Ashbourne Day Nursery Sandbach

Ashbourne Day Nursery Sandbach
Unique reference number (URN): 2783428
Address: Big Hind Heath Farm, Hind Heath Road, Sandbach, CW11 3LZ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 22/03/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Ashbourne Day Nurseries Limited
Inspection report: 21 April 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
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.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
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.

Needs attention
Achievement Needs attention
Generally, children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and
disadvantaged children, make progress from their starting points, however, this is not
sustained.
Some children struggle to separate from adults. This means that they are not developing
social skills, such as interacting with others and developing confidence. However, this is not
the case for all children. Pre-school children in particular are confident and self-assured.
They greet visitors, make them pretend drinks and food and talk about their favourite things
to do at nursery.
Children typically develop their independence skills. They put on their own coats and shoes,
choose what they would like to eat for meals and select what they would like to play with
from a range of activities. Older children confidently serve their own foods and display
positive manners. Tasks, such as self-serve for younger children, are too difficult and this
impacts on children's confidence and self-control during these times.
Children demonstrate some knowledge about the world around them. For example, they
learn to grow vegetables and understand about recycling. They are developing a thirst for
knowledge.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention
Children enjoy playing with their friends and are familiar with the setting's routines. However,
at times, these routines do not meet children's needs. For example, during lunchtimes,
children wait for extended periods for their food. This causes older children to leave their
seats multiple times. While during snack times, younger children do not receive the positive
interactions from staff that they need. This leads to children becoming distracted and
impacts on their behaviour and interactions with others.
Children generally behave well. Staff encourage positive behaviour. For example, they
remind children to use their manners and to say please and thank you. Staff use specific
praise for children's achievements and encourage children to keep trying when at first they
do not succeed. For example, when tying bobbles to string, children receive encouragement
from staff to keep trying. Strategies are in place to support children who require additional
support. For example, children access 'motivation bags' containing their favourite resources.
Consequently, children develop their resilience.
Leaders and staff follow clear procedures, including welfare checks, for when children do
not attend. Leaders ensure that children have access to their full entitlement. This helps to
keep children safe and promotes their regular attendance.

Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention
Although children build attachments with their key person, these relationships do not meet
their needs. For example, staff do not support children effectively to separate from their key
person, engage in activities or encourage play. This impacts on children's willingness to
interact with peers and hinders their learning opportunities. In addition to this, staff do not
recognise when it is appropriate to adapt individual children's routines. For example, when
children are visibly falling asleep, staff do not offer them a rest. This impacts on children's
wellbeing.
Children develop the knowledge and skills to keep themselves healthy. They learn about
healthy foods, plant their own fruits and vegetables and are offered a nutritious diet.
Children benefit from access to a large and well-resourced outdoor space. They discover
the importance of physical exercise.
Staff monitor and support sleeping children effectively to ensure their safety. They complete
records of accidents and administration of medication, and share these with parents and
families.
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
While leaders have a vision for what they want children to learn, this is not yet embedded
into practice and consistently implemented by all staff. Staff provide activities that do not
consistently meet the specific needs of children across all areas of learning. Older children
engage in activities, such as counting and comparing animals. However, young children do
not routinely hear mathematical language or engage in activities that build on what they
already know and can do. This means that children do not access a curriculum that
promotes confidence in and enjoyment of mathematics.
Generally, children develop their language skills through back-and-forth conversations with
their friends. However, staff do not help children to develop these skills further. For example,
they do not consistently build on children's play, introduce new words to enhance their
vocabulary or use questioning effectively. This means that children do not hear or acquire
the language to build on what they already know.
Children enjoy reading books, join in with familiar songs and generally enjoy exploring their
environment. They have plenty of opportunities to develop their physical skills in the well-
resourced and spacious outdoor areas. Children laugh as they run around playing football
with their friends and throwing balls to one another.
Inclusion Needs attention
Leaders do not provide consistent support to all children, who may face barriers to their
learning, including those who have previously been known to social care, or have had recent
changes in their lives. Leaders gather information about children's individual home
circumstances and individual needs. For example, they find out about children's individual
medical, dietary and cultural requirements. However, they do not use this information to
provide consistent support or to make adaptations to daily routines. This means that

children's personal and emotional wellbeing are not sufficiently well supported.
Staff complete regular assessments of children's learning and the required written progress
check when children are aged between 2 and 3 years. They share this information with
parents and external professionals. This means that potential delays in children's
development are identified and requests are made for additional external support. Staff
follow the advice given by professionals. For example, following external advice, staff have
implemented a now-and-next board. This helps children to understand the routines and
expectations.
Leaders make sure that the use of additional funding is monitored and invested in resources
that provide opportunities for learning. Staff monitor children's attendance and ensure that
children who receive funding receive their entitlement.
Leadership and governance Needs attention
Leaders observe staff's practice, provide feedback on their strengths and set actions to
improve their skills. However, this has not been effective in raising the quality and
consistency of teaching to a high standard. This means that not all children benefit from a
robust curriculum that promotes their development.
Leaders do not consistently implement the setting's complaints procedure. They do not
consistently keep a record of the outcome or share records with Ofsted, as required.
Leaders do demonstrate that they investigate complaints raised. However, their procedures
are not in line with the requirements of the early years foundation stage statutory framework
to maintain and share records on request.
Leaders ensure that staff are suitable for their roles through following a robust recruitment
process. There are procedures in place to ensure staff can access mandatory training, such
as first aid and safeguarding.
Leaders use additional funding appropriately to support children with special educational
needs and/or disabilities. They consider staff wellbeing and workload when making
decisions. For example, leaders deploy more staff than legally required so that children
benefit from increased adult support.
Leaders and staff work positively with families, overall. For example, they provide flexible
settling-in sessions and invite them to attend stay-and-play sessions. Staff keep parents
informed about their child's progress through daily communications and regular parents'
evenings.

What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children receive a warm greeting from familiar staff. They are generally happy and older
children are eager to join in play with their friends. However, some staff do not sufficiently
support young children to settle effectively. They do not encourage children to join in with
group activities or to engage in play with their peers. Consequently, children's daily
experiences and opportunities for learning are variable.
Leaders have an idea of what they want children to learn and have taken some steps to
implementing this across the setting. However, this is not embedded or monitored
effectively, which means not all children benefit from quality teaching. Staff do not use the
information they gain from their observations and assessments of children's development to
plan and implement a range of meaningful learning opportunities across the curriculum. For
example, staff do not routinely plan for or provide experiences that support children's
understanding of mathematics. They do not consistently support children's early
communication skills or extend their learning during activities. As a result, not all children
have enough opportunities to develop their skills and knowledge and build on what they
know and can do.
Children develop some independence skills. For example, children wash their hands, put on
their own coats and serve their own foods. However, staff do not consistently consider
children's age and stage of development and their expectations are too high. For example,
younger children struggle to use tongs to grasp their foods. Staff expect all children to wait
for their friends before they eat and younger children struggle with this concept,
Older children talk about their favourite foods and are offered a balanced diet. This supports
children's understanding of positive hygiene practices and how to keep themselves healthy.
There are systems in place to support children with allergies and intolerances. Staff ensure
that there is an allergy monitor in each room and use a coloured plate system to identify
children with dietary requirements. This helps to keep children safe. Children benefit from
fresh air and exercise. They enjoy playing in the spacious outdoor area. This supports
children's developing physical skills. Children benefit from sun safety policies that leaders
implement. They know to wear sunscreen and benefit from well-ventilated rooms and
shaded areas outdoors.
Next steps
To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the
following actions by the assigned date:
Action Completion Date
implement a curriculum that supports the development
of all children and meets their individual needs
10/07/2026

Inspectors:
Kerry Maddock
Savine Holgate
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2783428
Address:
Big Hind Heath Farm
Action Completion Date
strengthen the monitoring of staff's performance to
improve their practice, increase their knowledge of the
curriculum and their interactions with the children
10/07/2026
ensure that key-person arrangements, care practices
and routines are effective in meeting children's
individual needs and help them to develop positive
relationships and attitudes to learning
10/07/2026
ensure that all complaints and their outcomes are
recorded and shared with Ofsted upon request
10/07/2026
About this inspection
The inspectors spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator and
children during the 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.
We carried out this inspection as a result of a risk assessment, following information we
received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information
about this.
The inspection started on 21 April 2026, inspectors returned on 29 May 2026 to gather
additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and
gathering additional evidence policy.

Hind Heath Road
Sandbach
CW11 3LZ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 22/03/2024
Registered person: Ashbourne Day Nurseries Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Local authority: Cheshire East
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 21 April 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
Total number of places
70
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
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.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
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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