their feelings and emotions, as well as for targeted learning interventions.

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Inclusion Expected standard

There is a well-established culture of early identification at the setting. Staff carry out baseline assessments when children join. They make swift referrals to ensure that children receive additional support in a timely manner. The level of partnership working with external professionals is impressive, and children are evidently making progress through these collaborative relationships. Despite all these strengths, some inconsistencies in curriculum and teaching for babies broadly impacts the full effectiveness of their SEND provision. Leaders and staff successfully help children to feel a real sense of belonging, which is particularly true for children that speak English as an additional language. This is apparent when they gain key words in their home language, to help them settle in and celebrate and acknowledge their heritage.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The nursery is run by an experienced and attuned management team. They are dedicated to their roles and have clearly made lots of positive contributions to the development of the nursery. Overall, they make accurate evaluations of the nursery and have arranged additional training for some staff members to continue to develop their knowledge and skills. This is evident when staff engage in promoting children's wellbeing and inclusive-practice training. Leaders are starting to measure the impact of training on staff teaching and practice. However, this is still in its infancy.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff discuss positive levels of wellbeing at work and feel well supported in their roles, for example, through termly supervision meetings and team meetings throughout the year. Parents and carers express high levels of appreciation for the work of the team. They state that staff are very caring and committed. They also comment on feeling well involved in their children's learning. They receive photographs, updates and assessments on the information-sharing app and through ongoing discussions about their children's new achievements. Leaders and staff organise a range of stay-and-play parent events to build relationships with families. Children also benefit from 'mystery reader' sessions, where a parent or carer comes and reads a book to them and their peers. This experience supports children's love of books and boosts their early-literacy skills.

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Achievement Needs attention

The inconsistencies in the curriculum and learning opportunities for babies means that babies do not securely make the full progress that they are capable of. Despite this, babies generally show appropriate levels of interest as they explore. They like looking at farm animal 'touch and feel' books, and hear words such as 'soft' and 'bumpy', as they explore the different animals. In addition, they learn how to handle tools, such as paintbrushes, as they participate in painting activities.

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Achievement Needs attention

Toddlers and pre-school children make evident progress at the nursery. They benefit from a range of meaningful activities that supports them to learn a range of knowledge and skills. Older children also receive attentive and skilled support to help them target and close any gaps in their learning. They are consistently busy, either leading their own play or receiving guidance to move their learning on to the next level. Older children enjoy drawing with chalks and discuss their creations with confidence. They also develop their imagination as they make mud cakes and discuss different flavours. Furthermore, they show well- developed independence skills, as they help with tidying up and make choices during the day. Consequently, they are well prepared for their eventual move on to school.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

While babies show that they are happy and content, there are some differences in practice throughout the nursery. Some staff working with babies do not consistently provide high- quality interactions as they play. This means that babies do not consistently engage in purposeful learning throughout the day. While the knowledgeable and experienced leaders have started to take appropriate action to improve this, such as arranging additional training for some staff members, these improvements are at an early stage, and more focus and attention is required to ensure babies benefit from a consistently high quality of teaching and learning experiences. Despite this, babies participate in a range of experiences, such as painting a box and hearing the names of different colours. They also hear 'one, two, three' as they test what happens when a car goes down a ramp.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

By contrast, toddlers and pre-school children experience a fun and engaging range of activities throughout the day. This is evident, as older children are supported to make predictions, and discuss what they think will happen when mixing chalks and water together. Children also show focus and enjoyment as they wash muddy construction vehicles in water, and talk about the function of different trucks and diggers. Furthermore, older children enjoy making models with play dough, and are guided to discuss their intentions and hear words, such as 'stretch' and 'mould'. Older children learn and play extremely well in a calm and encouraging atmosphere.

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

Different-aged children experience inconsistencies in the quality of education. The curriculum on offer for babies is too simple, and some staff working with babies do not maximise opportunities that arise to effectively extend their language development and wider learning to a consistently high standard. Babies generally enjoy exploring and splashing during water play. This builds their confidence to try new things and supports their exploration through their senses. They also participate in singing songs, such as 'Little Peter Rabbit' with puppets. This supports them to hear some new words through songs and music.

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

All children across the nursery show that they feel happy and safe. They build secure bonds with staff that are caring and nurturing and know them well. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who may face other barriers to their learning or wellbeing, receive targeted support to meet their individual needs. This is a real strength. It is evident that these children make positive progress through highly effective partnership working with a wide range of other professionals. Children show a clear understanding of the boundaries at the setting. They listen and behave well throughout the day. Toddlers and pre-school children benefit from an engaging curriculum and high-quality interactions that support them to make notable progress from their starting points. They show superb enjoyment and engagement as they paint with flowers outdoors. As they paint, they discuss the petals, stems and leaves, and how new colours are mixed and created.

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

They also show delight in making cakes in the mud kitchen and receive skilful support to discuss the different ingredients. As they play, they use lots of mathematical language and compare different quantities. They also show keen focus and interest as they search for treasure when playing in sand, and discuss the shiny treasure and gems. Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers to promote regular attendance and are proactive in seeking explanations for non-attendance. This helps to create a positive safeguarding culture at the setting.

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Next steps

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

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Action Completion Date

improve and embed an ambitious curriculum for babies and further develop the way in which staff working with babies extend their language and learning skills to help them to make the full progress they are capable of 27/08/2026

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Botanic Lodge Nursery Limited

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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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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and parents 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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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

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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