Ham Drive Nursery Daycare

Ham Drive Nursery Daycare
Unique reference number (URN): 2825908
Address: Ham Drive Nursery School, Ham Drive, Plymouth, PL2 2NJ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 19/12/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: The Plymouth Nursery Schools Federation Governing Body
Inspection report: 10 June 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.

Strong standard
Expected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Leaders and staff prioritise building children's behaviour and positive attitudes to others.
Children learn the rules and routines of the setting and behave very positively. Staff
consistently support children's understanding and ability to create good relationships with
their peers. For example, they remind children throughout the day of the setting's motto that
'We are kind' and that they need to use 'kind hands' when they want a toy that another child
has. Staff are role models who show kindness and respect to children and their colleagues.
They provide gentle prompts to support children to understand the expectations in an age-
appropriate way and provide children with an abundance of praise. Children respond quickly
to the prompts, and they play extremely harmoniously together.
Children show high levels of understanding when following the expected routines and
demonstrate that these are embedded. Children benefit from these consistent and well-
established events in the day that support their ability to regulate their behaviour. They build
strong foundations of effective behaviours when playing, including for children with barriers
to learning. For instance, children learn that it is time to stop their play to move on to another
activity, or events such as snack and lunchtime, and do this positively and calmly.
Leaders and staff effectively monitor children's attendance. For instance, they use an online
system to identify when children have not attended. They look at the reasons that children
cannot attend and identify where parents may need support with issues and barriers to
getting to the setting. They also remind parents of the benefits to children's development
and building positive routines for children's later education. They work closely with parents
and refer to outside agencies to ensure that parents and families receive help and to
promote regular attendance.
Achievement Expected standard
Children typically make progress from their starting points across all areas of learning in the
early years foundation stage. This includes children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities and those who face other barriers to their learning and development. Gaps in
learning are promptly identified and interventions put in place.
Overall, children make continuous progress in their educational outcomes, and they are
prepared for their next stage of development. However, some children do not fully extend
their independence and social skills at mealtimes. Also, children typically build effective
communication skills, but staff are not always consistently using strategies to promote
communication and understanding for all children, including those with speech and
language delays, to fully maximise their progress.

Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Leaders and staff foster a culture that promotes children's wellbeing. They build effective
relationships with all children. They are attentive to each child's individual care needs and
adapt routines to support their happiness. For instance, when children have not slept well
during the night due to teething and find themselves struggling to settle, staff offer additional
cuddles and an earlier sleep than their normal routine. Children wake from the sleep smiling
and show they are happy and settled by leaving their key person to play.
Overall, daily routines promote children's health and developing independence. For
instance, children enjoy time outside in the fresh air and learn how to wash their hands
before eating. They enjoy the nutritious snacks provided at snack time, and staff ensure they
only provide foods that are safe to eat for children with dietary and allergy requirements.
Although staff provide healthy snacks and offer some conversations to children, social
interactions and good manners are not consistently promoted. Also, staff do not always
extend children's understanding of healthy food choices or promote children's ability to build
their independence and challenge themselves to tend to their own needs. For example, staff
bring foods and drinks to children, and children are expected to sit and wait instead of
learning how to do this themselves. This particularly limits the older children's independence
and building on what they can already do. For example, they are not practising and
extending their physical skills, such as the pouring, pinching and scooping that they are
starting to develop at other times in the sand tray.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders and staff have introduced an ambitious and clear curriculum to develop key skills,
such as children being able to regulate their emotions and build effective physical skills.
Children learn the 3 key expectations of the setting of being kind, listening and helping. This
supports their understanding of how to interact positively with others and promotes their
early social skill development. Staff get to know children and their families well and use this
information to ensure that children widen their experiences and overcome barriers to
learning. For example, they plan additional opportunities for children to run and move in
open spaces when parents say these opportunities are limited in the home environment.
Although staff know children well, on occasions, they do not always fully promote progress
towards children's next steps and adapt activities to introduce additional challenge. For
instance, staff know a child is working on developing accurate counting, but they do not
always support this when the child is trying to count.
Staff place a priority on building a love of books. For instance, they regularly read with
children in the setting and support reading at home with story bags that parents regularly
borrow. They model language and introduce unknown words. They narrate children's play
and introduce new vocabulary. For example, they encourage children to think if brushes are
'soft' or 'hard' and talk about the sand being 'squishy'. Overall, staff support early
mathematical skills. They introduce words for shapes and capacity, such as 'more' and 'full',
which children use independently in their play.

Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders and staff are committed to creating an inclusive culture. They take time to get to
know all children and gather relevant information from parents about their children before
they start at the setting. This helps staff to identify children who require support as soon as
they start and promotes partnership work with parents. Leaders and staff are proactive in
identifying how best to progress children. For instance, they hold regular review meetings
with parents and relevant outside agencies. This means they are getting the support and
advice they need to close gaps in learning and development, or when there are other
barriers to progress.
Leaders and staff have systems in place to monitor children's ongoing learning and identify
gaps in learning and development and barriers to learning. They make adaptations to
reduce barriers to learning. For instance, they introduce visual pictures for children who
cannot hear as well as their peers. However, staff do not always have the relevant training to
consistently support children and fully extend their learning. Although children make
progress, this is not as swift and effective as it could be. For example, not all staff use the
agreed strategy to use visual pictures and signing to model communication, and those that
use it, do not do this consistently.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders have a clear understanding of the setting's strengths and the areas they want to
improve. They evaluate practice regularly and take purposeful action to enhance children's
experiences and support their learning and wellbeing. For example, they have invested in
improving the outdoor environment to strengthen children's transitions and increase
opportunities for outdoor learning. As a result, children spend more time outdoors and move
confidently between rooms. Leaders work closely with parents, carers and outside agencies,
such as health visitors, to support children's progress and build consistency in learning and
care.
Leaders offer staff regular professional development and training relevant to the age range
of the children. For instance, all staff receive training on interacting with and supporting the
learning of babies. However, the process of supervision and identifying specific areas of
development for individual staff is not yet fully embedded to promote teaching to the highest
level and to meet the specific needs of staff's key children. Leaders do, however, focus on
staff wellbeing, and staff comment on how much they feel valued and enjoy working with the
team. This is reflected in the happy and positive environment staff create for children and
families.

What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are happy and settled in this nurturing setting. They benefit from an individual
settling-in process that builds the confidence and security of both children and their families
over time, and at their own pace. Staff spend time getting to know the families and needs of
the children before they start. Children and their parents develop positive relationships with
staff. Children, including younger babies and new children, quickly leave parents and go to
their key person for cuddles as they arrive. They enjoy the warm and kind interactions that
staff provide and demonstrate they feel safe and secure. They engage in the activities and
resources around them and feel confident to leave staff very soon after arriving to play
independently. Children are prepared well to move on to the nursery linked to the setting
and become familiar with staff and the environment. For example, they walk through the
room each morning when moving to the 'sensory area'. Children show confidence and
enjoyment as they happily wave and say hello to children and staff while walking through the
room. They benefit from spending daily time with staff and children from the toddler and pre-
school room in the wraparound care offered in their room and during holidays when they join
with the older age ranges.
Children enjoy the curriculum that leaders and staff have put in place and typically make
progress from their starting points. For example, children show focus and excitement when
developing their physical skills inside and outside. They climb and balance on soft-play
equipment inside, challenging themselves to stand on top and jump off. They build their
coordination and strength on ride-on toys outside, where they develop their sense of space
and thinking about the safety of others. They move around the area avoiding other children
while they move as quickly as they can.
Children benefit from regular attendance. Staff use partnerships with parents and carers to
highlight the importance of positive and routine attendance. They inform parents of the
benefits to children's development. Children with special educational needs and/or
disabilities and disadvantaged children attend regularly, which supports their ongoing
progress.
Next steps
Leaders should strengthen professional development, so staff consistently adapt teaching
to extend children's learning and meet individual learning and development needs.
Leaders and staff should ensure agreed communication strategies are used consistently
so that children, particularly those needing additional support, make the strongest
possible progress in their communication and language development.
Leaders and staff should make better use of mealtimes to develop children's
independence, social skills and understanding of healthy food choices.

Inspector:
Rebecca Martin
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2825908
Address:
Ham Drive Nursery School
Ham Drive
Plymouth
PL2 2NJ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 19/12/2024
Registered person: The Plymouth Nursery Schools Federation Governing Body
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:45 - 18:00
Local authority: Plymouth
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 10 June 2026
Children numbers
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator
and parents 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.

Age range of children at the time of inspection
1 to 4
Total number of places
15
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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