Highfield Day Nursery

Highfield Day Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): 405361 Address: 3/4 Highfield Rd, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 3ED Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 10/07/2001 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Childbase Partnership Limited

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Safeguarding standards not met

Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that adequately protects children from harm. There are multiple failures in safeguarding practice, in particular for younger children. Staff do not always fulfil their responsibilities to promote the safety and wellbeing of all children. At times, safeguarding practice falls short, particularly for younger children during end-of-day routines. For example, staff are not always deployed effectively to maintain required staff-to-child ratios, resulting in younger children not being adequately supervised or supported. This can place children at risk, as their play choices or the behaviour of others compromise their safety. In addition, leaders and staff do not always report poor or unsafe practice promptly, which delays action to reduce risks to children. Although staff respond when children have accidents, they do not

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Safeguarding standards not met

consistently consider children's privacy when administering checks or care. This does not align with the setting's own policies and procedures.

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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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Achievement Needs attention

Effective interactions are not consistently in place for younger children, particularly during sleep times and end-of-day routines. As a result, younger children sometimes wander without purpose and are not engaged in play that supports their readiness for the next stage in learning. Support required to meet the needs of younger children is not consistently embedded, which limits their ability to make the consistent effective progress needed in all areas of their development.

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Achievement Needs attention

Older children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, as well as those who may face additional barriers to learning, achieve well. They develop confidence, communicate their needs effectively and participate alongside their peers. Older children make progress from their starting points across all areas of learning. They often show pride in their achievements and develop independence, resilience and positive attitudes towards learning. Older children manage routines well, use a wide range of vocabulary and engage confidently in meaningful interactions with adults and peers.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Younger children's needs are not always identified or responded to effectively by staff, which on occasion results in a negative impact on their wellbeing. Leaders and staff are not always positive role models. Their arrangements for some daily routines are not managed appropriately to support younger children's understanding of staff expectations for their behaviour or to meet their individual needs. As a result, children display behaviours that put themselves or others at risk, and staff do not address and manage these incidents appropriately.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

At times, relationships between staff and children are warm. Generally, staff support children in developing positive behaviours and to recognise and manage their emotions. For example, some children use familiar strategies, such as comforters, puppets and simple language, to express how they feel. Older children understand routines well and learn to cooperate, share and take turns, developing very secure social skills.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention

Leaders promote children's attendance. They use systems to monitor attendance through an app and follow up promptly when children are absent. This includes contacting families by telephone or email and, where necessary, carrying out wellbeing checks. Leaders work with parents and carers to remove barriers to attendance and ensure children attend regularly.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

Staff do not always prioritise children's welfare and wellbeing effectively in routine tasks, and children's individual needs are not always considered. Although staff do carry out regular timed checks on sleeping children and remain nearby, at times, other children have to wait around if they do not want or need to sleep. For younger children, care practices are inconsistent and routines are not always well organised, and therefore, the environment is not always calm, organised or supportive of children's individual needs. Staff's supervision of younger children is not consistent or effective as staff are not always vigilant during all routines of the day. In particular, for younger children, this leads to children being involved in play that puts their safety at risk and can lead to behaviours that have a negative impact on others.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention

Staff support healthy eating, positive hygiene and physical health through meaningful discussions. For instance, children can explain why they wash their hands to remove germs and independently access resources, such as tissues and mirrors, to manage their personal hygiene. At mealtimes, children make choices about what and how much to eat, while staff talk to them about how food supports their energy and growth.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Staff do not consistently support all children to access purposeful or engaging activities during routine periods, such as sleep times if they do not want to sleep and at the end of the day. Younger children, in particular, spend extended periods standing or waiting around with little meaningful interaction. During these times, some children engage in play that poses potential risks to their safety due to insufficient supervision or direction from staff. High- quality interactions and teaching strategies are not consistently embedded for younger children.

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Curriculum and teaching Needs attention

Leaders have developed a curriculum that is appropriately sequenced and aligned with the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Overall, this is not reflected in the teaching children receive. However, mostly, staff embed some mathematical concepts, such as

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Urgent improvement

counting, comparison and problem-solving, in children's play. Children confidently match, sort and compare objects by colour, shape and size. Older children benefit from rich opportunities to think, explore and deepen their understanding through practical experiences. Staff model language effectively for this age group, introduce new vocabulary and support children to communicate with confidence.

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Urgent improvement

Staff generally consider children's physical, personal, social and emotional development. They promote older children's independence through daily routines, including mealtimes and self-care. Staff use assessment to build on children's starting points and plan activities that support their progress. Music and movement sessions are used to develop children's coordination. Practical experiences, such as play dough activities, enable children to explore ideas and develop their early problem-solving skills.

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Inclusion Needs attention

The inclusive culture is not well embedded consistently across the setting at all times. Weaknesses in staff practice for younger children have an impact on children's wellbeing. For example, younger children are not always supported through tailored strategies that have been identified to develop their skills to communicate. As a result, at times, this has an impact on children's behaviour towards others.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Generally, staff use observation, assessment and information gathered from parents and carers, including during settling-in processes, to identify children's emerging needs. For example, they identify children's early communication needs through ongoing assessment and the progress check for children at age 2. Staff develop support plans, such as one-page profiles, which are reviewed regularly. Leaders monitor children's progress and work with other professionals, such as speech and language therapists, to ensure coordinated support.

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Inclusion Needs attention

Staff receive training, including in-house special educational needs and/or disabilities training and local authority courses. Leaders make adaptations to the environment, such as using soft furnishings to reduce background noise for children with hearing impairments, and provide low-level furniture to support children's physical development and independence. Children who speak English as an additional language are supported through the use of key words from their home languages, visual cues and effective partnerships with families.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders have not sustained improvements made as the result of previous action taken by Ofsted. In addition, there have been further breaches to the early years foundation stage requirements. Some weaknesses in staff supervision arrangements have been responded to and action taken. This included carrying out a full investigation of an incident. However, not all weaknesses have been identified, which means poor practice is not tackled effectively or in a timely manner to assure all children's safety. Staff supervision of children is not always effective as they are not always vigilant during all routines of the day, in particular with the younger children.

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Leadership and governance Urgent improvement

Leaders work with parents and carers. For example, leaders share information through daily conversations and the nursery app and work with parents and professionals to agree clear next steps for children. This helps to ensure consistency between home and the setting. Staff receive regular supervision sessions, and leaders also prioritise staff wellbeing through practical support, such as wellbeing sessions and access to advice. Leaders explain they have clear systems to check the quality of the provision. However, these are not effective as there are concerns that arise that have not been previously identified, such as staff deployment with younger children to ensure their safety. In addition, leaders and staff do not always show an understanding of when to follow whistleblowing policies and procedures to ensure poor practice can be improved in a timely manner to reduce the risks to children's safety.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has not 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 not 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

Although routines generally prioritise children's safety and wellbeing, staff do not remain highly vigilant and responsive. In particular, for younger children, staff do not always have a clear oversight of where children are as staff deployment is at times not effective, such as during end-of-day routines and free-flow play. Children do not consistently receive support to understand how to keep themselves safe. As a result, at times, risks arise during children's play from the environment and the behaviour of others. This is due to poor supervision and engagement from staff, which negatively impacts on children's safety.

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

Younger children do not consistently benefit from staff interactions or an environment that provides highly effective teaching. At times, children do experience a warm, welcoming and purposeful environment. Some children do not achieve well enough to prepare them for the next stage of their learning. However, generally, they demonstrate an interest and are curious and independent in their learning. Children can manage daily routines, such as washing their hands, serving food and clearing away at mealtimes. Older children develop their communication skills through activities, including music and movement sessions.

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

For younger children, inclusive practice is not fully embedded in everyday experiences. Staff are inconsistent in using sign language and visual support. Most children seek out familiar adults for comfort and reassurance. Staff know children and work closely with parents and carers to help them generally meet each child's individual needs. At times, staff support children to express their ideas, extend their thinking and build on what they already know. Older children explore their ideas through practical experiences. For example, they mix colours and ingredients during play dough activities to represent concepts, such as the function of the heart in the human body.

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Next steps

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

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Action Completion Date

ensure all leaders and staff understand when and how to raise concerns about poor or unsafe practice to reduce risks for children 21/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure all leaders and staff are confident about their responsibilities and consistently implement policies and procedures to keep children safe, including considering children's privacy at all times 15/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve staff's knowledge and understanding of effective deployment to ensure children are supervised appropriately at all times, with specific regard to younger children during routines 15/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

consistently implement identified strategies to support children with additional needs 21/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure that leaders and staff take all reasonable steps to identify and minimise children's exposure to risks 15/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

ensure staff implement and teach the curriculum to a consistently high standard at all times 21/05/2026

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Action Completion Date

improve staff supervision arrangements to ensure leaders can identify and address issues as they arise. 21/05/2026

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, 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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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this.

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Address:

3/4 Highfield Rd Edgbaston Birmingham B15 3ED

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Childbase Partnership Limited

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30

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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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0 to 4

The inspection started on 1 April 2026. Inspectors returned on 29 April 2026 and carried out a further telephone video call on 7 May 2026 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.

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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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