Little Acorns Day Nursery (Springfield)

Little Acorns Day Nursery (Springfield)

Unique reference number (URN): 2519737 Address: Throstlenest Avenue, Wigan, Lancashire, WN6 7AS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 13/02/2019 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Mercer, Annette

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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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Achievement Expected standard

All children, including those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing other barriers to learning, make positive progress from their starting points. Children receive the support they need to meet personalised milestones. For example, staff use support plans to complete interventions that are tailored to children's needs.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children build strong relationships with peers and adults. For example, they work together in water play to use pipettes to fill containers. They discover when they turn the pipette upside down that the water 'disappears', bringing natural awe and wonder into the activity.

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Achievement Expected standard

Throughout the nursery, children benefit from a focus on personal, social and emotional development reflected in well-established routines. Children learn to share and take turns to build emotional resilience and empathy, with guidance from staff. Children show an understanding of behavioural expectations and can listen and follow instructions appropriate to their age and stage. For example, children use their manners, saying 'please' and 'thank you' when eating.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Leaders have embedded a positive environment where children feel safe, happy and secure. Leaders are quick to identify non-attendance, which supports families and children to establish a solid foundation for regular attendance as they move on to school. Leaders provide flexible session offerings, which helps families and children to access their full funding entitlement. This regular attendance has a positive impact on children's learning and development opportunities.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

Warm and nurturing relationships ensure children typically follow routines that are rooted in high expectations. For example, the younger children happily sit on the carpet for their morning welcome and sing 'hello' to their friends. The older children know to wash their hands before sitting down for snack together and chatting about how they can peel their own bananas. Staff are positive role models who are kind and caring. Overall, staff understand and consider children's uniqueness and make reasonable adaptations to maintain expectations of behaviour that reflect the children's ages and stages of development. On some occasions, inconsistencies with behaviour management mean some unwelcome behaviour is not promptly dealt with. However, children generally behave well and have a clear sense of belonging. Children have positive attitudes to learning and celebrate their achievements. For example, when modelling at the play dough table, children are

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard

encouraged to 'stretch' and 'squeeze' as they make models. Children exclaim, 'Look at the eyes!' as they proudly show the staff working with them.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Leaders and staff have a secure knowledge and understanding of the children in their care. They build trusting relationships and ask children how they are feeling. For instance, children who want a cuddle are given the support and care they need to recognise and manage their emotions. As a result, children are typically emotionally secure, confident and settled. Where children who face barriers to learning struggle to name emotions, staff prepare thoughtful activities to support their ongoing understanding. For example, children create and craft to reflect emotions and say, 'This one feels happy – look at the smile,' and, 'This one is feeling tired.' Leaders and staff ensure that each child, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, feels safe and valued, reinforcing children's sense of belonging.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard

Staff encourage children to wash their hands and faces at mealtimes to begin to manage aspects of self-care, supporting independence. This promotes hygiene routines and creates a solid foundation of adopting healthy habits. Staff ensure children's dietary requirements are followed while ensuring a nutritional, balanced diet. Staff understand the importance of ensuring children are closely supervised to keep them safe. For example, staff sit with children while they eat and talk to them about their meal 'giving us muscles'. Staff in the baby room have secure knowledge and understanding of safe-sleeping guidance. They are confident with procedures to ensure children remain safe, such as placing babies on their backs and ensuring they are checked regularly. Staff adapt routines to ensure individual needs are met and align with home.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have designed a broad and balanced curriculum and have an oversight of its implementation and quality of teaching. The curriculum is responsive to children's interests and promoting independence. For example, children are managing age-appropriate tasks independently, such as handwashing, serving their own lunches and using knives and forks to eat. They have a clear vision to bring about improvement and are in the early stages of delivering this to staff. During some activities, staff are not fully confident to make quick adaptations to ensure all activities are implemented to suit the learning styles of all children. At these times, children do not fully benefit from high-quality teaching opportunities to extend their learning and deepen understanding further. However, overall, children develop the skills they need for the next stages of their learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Staff working with babies prioritise supporting them to build solid foundations for the future, such as helping them to develop physical skills. For example, children excitedly move down slides, giggling with excitement. Babies are confident young learners and explore activities with enthusiasm. They look in mirrors and point to different parts of their body as staff offer praise and reassurance.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Children show enjoyment as they join in with adult-led activities. For example, children build on their listening and attention skills as they say 'I'm rolling it to…' while rolling a ball to one another and saying the name of a friend. Staff use this time to support developing communication and social skills effectively. Outside, children huddle up to look at books in a den and turn pages together.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders and staff know the children well. This ensures children experience an inclusive, welcoming environment where their uniqueness is valued and supported. Staff take time to learn about the families they serve. Close, ongoing partnerships with parents and carers are a priority. Leaders and staff share information effectively about children's needs from the outset, and parents play an active role in their children's learning journey. Families praise the communication from staff, stating they are caring and informative at handovers. Families who have children who may face barriers to learning share that staff take an active role in their child's progress and feel up to date with any additional support they provide.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Early years pupil premium funding is used to enhance provision and offer experiences that enrich early opportunities effectively to allow children to make progress. This reflects the dedication of staff who are responsible for supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or those facing other barriers to learning. Leaders' knowledge and understanding of how best to utilise external professional support is evident. This builds trust and a shared understanding with families. For example, the addition of sensory areas within provision offers those children who require it support with self-regulation throughout the day.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff typically use observations and assessments processes well to monitor the progress children make and to identify any gaps in learning. Overall, when gaps are identified, key staff adapt learning experiences to suit individual needs. Staff share information with other settings that children will attend to provide continuity in the approach to children's care and learning. This supports children to make smooth transitions.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders' reflections on practice and their focus to better improve the provision for the children, families and staff mean they have made considerable progress since their last, recent, inspection. Leaders implement effective support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities by carefully tracking progress against their support plans. For example, staff across the setting speak confidently about the changes and focus of support in place. The key-person procedures ensure staff have individualised next steps in place to support children's progress across the newly implemented curriculum effectively. Leaders work collaboratively with staff, parents and professionals through open communication. Staff report that they feel well supported and valued by leaders. Leaders monitor teaching and staff development through clear supervision processes. Professional development opportunities are focused on raising the quality of care. However, leaders realise the need to

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

continue strengthening opportunities to provide staff with further training to help them consistently develop staff skills and knowledge.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders demonstrate a reflective approach to continuous improvement. They generally evaluate the setting's practices and implement initiatives that support improvement through ongoing development, for example developing a new curriculum that meets the ongoing and changing needs of the children at the setting. They provide an inclusive and nurturing environment where children's care is prioritised. They maintain positive partnerships with other professionals, such as those who work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. This helps them support staff to meet children's needs for a successful transition into school. Staff report that changes have been beneficial, and they feel valued and appreciated.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders make positive links within the local area, visiting parks and care homes. They welcome feeder-school teachers in to support transition for those children who are reaching the end of their journey with them to ensure they have the best possible start to school.

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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 are warmly welcomed into this nurturing environment, where they feel valued and well cared for. Children arrive happily and quickly settle quickly into activities that are provided with their interests in mind. They are met by staff who are nurturing and responsive to their individual needs and feel secure in well-known and established routines. Children build secure relationships with their key person and wider team. As a result, children demonstrate a sense of belonging. Children typically demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning. Overall, they enjoy the experiences on offer. Children engage well with planned activities and free play that cover all areas of learning. For example, while washing vehicles with cloths, children say 'wow' as they pour water and clean them. They are happy and proud to show their achievements, which are well praised by staff working with them. Children's personal, social and emotional development is nurtured in the nursery. The

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

children are happy and confident to move around the rooms, accessing a range of activities and seeking support from staff when needed.

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

Children develop their social and communication skills effectively through daily routines. They develop learning and typically show good levels of concentration in activities. For example, children happily engage in imaginative play, saying, 'Can you go to the shop with my purse?' and, 'Hello, I got this cake for you.' Children are exposed to literacy and mathematics woven into opportunities throughout the day. Staff help children apply their learning in meaningful ways. For example, while building towers of play bricks, children count the number before excitedly knocking them down. Children benefit form a varied range of play opportunities. They enjoy developing physical skills and coordination, building confidence as they climb and balance on soft-play equipment.

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

Children typically understand expectations, manage risk safely and regulate their emotions successfully with support from staff. Mealtimes, transitions and group activities are sociable. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other barriers to learning join activities alongside their peers and enjoy the same experiences. Staff work closely with parents and carers to manage this. In general, children behave well and demonstrate kindness and respect towards others. As a result, children develop good communication skills, resilience and emotional wellbeing.

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Next steps

Leaders must continue to further embed the new curriculum to support staff understanding to ensure consistency of implementation to support children's learning. Leaders must ensure that adaptations are consistently tailored to make a demonstrable difference to the opportunities and experiences of children in their care. Leaders must further strengthen consistency of managing behaviour to support all children to manage their behaviour successfully. Leaders must continue to secure their robust professional development offering to ensure staff have regular opportunities to attend courses that are pertinent to children in their care.

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About this inspection

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

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Address:

Throstlenest Avenue Wigan Lancashire WN6 7AS

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 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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1 to 4

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

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

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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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