Elm Lane Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision requires improvement There is new leadership in the nursery since the last inspection. They have made positive improvements to the partnerships with parents and the support for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, the quality of education remains variable.

Leaders know what they want children to learn at the nursery. However, they do not ensure that the curriculum is delivered effectively. Staff plan activities that are appropriate for the children's ages and stages of development.

For example, they provide sand and water, to help children develop physical skills by filling and pouring. However, sta...ff interactions with children often lack a clear focus and sufficient challenge. This does not support children to make consistently good progress.

Staff and children develop affectionate bonds, which fosters children's sense of security. Children are happy on arrival and confidently make choices about their play. Staff provide a safe environment and stimulating resources, which spark children's curiosity.

For instance, children are keen to make prints with paint and toy animals. However, when children begin to explore activities in their own way, staff are sometimes overly directive and do not allow them to express themselves. As a result, some children lose interest and display unwanted behaviours.

When this happens, staff are not always clear about the expectations for behaviour, so children continue with actions, such as throwing water. Therefore, although staff have high expectations for children, these are not consistently implemented in practice.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

New leaders are committed to securing positive outcomes for children and have built relationships with staff, children and parents.

They have identified that some staff require additional support to raise the quality of their practice. However, they have not embedded effective methods to ensure that all staff know how to deliver the curriculum well. Therefore, some weaknesses in the quality of education persist.

Leaders understand that effective communication is key to successful learning. Staff provide some focused activities, aimed at boosting children's attention, listening and speaking. However, teaching is not effective and does not help children engage with and enjoy the experiences.

For example, staff speak too loudly for children to be heard and do not stop to listen to their ideas. Furthermore, staff do not consistently encourage children's speech throughout their play and learning. Consequently, children are not supported to make the best possible progress in their communication and language development.

Too often, staff play alongside children without a clear idea of what they want them to learn. They do not consistently respond to children's emerging interests or extend their learning. As a result, children's behaviour starts to deteriorate.

Staff attempt to intervene and support, but there is an inconsistent approach. Overall, staff do not give children clear explanations about what is expected from them and how they are impacting others. Therefore, children do not learn to moderate their behaviour.

Leaders have developed strong links with professionals from the local authority, who provide helpful advice and support. These links have enabled them to make positive improvements, particularly in the provision for children with SEND. Leaders have strengthened assessment procedures, to identify when children may benefit from extra help in their learning.

They support staff to implement children's individual learning plans and foster their good progress.All children, including babies and children with SEND, are supported to acquire good personal care skills. For instance, they learn to feed themselves with increasing control and progress to serving their own food and drinks.

These experiences support children's self-esteem and are good preparation for starting school.Staff support children's understanding of good health and hygiene. They are positive role models and discuss issues, such as the importance of handwashing.

Staff provide children with nutritious meals and some use mealtimes as an opportunity to talk about healthy eating. They support children to brush their teeth at the nursery and provide activities for children to practise this, using pretend teeth.Partnerships with parents are good.

Leaders have strengthened communication, to ensure that parents are informed about their children's learning and achievements. There are opportunities for parents to share children's experiences at nursery, such as having Christmas dinner together. Parents speak highly of the staff and say that children enjoy and benefit from attending the nursery.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage, the provider must: Due date implement a curriculum which is fully ambitious and consistently challenging for all children to ensure they make good progress 28/02/2025 provide effective support and supervision to help staff raise the quality of teaching to a consistently good level, with particular regard to promoting all children's language and communication skills 28/02/2025 support staff to develop and apply consistent, shared strategies, to help children understand expectations and begin to regulate their behaviour.

28/02/2025