Stow-on-the-Wold Early Years Support

Stow-on-the-Wold Early Years Support
Unique reference number (URN): 2873890
Address: Stow on the Wold Primary School, St. Edwards Drive, Stow on the Wold, CHELTENHAM, GL54
1AW
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 19/02/2026
Registers: EYR, CCR
Registered person: Stow-on-the-Wold Early Years Support
Inspection report: 17 June 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement

Strong standard
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.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Staff have clear expectations for the children that include helping them respect others and
being kind. Staff are consistently good role models in helping children learn the rules and
boundaries. They are tuned in to the children and immediately notice when they may need
some support with negotiating. When children take a toy from another child, staff are quick
to help them think about what else they could do. This results in children giving the toy back
and learning to share and wait their turn.
Children demonstrate that they play well together, such as playing collaboratively when they
play football outside. Children sit together and make their creations, sharing the recourses
and chatting about what they are making. They demonstrate they are developing the key
social skills they will need for starting school.
Children show they enjoy their learning and sit and concentrate on the activities of their
choosing. They make collages, drawings and paintings and concentrate for long periods.
They persevere when they find it difficult to open the tube of glue and learn to twist it, with
staff modelling and supporting when needed. Staff offer the children lots of praise and
encouragement for their achievements, which supports the children's self-esteem.
The manager works closely with parents to help them understand the importance of regular
attendance, to prepare children for the routine of school. She is quick to check on children's
wellbeing if they do not attend the nursery.
Inclusion Strong standard
The manager and staff carefully monitor children's progress and quickly identify any gaps in
children's development. Staff put in place swift support and liaise with parents and outside
professionals to implement targeted support. This means that children with special

Expected standard
educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those who are known to social services and
those with barriers to their learning are extremely well supported in the nursery to help them
catch up.
Parents report that they feel extremely well supported by staff and fully involved in any
decision-making about their children, saying their views are respected. They value the
support and guidance they receive to extend their children's learning at home, for example
using additional funding to support them in taking their children to local farm attractions.
Staff make adaptations to help ensure children are included in the nursery routines.
Additional funding is used well to provide extra staff support. In addition, the staff have made
a sensory room where children can go to regulate their emotions with staff support. This has
worked well, minimised any interruptions to other children's learning and reduced barriers to
learning for all children, including those with SEND.
Achievement Expected standard
Generally, all children achieve well from their variable starting points. Gaps in children's
learning, including for those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those
known to children's social care and those with barriers to their learning, close over time.
Overall, children develop the key skills they need for starting school.
Children develop their physical skills outdoors, including their coordination and kicking skills
as they play football together. They have lots of opportunities to develop their hand–eye
coordination and strengthen their hand muscles, such as through drawing, painting,
scooping, filling and constructing towers. Children learn to express themselves well overall,
and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities use alternative methods with
developing confidence. Children enjoy joining in with songs and looking at books
independently and at story time. Some children are beginning to attempt to write their
names independently, telling adults the letters of their name.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Staff help all children to talk about and manage their feelings and emotions very effectively.
They use a range of strategies to help children feel calm and express how they are feeling.
In addition, children can use the sensory room if they become overwhelmed and need some
calm time, or go outdoors to release some energy. Children show they have formed positive
relationships with staff and other children.
Staff meet children's individual needs effectively, as they know the children very well. They
support all children well, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities,
those known to children's services and those with barriers to their learning. Staff provide
parents with information about the kinds of foods that are healthy for children's lunch boxes.
Staff have introduced breakfast and nutritious snacks in the nursery to help ensure children
receive healthy food daily. However, despite providing children with a range of healthy

snacks, staff do not consistently talk to the children about the benefits of these different food
groups on their growth and development, as part of learning about a healthy lifestyle.
Staff support children's independence and self-care skills well. Children help to lay the table
for snack time, help themselves to their snack and drink and carry them to the snack table.
After they have finished eating, they wash their utensils up. Staff encourage the children to
take their shoes off and put their boots on prior to going outside. Staff work with parents to
help children learn to use the potty or toilet. This helps children gain some valuable skills in
readiness for starting school.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Staff support children's communication and language skills effectively. They engage the
children in conversations throughout the day, sing songs and have story sessions, which
helps build on children's vocabulary. Staff use a range of methods to help children
communicate their wants and needs, to know the routines of the day and to express how
they are feeling. When children become upset after a fall, staff sit with them and encourage
them to use the pictorial lanyards to demonstrate how they are feeling. Children with special
educational needs and/or disabilities become confident in communicating using other aids.
This supports children's personal, social and emotional development well.
Generally, staff introduce simple mathematics as children play. They count the balls of sand
they make as they fill up the container. They encourage children to count to 10 as they wash
their hands before snack time. Staff talk about size, shape and measure, which helps
children learn early mathematical concepts.
Staff ensure children have plenty of opportunities to develop their physical skills. Children
have lots of opportunities to strengthen their hand muscles during craft activities, sand and
water play and when constructing towers together. However, some literacy activities are not
tailored to the children's level or abilities. Staff have not liaised with the school that children
will move on to, to check the knowledge and skills the teacher wishes the children to gain
before starting school.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders prioritise the interests of the children, including children with special educational
needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care and those with
barriers to their learning. They carefully monitor children's welfare and liaise with parents
and the relevant agencies to ensure children are safe and well cared for.
Generally, leaders have an accurate overview of the nursery's strengths and areas for
improvement. They reflect on practice with staff and make improvements to the routines,
such as circle time, to enhance children's engagement. Staff say leaders are very supportive
and they can have discussions with them at any time. Staff have targets for improvement
and attend coaching and training opportunities, which enables them to implement new ideas
into practice. However, when leaders identify curriculum areas that need improving, they do
not focus monitoring and developing staff's practice in these areas as precisely as possible.

Parents report positively about the nursery and are very pleased with the progress their
children are making. They report that communication is good and that they receive
information about their children's progress. Parents say they enjoy attending the fundraising
days so that they can meet other parents and their children's friends and get a feel of how
their children enjoy their time at nursery.
Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children arrive at this welcoming nursery with confidence, and most separate from their
carers with ease. Those children who need some reassurance are swiftly supported by staff
and quickly settle at the activities of their choosing. Children choose to sit and draw pictures,
sharing that they are writing their names and telling staff the letters they are forming.
Children hold pencils with control, developing their hand muscles and early literacy skills.
They show they have developed positive relationships with the staff, who they readily
approach for comfort or to engage them in their play.
Children generally show a positive attitude towards their learning. When engaging in
creative activities, children draw, make collages and then help themselves to paints and
paintbrushes. They spend long periods making their creations and talking about what they
are doing with staff, who show interest in what the children are creating. Children develop
their language and their creativity.

Inspector:
Charlotte Jenkin
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2873890
Staff support children to share and take turns and negotiate when minor incidents occur,
such as when sharing the resources. Staff ask children how they can resolve these minor
disputes and this helps children do this for themselves. This means the environment is calm
and children's learning is uninterrupted.
Leaders and staff implement a balanced curriculum overall that meets the children's needs.
They carefully check children's progress and identify where children may need extra
support. Leaders and staff liaise with parents and external agencies to put in place
strategies that will help close any gaps in children's learning. Children, including those with
special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care
and those with barriers to their learning, make steady progress in relation to their variable
starting points.
Next steps
Leaders should talk to children more consistently about the different food groups and how
they affect the children's growth and development, to encourage their understanding of
healthy food choices further.
Leaders should focus coaching and training more specifically on staff performance in the
curriculum areas identified as needing development, including aspects of literacy and
mathematical development.
Leaders should liaise more closely with the school to check what skills and knowledge the
children need to gain for starting school.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs 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.

Address:
Stow on the Wold Primary School, St. Edwards Drive
Stow on the Wold
CHELTENHAM
GL54 1AW
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 19/02/2026
Registered person: Stow-on-the-Wold Early Years Support
Register(s): EYR, CCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 16:00
Local authority: Gloucestershire
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 17 June 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
2 to 4
Total number of places
24
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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