URN EY468398 · Inspected 2026-07-01 · Published 2026-08-28 · Inspector: Dominique Allotey
Atelier Nursery Unique reference number (URN): EY468398 Address: Dover Place, Bath, BA1 6DX Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 30/08/2013 Registers: EYR, CCR Registered person: Atelier Nursery LTD Inspection report: 1 July 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. Exceptional Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Exceptional Leaders and staff establish highly effective partnerships with parents and carers, including those who are harder to reach. Time and attention are dedicated to each family. Parents develop a deep understanding of why particular approaches are being used in the nursery. Staff and leaders do an excellent job of teaching parents about the pedagogy and psychology behind their work so that they too develop a deep awareness of meeting children's individual needs and can establish sensitive and effective routines at home. For instance, leaders and staff hold events, such as the 'annual family festival' and sewing and carpentry workshops during which they share their expertise. This supports parents in creating highly successful routines at home that in turn contribute to the raising of their children's attitudes and motivation for learning. Children are able to move through different areas of the nursery and access a wider range of learning opportunities when they are developmentally ready. Once children have settled into their key family group, they experience very few major transitions. In most cases, their next significant transition is moving on to school. This approach supports children's natural curiosity and enthusiasm for learning. It also creates more opportunities for children to learn from and support one another, helping to strengthen their emotional literacy, confidence and social skills. Changes to routines throughout the day are managed exceptionally well. Children move smoothly between activities and experiences, with little disruption to their play and learning. They occur naturally and fluidly, and no learning time is lost. Attendance, particularly for those most deprived, is a priority for leaders who work closely with parents to ensure they understand the importance of regular attendance. Behaviour from all children is exemplary. Children express themselves coherently and wisely. They show high levels of emotional intelligence from a young age, and respect themselves and others. This is due to the excellent teaching and role modelling they receive from the highly skilled staff team consistently and over time throughout their early years. Children's welfare and wellbeing Exceptional Children receive truly remarkable individualised care at the nursery. Staff place a high emphasis on the settling-in process and invest in getting this right for children and their families. For instance, they tailor their settling-in approach to the needs of each child and family, considering what experiences they have already had and recognising and understanding any barriers or anxieties that may be present. Leaders and staff apply an 'elastic band approach'. This means children are supported to separate from their parents gradually and build secure relationships with their key person. As children become more confident, they are encouraged to form relationships with other staff, while always having their key person to return to for reassurance when needed. Subsequently, this extends from their key person to other staff at the nursery at their own pace, and children return to their key adult as their safe base as and when they need to. The effectiveness of the key family system is commendable. Through this approach, children build secure attachments with their key person and peers. They come together regularly throughout the day and continue to develop and thrive under this nurturing support. At key family times, there is a real sense of a family within a home environment. Leaders and staff give extremely careful consideration to the allocation of key families, recognising that getting this right from the start is essential to helping children feel secure and have a positive experience. Parents and carers are provided with a wealth of support focused on wellbeing and welfare. For example, they are provided with tools and resources, such as bedtime story bags to help them create meaningful moments with their child at bedtime. Leaders support staff in undertaking research projects that help shape and strengthen practice across the nursery. For example, staff have recently explored babies' wellbeing and early attachment. Findings from this work have informed changes to the settling-in process, including the introduction of home visits for babies to help build secure relationships with children and their families from the outset. Leadership and governance Exceptional Over many years, leaders demonstrate extremely high-quality care and education have been maintained at the nursery for all children that attend. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face barriers to their learning. Leaders have an astute awareness of the strengths of the nursery and are experts in a range of pedagogy that influences their work. Leaders share their extensive knowledge and expertise with staff and invest significantly in their continued professional development. The impact of this is visible in all aspects of the nursery's work. For example, staff members have opportunities annually to participate in study abroad programmes to learn about different early years pedagogy. These opportunities give staff a passion for their work. They develop a deep awareness of how to teach children and how children learn best. This has enhanced staff expertise enormously and ensures that practice across the nursery remains of an excellent quality for every child who attends. Leaders value the staff team, and staff are exceptionally motivated and well supported. Everything that leaders and staff do is well informed by the needs of the children and supported by early years pedagogy and evidence- based research. The impact of this work extends beyond the nursery. For instance, leaders and staff are part of stronger practice hubs, speak at national events to share their practice and research findings and network with a range of partners both nationally and internationally. Leaders have developed extremely well-targeted plans to continually strengthen their success and fully embed the exceptional practice across all areas of the provision. They have rigorous plans in place to support new and unqualified staff to learn rapidly from the role modelling they receive from colleagues. Leaders and staff are highly reflective in their practice. They are committed to getting the most out of every learning opportunity and are skilled to be able to continually build on already excellent staff practice. Leaders have created a culture where everyone strives to improve, and their passion is shared by the whole staff team and recognised by parents and carers. Strong standard Achievement Strong standard Most children make sustained progress across all areas of learning, and many make rapid progress from their individual starting points. They are enthusiastic learners, are highly motivated in their play and learning and immerse themselves in purposeful play in the inspiring and rich learning environments. Children are curious and think deeply and creatively. Children show awe and wonder during extensive activities they engage in. Children develop excellent communication skills. For instance, older children use a rich dialogue among themselves as they play and talk through their ideas and thoughts maturely and articulately. Children benefit from the mixed-age approach applied at the nursery. Mixing children in this way is having a profound impact on children's development. Younger children learn from older role models. Older children learn about leadership and responsibility, and for all children it is supporting speech and language development, word comprehension, emotional resilience, independence, physical skills and behaviour extremely well. As children do not learn in age-specific groups, this approach is successfully helping children thrive and allows them to learn together in a family-style environment. Children develop the skills they need for their future learning and are extremely well prepared for starting school. Curriculum and teaching Strong standard The curriculum that leaders and staff provide is ambitious. It reflects the needs and interests of the children and takes learning in a range of directions over a long period of time. Leaders' and staff's sharp and targeted 'possible lines of development' approach makes learning fun for children. It is highly flexible, and staff skilfully consider all of the possible opportunities for learning. This offers children a lot of challenge and makes learning continuous and purposeful. For instance, several years ago, staff recognised that many children had developed an interest in planting and baking. They used this interest to create an ongoing 'Botanicals' project, which continues to build on children's learning and has helped them develop a wealth of knowledge and skills over time. As part of this project, children explore, investigate and make discoveries about the world around them. Through these experiences, they learn how things work and develop important skills for life. For example, children grow their own food, bake their own bread and make their own pasta. All of which takes place in a physical learning environment that immerses them fully. They learn and engage in these activities within a canopy of plants, flowers and greenery while using exciting resources that spark their curiosity, such as microscopes and electronic magnifying glasses. Staff provide children with appropriate support, challenge and questioning that initiates a lot of shared thinking between staff and children and helps the children deeply engage and engross themselves in the learning. Teaching across the staff team is consistently strong, and there are many staff with exemplary teaching practice who act as excellent role models to their less-experienced peers. Inclusive practices ensure that all children who face barriers to learning and/or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have the same access to the broad and varied curriculum as their peers. This means all children, including those who face barriers to their learning and those with SEND, access a full and varied curriculum and receive a high quality of education at all times. Leaders have prioritised support for less-experienced staff to continually strengthen their knowledge and skills. For instance, there is highly effective peer mentoring within the staff team so that the exceptional practice is fully embedded across the setting. Inclusion Strong standard Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), or who face barriers to their learning due to disadvantage, are swiftly identified and receive highly effective targeted support from leaders and staff. Leaders and staff have a deep understanding of the needs of the children and families who attend, and of the wider community. This gives them a secure understanding of what could be a barrier for a child and what puts them at a disadvantage. They are very aware that what may be a barrier for one child may not be a barrier for another and that all needs must be considered on an individual basis. Deep understanding of children and their families helps staff recognise barriers children face very quickly. Staff ensure learning needs, including those relating to SEND, are consistently recognised and met through well-planned tailored approaches and interventions. They work closely with parents and carers and other professionals from a range of agencies to minimise the impact of any barriers on children's learning and development. Additional funding is used efficiently through sourcing high-quality staff training and professional development opportunities, such as in relation to the assess, plan and do model for SEND and increased networking to enhance knowledge and skills. Leaders allocate some funding to enhance staff-to-child ratios and purchase specific resources to enhance learning for those who need it most. This helps ensure learning activities and environments can be adapted and helps secure the best outcomes for every child. 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 Leaders at this nursery are inspirational and continually demonstrate the transformational impact they have on staff, children and families, especially those who face barriers to their learning or who are disadvantaged. Children's needs are at the centre of every decision made here. Parents remark on the excellent progress their children make and are in admiration of the staff, and the opportunities and teaching they provide for their children. Children are warmly welcomed into the wonderful nursery by staff who quickly get to know them extremely well. Many children benefit from the same key person from when they start at the nursery to when they eventually transition on to school. Any changes to a key person are avoided and only occur when there are circumstances outside of leaders' control. This high emphasis on building relationships enhances children's all-round development hugely and ensures staff develop a deep knowledge of children as individuals during the formative years of their development. Staff consistently extend all children's language as they model new vocabulary and ask questions that provide deep thought and keep children curious. All around the nursery, staff and leaders engage in conversation and communication with children of all ages. Children develop excellent social skills. Mathematics and scientific learning are evident and taught effectively by staff as opportunities arise. There is an extremely strong focus on art. Children immerse themselves in art projects and an abundance of creative activities that teach children to be creative. Children use rich and open materials that encourage their expression exceptionally well. Staff view every routine, interaction and moment as a learning opportunity. Learning that takes place outside of the nursery enriches the curriculum as children learn about communities beyond their own and celebrate similarities and difference. There is a respectful culture felt throughout the nursery, and most children are exceptionally well prepared for their future lives. In all learning environments, older children, babies and toddlers mix together safely and effectively. Children have an exceptional understanding of the expectations. Staff rarely need to remind children of these as they are so well embedded across the nursery and children naturally behave excellently. Staff give children the level of supervision they need dependent on their needs, stage of development and skills. Staff trust their knowledge of what children can do, and they give children confidence in their own abilities, which boosts their self-esteem. Children are highly effective in self-care and independence from a very young age. Children independently access the learning environments, navigate steps and free flow safely through the extremely stimulating and well-resourced rooms and play spaces. Care practices are excellent. There is a significant focus on children's health and wellbeing. There is an excellent continuity of care for children from home to the nursery. Inspector: Dominique Allotey About this setting Unique reference number (URN): EY468398 Address: Dover Place Bath BA1 6DX Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 30/08/2013 Registered person: Atelier Nursery LTD Register(s): EYR, CCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00 Local authority: Bath and North East Somerset Council Facts and figures used on inspection Next steps Leaders should continue in their highly effective efforts to raise the teaching of those newer and less-experienced staff to reach the exceptional standard of their more established peers. About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, children, parents and carers and the special educational needs coordinator 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. This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 1 July 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 71 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. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. This publication is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn. Piccadilly Gate Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted © Crown copyright 2026 © Crown copyright