URN EY346334 · Inspected 2026-05-27 · Published 2026-07-24 · Inspector: Bridget Copson Alanda Phillips
Kiddi Caru Nursery Unique reference number (URN): EY346334 Address: Emperor Way, Exeter Business Park, Exeter, EX1 3QS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 12/12/2006 Registers: EYR Registered person: The Childcare Corporation Limited Inspection report: 27 May 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 Achievement Strong standard Children develop excellent skills to support their future learning. From a young age, they develop high levels of independence, self-confidence and resilience. Children have extremely positive attitudes to learning and great resilience. They persevere to overcome challenges with nurturing staff support, showing a huge pride in their achievements. Older children benefit from a wealth of support to help them prepare for starting school. This includes a booklet showing the different schools and uniforms and activities to prepare them emotionally. Children's physical development is nurtured from the youngest age through carefully sequenced activities to build their confidence and skills. They are excellent communicators, expressing their needs in various ways, from basic sign language to increasingly adventurous vocabulary. Children with barriers to their learning benefit from very successful adaptations, such as staff using words in their home languages and picture prompts, to nurture their communication skills. Children develop increasing mathematics skills. Younger children learn to count and compare sizes, and older children learn about length and calculation. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard Leaders create an extremely positive and inclusive environment. Staff are particularly skilled at embedding the consistent and carefully developed routines that ensure steady progression throughout the nursery. Children know the routines extremely well, and this helps them to feel safe. Babies' routines are consistently matched with home routines to ensure that they feel secure. Staff maintain highly nurturing environments to sustain children's concentration as well as time to play with energy and excitement. They interact warmly with all children, and there is often laughter and joy across the setting. Children develop very warm relationships and a love of learning. Leaders and staff work very closely with parents to sustain high levels of attendance. This includes their extremely successful adaptations and support for children with barriers to their learning. Staff are excellent role models for children. Leaders and staff know the children very well and make immediate adaptations to support their behaviour. They provide clear and consistent guidance to help children of all ages develop extremely positive attitudes and behaviour. Older children take pride in achieving staff's high expectations. For example, they take roles such as 'tidying helper' and wear their medals with pride when they complete their tasks. This helps to embed a strong sense of shared responsibility. Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard Leaders know the children extremely well. They use this knowledge to adapt their approach to meet each child's changing needs and to ensure that they receive the precise support that they need. Staff form extremely close bonds with children to help them feel safe and secure. They weave babies' routines and any adaptations into the day to ensure that everyone, including those who are disadvantaged, are seamlessly included. Babies benefit from gentle and respectful care. Staff follow safe sleep and eating procedures consistently to ensure that children of all ages are safe. Children's safety and emotional wellbeing are given high priority. Leaders ensure that staff all have an excellent understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff sensitively guide children on keeping safe. For example, children stay close to the wall and hold the handrail carefully as they move down the stairs. Children develop extremely healthy lifestyles. They enjoy frequent garden play with an abundance of activities to build their physical skills. Children eat highly nutritious meals and snacks and learn about healthy food through growing projects and cooking. They learn to manage their own care needs from a young age. They consistently develop healthy habits, such as identifying when they need to wear sun cream and a hat to go outside, and enthusiastically discuss their daily toothbrushing. Curriculum and teaching Strong standard Leaders have an in-depth oversight of the curriculum and the needs of every child attending. Staff plan and deliver a broad and exciting curriculum that is tailored to meet each child's uniqueness and developmental needs. They have high expectations of children's achievements, providing clear targets to build further on their learning. There is a strong focus on communication and language progression. Staff working with babies encourage high levels of communication, such as through narration, sharing books and responding intuitively to their non-verbal gestures. They sequence children's learning skilfully to help them build a rich and broad vocabulary. For example, toddlers thoroughly enjoy 'songs bag' activities to help them learn new words. Older children learn more complex words, such as what 'tolerate' means. Literacy is embedded throughout the nursery, with children of all ages showing a passion for reading. Babies and toddlers spontaneously choose books for staff to read and listen intently. Older children work in collaborative groups to build stories together, with staff carefully structuring the developing storylines. Staff provide meaningful adaptations to ensure that children with barriers to their learning are included, such as using words in children's home languages and toys associated with songs. Highly effective teaching and skilled interactions help to ensure that children are extremely motivated to learn. Inclusion Strong standard Leaders establish a fully inclusive culture throughout the nursery in which they work swiftly to identify and address barriers to children's learning. This includes children who are disadvantaged, with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and who are known to children's social care. Staff work in very close partnership with parents to gain an excellent understanding of each child's needs. They consistently assess children's development and any changes in their lives to ensure that the adaptations they make have the most impact. For example, they provide a wealth of experiences for children who do not otherwise have outdoor play opportunities and resources to enable children to regulate their emotions safely. For children who speak languages other than English, staff use adaptations skilfully, such as conversation cubes and word games to build their language skills. Leaders work extremely successfully with other external professionals for guidance, training and to support parents in gaining any additional funding. They ensure that staff receive coaching to include every child fully. This includes specific training to support trauma and emotional wellbeing and for children with SEND. Leaders and staff use additional funding, such as the early years pupil premium, to provide bespoke activities and resources. This helps to ensure that each child's learning is enriched and every child is included and able to thrive. Leadership and governance Strong standard Leaders have an in-depth overview of the setting and the needs of the children and families. They have high expectations in all aspects of the provision and work closely with staff, parents and external professionals when making decisions in children's best interests. Leaders are aspirational and reflective. They strive for excellence, continually identifying further areas to improve. For example, more staff are training to become mathematics champions to enrich children's learning even further. Leaders review and build on the curriculum continually to enhance the experiences of disadvantaged children. For example, children observe ducklings hatch and grow and join in forest school sessions to learn about natural life. The well-established and consistent team of staff values training, and leaders ensure that this is relevant to the changing needs of children. For example, they have completed training to deliver 'sing and sign' sessions. This has had a significant impact for children with barriers to their communication and language development. Other staff have completed training that has helped them nurture babies' development even further. Staff feel extremely valued and supported regarding their wellbeing and workload. They benefit from many schemes to support this, such as staff nominations and awards and schemes to meet their health and wellbeing needs. Parents share extremely positive feedback regarding the care their children receive. Leaders and staff fully involve parents in their child's learning journey and provide resources to enhance this at home, such as through a book-lending library. What it's like to be a child at this setting Children flourish in this extremely warm and welcoming setting. All children develop extremely close and loving bonds with familiar staff who know them very well and provide Inspectors: Bridget Copson personalised care and support. As such, babies and children of all ages feel safe and secure and move around exploring freely and confidently. Staff quickly identify any barriers to children's learning and attendance and make meaningful adjustments to ensure that they are included and achieving equally in every aspect of the provision. Children benefit from a broad and exciting curriculum and skilful staff interactions. This helps to ensure that every child fulfils their potential. Leaders enrich children's learning even further to help them understand their community and the world. For example, children learn about environmental sustainability in 'Eco Schools' activities, meet members of the local community and join Spanish sessions. Children are highly motivated to learn. From a young age, babies are extremely curious and delight in exploring the wealth of sensory activities. Toddlers join in actions songs with great enthusiasm and act out their home experiences while role playing with staff. Older children search for items on 'scavenger hunts' outside, efficiently marking off what they find and gaining a rich vocabulary. Throughout the nursery, children communicate extremely well, and staff nurture this for those with barriers to their learning, such as through signing. Children develop a love of stories. They create freely with exciting and innovative activities, such as painting with coloured ice blocks. Staff skilfully thread mathematical teaching throughout the activities. Children gain a wealth of skills for their future learning, helping them to become confident, resilient and independent. They behave very well and develop an extremely positive sense of belonging. Children enjoy looking at their 'All About Me' booklets with photos of the special people in their lives. This helps to provide even more emotional support to settle in and with their transition through the nursery. Next steps Leaders should ensure continuous improvement in the setting's successful work to remove barriers for children who need extra help to realise a transformational impact on all children's achievement and wellbeing. About this inspection The inspectors spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator, parents 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. Alanda Phillips About this setting Unique reference number (URN): EY346334 Address: Emperor Way Exeter Business Park Exeter EX1 3QS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 12/12/2006 Registered person: The Childcare Corporation Limited Register(s): EYR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30 Local authority: Devon Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 27 May 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 132 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. 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