Non-maintained nurseries
Teaching and learning
Settings ensure that good teaching leads to children developing a wide range of skills effectively through their play, and as a result most make at least good progress in their learning from their individual starting points.
What’s going well
- Most children develop their skills well in a range of different contexts.
- Most practitioners provide rich opportunities for children to develop a wide range of skills through carefully planned activities and well-designed learning areas.
- Many settings implement the Curriculum for Funded Non-maintained Nursery Settings successfully.
- In the strongest examples, settings ensure a good balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning with practitioners recognising correctly when to intervene, and when to let the children work things out for themselves.
- Overall, practitioners plan experiences that capture children’s curiosity well. In the best examples, they ensure that the children are immersed in awe and wonder of the natural world and the way things develop and grow.
- Many practitioners provide purposeful learning experiences for children based on the world they live in and their immediate locality.
- In the strongest practice practitioners provide children with long periods of play, where they can revisit activities that they are interested in and allow time for them to engage deeply in their learning.
What needs to improve
- In a minority of settings, the use of assessments and observations to respond to individual children’s needs and to deepen and extend their learning are still in the early stages of development.
- A minority of practitioners do not always make effective use of observations to help them plan and teach the next steps in children’s knowledge, understanding and skills well enough.
- In a few settings, practitioners do not always plan purposefully enough to develop children’s skills, especially in the outdoor areas.
Well-being, care, support and guidance
Settings continue to provide good levels of care, support and guidance to children that impacts positively on their well-being.
What’s going well
- Settings continue to provide good levels of care, support and guidance to children that impact positively on their well-being.
- Many practitioners support children skilfully during play and daily routines that keep children safe, whilst also encouraging their independence and respecting their privacy.
- Many settings establish regular, predictable routines that provide children with a sense of security, enabling them to feel comfortable and at ease.
- Many children settle well and form strong bonds with their peers and practitioners, displaying high levels of enjoyment in their play and in their learning. These children often make confident choices and decisions about how they spend their time.
- In nearly all settings, practitioners encourage healthy lifestyles and promote children’s safety and well-being successfully.
- Many settings have robust procedures to support children with additional learning needs.
What needs to improve
- In a very few instances, leaders adopt generic risk assessments that lack specific details about the setting, or risk assessments are not reviewed regularly to reflect the setting’s current situation.
Leading and improving
Leadership in most settings is strong, with leaders having a clear vision about how to improve their provision to ensure worthwhile experiences for children in safe and nurturing environments.
What’s going well
- Leadership in most settings continues to be strong.
- Leaders have a clear vision for providing worthwhile experiences for children in safe and nurturing environments. Nearly all settings put well-being at the heart of everything they do.
- In most cases, successful leaders communicate their vision clearly through their actions and through strong relationships with children and their families.
- Many develop valuable self-evaluation processes that feed effectively into their improvement plans. They identify their strengths and areas for improvement accurately and set appropriate actions to bring about the desired improvements.
- Leaders in many settings have high expectations and invest purposefully in their staff. They complete regular, effective appraisals and supervisions. They create and maintain a strong team ethos.
- Many settings understand the importance of making and maintaining strong professional partnerships, such as with families, primary schools and advisory teachers.
- Many settings make good links with their local communities that allow children to develop a sense of belonging in their area.
What needs to improve
- In a few settings, leaders do not always prioritise the most important areas for improvement well enough, tending to focus on areas of interest rather than key areas for improvement.
- In a few settings, not all members of staff receive suitable appraisals. As a result, they do not always know what is expected of them, or what actions they need to take to secure improvements.
- In a very few settings, supervision and appraisal procedures are not always consistently implemented or formalised.
Overview of recommendations from inspections
In the 2023 – 2024 academic year, Estyn inspected 90 non-maintained settings.
38
Thirty-eight (42.2%) settings were given a recommendation to improve their practice in some way. Of those, 26 settings were given a recommendation to provide or expand opportunities to improve children’s skills; half of those recommendations were to develop children’s Welsh language skills.
23
Twenty-three (25.6%) settings were given a recommendation to improve or develop use of observations. About half of those recommendations were about using observations to help plan the next steps in children’s development, the others were variously focusing on ensuring children make progress, supporting children’s learning and development, and using observations to plan experiences that meet each child’s individual needs.
16
Sixteen (17.8%) settings were given a recommendation related to health and safety, including completion of risk assessments and ensuring that parents/carers sign accident/incident forms.
15
Fifteen (15.6%) settings were given a recommendation about outdoor area, to either make more use of or develop or improve the quality of outdoor resources.
10
Ten (11.1%) settings were given a recommendation to address areas of non-compliance.
9
Nine (10%) settings were given a recommendation about staff appraisals, and nine (10%) were given a recommendation about staff development.
Effective practice identified during inspection
Teaching and learning:
Tiggy’s Day Care Nursery
In Tiggy’s Day Care Nursery, practitioners use observations proactively to write down children’s interests and fascinations as they play. They place their written notes on a planning board that is then used by all practitioners to plan experiences and adapt environments to be meaningful and relevant to children’s interests. For example, when children are observed pretending to fix a cupboard in the role play area, practitioners enrich the area the following day with tools relating to carpenters, plumbers and electricians.
Care, support and well-being
Little explorers
In Little Explorers, children thrive at the setting and respond very well to the numerous opportunities to develop independence. They serve themselves at snack time, peel and cut their fruit, pour their own milk and take their plates to the sink. Older children find their name cards to write their name on their pictures and all children learn to put on their waterproofs and boots before outside play.
Leadership
Chuckles Day Care
Leaders at Chuckles Day Care have established exceptional links with a range of partners. They work closely with local schools through activities such as forest school sessions and sports day visits. Leaders work with the local authority early years advisory teacher to improve standards and share good practice with other settings. Leaders plan family and parent workshops throughout the year, focusing on local community needs and priorities, such as a healthy food workshop and cooking days. They provide food and menu cards for families to use at home. The setting has close involvement in transition projects, supporting children and families moving from the nursery into the local schools.