Funded non-maintained nursery and childcare settings
Early Insights 2025-2026
Teaching and Learning
Most children make good progress from their starting points and develop a wide range of skills successfully through purposeful play and exploration. While many practitioners plan engaging learning experiences, promote early language and literacy effectively and use assessment information well, a few settings do not identify next steps in learning accurately enough. A few settings struggle to support the progressive development of children’s Welsh language skills or provide enough opportunities for children to celebrate cultural diversity.
What’s going well
- Most children make good progress from their individual starting points and develop a wide range of skills effectively. Many practitioners create stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environments that encourage children to become curious, independent learners.
- Many practitioners have a secure understanding of how children learn through play. They plan learning experiences based on children’s interests and fascinations.
- Many practitioners model language well. They regularly use books in both the English and Welsh language to stimulate children’s curiosity and foster an early interest in books. They provide purposeful mark-making opportunities through role play and meaningful real-life contexts.
- Practitioners in most Welsh-medium settings develop children’s Welsh language skills well and immerse children in the language through songs, rhymes and purposeful play. Practitioners in many English-medium settings introduce Welsh effectively through routines, stories and play.
- Many practitioners use observations and assessments well to identify children’s progress and inform future learning experiences. In the strongest settings, practitioners carry out regular observations, share information effectively and adapt provision skilfully to respond to children’s needs.
What needs to improve
- In a few settings, observation and assessment processes do not always identify the next steps in learning accurately. This hampers practitioners’ ability to provide effective learning experiences.
- In a few settings, practitioners are not confident in their own Welsh language skills and consequently, use the Welsh language infrequently. In these settings, children’s Welsh language skills are less well developed.
- In a very few settings, opportunities for children to explore and celebrate cultural diversity are underdeveloped.
Well-being, care, support and guidance
Settings continue to support children’s well-being effectively through warm relationships, strong care and support arrangements, and close collaboration with parents and external agencies. In a very few settings, leaders do not maintain appropriate written records or risk assessments.
What’s going well
- Nearly all settings provide strong care, support and guidance that impact positively on children’s well-being.
- In many settings, practitioners promote children’s independence successfully by allowing them to make purposeful choices about their play, learning and routines.
- Children form warm and trusting relationships with practitioners and benefit from nurturing environments where they feel safe, valued and listened to.
- Nearly all practitioners have a secure understanding of their responsibilities in relation to safeguarding and children’s well-being. They encourage children to develop healthy lifestyles through regular physical activity and healthy eating.
- Many practitioners work closely with parents, carers and external agencies to identify and respond promptly to children’s additional learning needs. They implement purposeful support strategies and benefit from strong multi-agency collaboration to ensure that children receive appropriate care and support.
What needs to improve
- In a very few settings, leaders do not maintain sufficiently detailed written records, risk assessments do not identify all potential hazards and practitioners do not apply safeguarding procedures consistently enough.
Leading and improving
Many leaders provide strong direction for their settings through effective teamwork, professional learning and purposeful self-evaluation and improvement planning. As a result, practitioners are well supported to improve their practice. However, in a few settings, leaders do not identify the most important improvement priorities clearly enough or evaluate the impact of changes effectively.
What’s going well
- Leadership across many settings is strong and effective, with a clear focus on children’s well-being, learning and development.
- Many leaders establish collaborative teams where practitioners work together effectively and understand their roles and responsibilities well.
- Many leaders secure continuous improvement successfully through effective self-evaluation and improvement planning. They identify strengths and priorities for development accurately and monitor the impact of changes carefully.
- Most leaders ensure that practitioners benefit from suitable professional learning opportunities. They work closely with partners such as Early Years Advisory Teachers to strengthen professional knowledge and improve practice.
- Many leaders make effective use of funding, including grants to support improvements and meet children’s needs.
- Many settings establish beneficial partnerships with parents, carers and schools. They make purposeful use of the wider community to enrich children’s learning experiences.
What needs to improve
- In a few settings, self-evaluation processes do not identify the most important priorities clearly enough or evaluate the impact of provision effectively.
Overview of recommendations from inspections
Estyn inspected 90 non-maintained nursery settings during the 2025–2026 academic year. Of these, 89 received at least one recommendation and 4 were placed in a follow-up category. Inspectors made 190 recommendations in total.
Sixty-five settings (72%) received at least one recommendation relating to teaching and learning.
- Thirty-two settings (36%) received a recommendation to provide or improve opportunities for children to develop their skills.
- Twenty-eight settings (31%) received a recommendation to use observations more effectively to plan children’s next steps in learning.
- Twenty-two settings (24%) received a recommendation to provide more opportunities for children to learn about different cultures and diversity within society.
Twenty-one settings (23%) received at least one recommendation relating to well-being, care, support and guidance.
- These recommendations concerned matters such as maintaining sufficiently detailed written records, recording staff attendance accurately, and holding and recording fire drills regularly.
Fifty-seven settings (63%) received at least one recommendation relating to leadership and management.
- Twenty-four settings (27%) received a recommendation to strengthen self-evaluation procedures.
- Twenty-two settings (24%) received a recommendation to address areas of non-compliance identified during inspection.
- Fifteen settings (17%) received a recommendation relating to staff development, including formalising or improving appraisal and supervision arrangements.
Effective practice identified during inspection
Meithrinfa Cae’r Ffair
Read about how Meithrinfa Cae’r Ffair’s leaders involve practitioners, parents and the community in children’s learning.
Allsorts Nursery
Find out how practitioners at Allsorts Nursery respond to children’s interests by providing them with opportunities to experiment with their mark making and correspond with pen pals from another setting.
Berriew Pre-school
Discover how leaders at Berriew Pre-school make effective use of grant funding to support learning and build strong relationships with families.
Learn how practitioners in Berriew Pre-school develop children’s schematic play through careful observations and purposeful use of the environment.