Willow Cottage Nursery (Eynsham)

Willow Cottage Nursery (Eynsham)

Unique reference number (URN): EY464144 Address: Willow Cottage Nurseries, Owls Leat, Eynsham, WITNEY, Oxfordshire, OX29 4EH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 29/05/2013 Registers: EYR, CCR Registered person: Willow Cottage Nurseries 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 Strong standard

Leaders establish a positive culture where high expectations for behaviour, attitudes and learning are understood and applied consistently across the nursery. As a result, children consistently remain highly engaged throughout the day. They understand the rules and boundaries that help them to feel secure and show empathy, kindness and consideration towards their peers. Children cooperate well, share experiences and listen to others, developing confidence in managing their feelings and behaviour.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff model respectful interactions and provide calm, consistent support that helps children to understand expectations and regulate their emotions. Children show positive engagement in their learning. They are curious, sustain their attention and willingly try new experiences and challenges. Familiar routines are well established, and children respond confidently to them, moving between activities and parts of the day with increasing independence. For example, younger children understand that music signals tidy-up time and willingly help to put resources away before going outside. Routines also support children's developing independence in readiness for school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders promote the importance of regular attendance and maintain robust systems to monitor children's attendance. Inclusive approaches ensure that children's individual needs are recognised and adaptations enable all children to participate confidently. Consequently, children are settled, cooperative and purposeful throughout the day, demonstrating the positive behaviours, attitudes and self-regulation that support successful learning.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders establish a culture where children's physical health, emotional wellbeing and safety underpin daily practice. As a result, children feel safe, secure and valued. They benefit from consistently warm, trusting relationships with staff, which support their emotional security and confidence in the setting. The key person arrangements are effective, ensuring every child has a familiar adult who knows them well and responds sensitively to their individual needs.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children's voices and choices are respected throughout the day. They choose activities, pursue their interests and are encouraged to develop independence, take appropriate risks and manage their feelings. Staff support children to understand expectations, share, take turns and show kindness and respect towards others.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn about healthy lifestyles and healthy choices through everyday routines and experiences, such as planting and growing. Children develop an understanding of the importance of healthy eating and physical activity. Regular sports and forest-school sessions make a significant contribution to children's welfare and wellbeing. Children learn to assess and manage appropriate risks. They develop confidence, resilience and physical competence as they explore the natural environment, and strengthen their balance and coordination skills. These experiences promote emotional wellbeing, perseverance and healthy lifestyles.

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Expected standard

Leaders work closely with families and external professionals to understand children's individual circumstances and provide appropriate support. Inclusive practice is well embedded, with staff adapting provision to ensure all children can participate fully. Overall, children thrive in a caring and inclusive environment that prepares them well for future learning and life.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have established an inclusive culture where every child is welcomed, valued and supported to participate fully regardless of their individual needs or background. Leaders and staff know children well and identify their individual needs, strengths and any barriers that may affect their learning, development or wellbeing. They use this knowledge effectively to adapt teaching, routines, resources and the environment so that all children achieve well.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children receiving additional funding, benefit from targeted support that is used to promote their learning and development. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive tailored and timely support, with staff making thoughtful adaptations to enable them to communicate, engage confidently and learn alongside their peers. Staff demonstrate a secure understanding of early identification and intervention and can explain the individual support and next steps for all children.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children facing other barriers to learning or wellbeing are identified promptly and their needs are considered when planning provision. Leaders work with parents and, where appropriate, external professionals to understand children's needs and secure appropriate support. This helps to ensure that children receive consistent support and are able to access the curriculum meaningfully. Leaders have high expectations for every child and continually review the impact of support so that children make good progress from their individual starting points.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children achieve well from their individual starting points and develop the knowledge, skills and confidence they need for their next stage of learning. All children typically develop across all areas of learning through a suitable range of planned and child-led experiences. They increasingly communicate their needs and ideas, develop their vocabulary, mathematical understanding and physical skills, and become more independent in everyday routines. Children demonstrate that they can apply what they have learned with increasing confidence.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children particularly enjoy the spacious outdoor areas, where they have daily opportunities to develop their skills, confidently explore, take risks and develop their physical skills, coordination and strength. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to learning receive effective adaptations and targeted support to help them participate and make progress alongside their peers. Older children show curiosity and engagement as they make observations, predict what might happen and listen carefully to each other during a whole group story session. They are introduced to new vocabulary, and their understanding is typically extended, creating rich opportunities for communication, language and thinking. For example, children explore and understand the difference between a 'cantaloupe' and the 'antelope' in the book. Consequently, children develop the age-appropriate knowledge, skills, confidence and

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Achievement Expected standard

independence they need for a successful transition to school.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have designed a curriculum that is suitable to support children's learning and development across all areas of learning. Leaders have identified the knowledge, skills and experiences children need. The curriculum is appropriately sequenced so that children have opportunities to revisit and practise important learning. Staff understand children's individual starting points, interests and learning needs and use this information to plan purposeful experiences.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Assessment is used appropriately to identify children's progress and inform their next steps. Staff can explain what children know and can do and identify where further support is needed, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing barriers to learning. However, the quality of staff's interactions is not consistently at the highest level. While some practitioners skilfully extend children's thinking and language by responding to their ideas and misconceptions, there are occasions when valuable opportunities to develop communication, language and mathematical thinking are not fully extended.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Overall, teaching is typically effective in supporting children to remain engaged and make progress. Staff provide appropriate modelling, explanations and support, and they adapt activities and routines to enable children with additional needs and abilities to participate successfully. Staff respond to children's interests and emerging understanding, helping them to make connections and develop new knowledge.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders have a clear vision and provide direction for the staff team. They have a secure understanding of the setting's strengths, children's needs and priorities for improvement. They have made purposeful changes since the previous inspection, including restructuring the nursery so younger children remain with their key person for longer, supporting secure relationships and greater confidence. The introduction of team leaders has strengthened oversight of practice and this has begun to make a positive impact on staff performance.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders maintain robust recruitment arrangements with appropriate checks in place. Overall, they support staff through regular supervision sessions, training, mentoring and opportunities to develop their roles, including further qualifications development. However, arrangements for staff's personalised professional development opportunities are not yet fully developed to further improve teaching quality. Staff speak positively about the support they receive from leaders. They value having an approachable leadership team and appreciate the opportunities to develop their knowledge and confidence. Overall, leadership and governance have a positive impact on children's experiences, welfare and outcomes. Leaders know children well and make decisions in their best interests, including for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those receiving additional funding. They work closely with key persons and families to identify individual needs and ensure

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

funding is used appropriately to provide targeted support. Leaders maintain effective partnerships with parents, who report that communication is effective and that their children make progress in confidence, social skills, vocabulary and communication.

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

Children are happy, confident and secure at this welcoming nursery. They arrive enthusiastically, separate from their parents with confidence and quickly become absorbed in activities that interest them. Children form warm and trusting relationships with familiar staff, confidently seeking comfort, reassurance or help when they need it. Children benefit from staff who understand them well and value their individual personalities, interests and ways of communicating.

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

Children experience a secure sense of belonging. They enjoy positive relationships with their peers, cooperate in play and show care and empathy towards one another. They learn to share, take turns, use good manners and manage their feelings with the support of familiar and consistent routines. Children respond confidently to expectations and demonstrate positive attitudes towards their learning. They sustain concentration when exploring activities that capture their interests, such as hunting for bugs, investigating soil,

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About this setting

sand and planting, and developing their physical skills outdoors with a wide range of equipment.

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About this setting

Younger children make meaningful choices about how they spend their time and are encouraged to become increasingly independent. They confidently explore the indoor and outdoor environments, take appropriate risks and persevere when developing new physical skills. Children develop the knowledge, skills and confidence needed for their next stage of learning. In the pre-school room, children engage enthusiastically in rich conversations, listen to others, make predictions and respond thoughtfully to new ideas. They develop communication, mathematical understanding and independence in preparation for school.

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About this setting

Children who require additional support are included and valued. Staff understand their individual needs and make appropriate adaptations so that children can participate, communicate their needs and develop greater independence. This is particularly evident for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, who are supported to engage alongside their peers and make great progress from their individual starting points.

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Next steps

Leaders should strengthen staff's skills across the wider curriculum, building on personalised professional development opportunities and evaluating how effectively this improves children's outcomes, so that the quality of teaching continues to an even high level. Leaders should continue to coach and support staff to make the most of opportunities to extend children's learning and ensure consistently high-quality interactions.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, children, parents, the special educational needs coordinator, and the designated safeguarding lead 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. Unique reference number (URN): EY464144

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Address:

Willow Cottage Nurseries, Owls Leat Eynsham WITNEY Oxfordshire OX29 4EH

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Willow Cottage Nurseries Ltd

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:40 - 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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