Girton Village Day Nursery

Girton Village Day Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): 2806567
Address: Girton Village Day Nursery, 48 Cambridge Road, Girton, Cambridge, CB3 0PJ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 01/10/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Cambridge Nurseries Ltd
Inspection report: 15 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.

Strong standard
Achievement Strong standard
Children's achievements demonstrate the positive impact of the leaders' ambitious
curriculum. They make clear progress over time, building on their individual strengths and
interests. Children spoke confidently and enthusiastically about their experiences at the
setting, sharing what they enjoyed and explaining their favourite activities. Younger children
were deeply engaged in their play and exploration, demonstrating confidence to investigate
their environment independently while knowing that familiar adults were available to provide
reassurance when needed. Children's achievements are celebrated and recognised, with
regular opportunities to share progress with parents. This strong partnership supports
continuity between home and the setting and helps families understand how they can further
support their children's learning.
Children are encouraged to express their ideas, ask questions and share their thinking.
Children learn early mathematical concepts and literacy skills because these are embedded
naturally within play. This includes measuring when making play dough with lavender and
preparing carrots using a range of tools. Children demonstrate a deeper understanding of
concepts through repeated opportunities to practise and apply learning. Building on prior
learning and applying knowledge and skills in different contexts enables children across the
nursery to overcome barriers and achieve.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard
Staff build respectful relationships with children and consistently model kindness, patience
and good manners. They sensitively support children to understand boundaries, manage
their feelings and consider the needs of others. Staff model positive interactions and use a
combination of words, gestures and visual cues to support communication by, for example,
encouraging babies to use signs and language to say 'please' and 'thank you' during
mealtimes.
As children move through the setting, staff skilfully prepare them for future transitions,
including moving rooms and starting school. Parents are part of the transition process from
the baby room into the pre-school room as this is recognised as a significant event for
children. Parents and carers can spend time alongside the staff to support their child's
transition successfully and help them feel confident and safe.
Leaders ensure that routines are purposeful and contribute to children's learning and
development throughout the day. As a result, children demonstrate positive attitudes to
learning, engage well with others and develop the confidence they need in readiness for
school.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
Leaders place children's welfare and wellbeing at the heart of the provision. They
demonstrate unwavering commitment to ensuring every child can access high-quality

education, recognising that barriers extend beyond identified special educational needs
and/or disabilities. Leaders work closely to provide timely support for families experiencing ill
health, redundancy or increased work pressures by providing short-notice, flexible sessions
for children to attend.
Healthy lifestyles are woven into the curriculum with opportunities to grow vegetables and
fruits to be used in the nutritious meals provided, helping children to understand about
healthy eating. Staff promote independence from an early age by teaching children to
manage their own self-care. Babies wash their hands and faces using individual face cloths,
while older children independently access water throughout the day. Staff recognise these
opportunities as learning moments and adapt routines as children develop, using photos on
babies' cups for recognition before replacing these photos with written names on bottles for
older children. This ensures that children confidently manage age-appropriate tasks and
begin to take responsibility for themselves.
Staff build warm, trusting relationships through a key-person system that enables children to
feel safe and secure right from the start. For example, where possible, children who speak
English as an additional language are supported by a key person who can speak their home
language. This ensures effective and secure relationships that help children to develop
confidence, resilience and a strong sense of belonging. Children are emotionally secure,
demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and thrive in an environment where their welfare,
safety and wellbeing are consistently prioritised.
Curriculum and teaching Strong standard
The curriculum is well sequenced and ambitious, ensuring that all children, including those
with special educational needs and/or disabilities, build secure knowledge and skills over
time. Leaders ensure consistent practice, high expectations and regular reflection across the
setting. Staff have a strong knowledge of children's development and can use this
knowledge to adapt teaching effectively. The layout of the provision encourages sustained
exploration for the youngest children and creative and problem-solving activities for the older
children. There is carefully planned progression in the sequenced learning, with a strong
emphasis on developing independence and communication skills. This enables children to
become more confident, resilient learners who are well prepared for their next stage of
education.
Staff know about the learning of their key children and speak positively about their starting
points, progress and achievement. This information is used to strategically identify what
children know and can do, address gaps in learning and support their development. Staff
know children well and recognise that every child develops at their own pace. They
celebrate children's individual strengths and ensure a consistent approach in maintaining
high expectations for each child.
Leaders explain that they adapt their curriculum each year to support the needs of the
children, with a focus on self-help skills for the current children. Staff interactions with
children are purposeful and highly responsive, which consistently strengthens learning
opportunities during play. This was evident in the garden, as babies enthusiastically sang a
nursery rhyme before joyfully extending their learning by drawing stars on the chalkboard.

Staff responded sensitively to the children's interests, creating meaningful opportunities to
reinforce communication, creativity and early mark-making skills through play.
Inclusion Strong standard
Leaders and staff consistently and proactively promote an inclusive culture where every
child feels respected and supported to achieve their full potential. They recognise that
children and families have diverse needs, and use their own knowledge of individual
circumstances to remove barriers and ensure all children can access high-quality
experiences. Staff understand children's starting points, capabilities and next steps in
learning, adapting their teaching to enable every child to participate fully in the curriculum.
Leaders use additional funding effectively to improve outcomes and increase access to the
setting. For example, leaders have used funding to provide practical support that removes
barriers to attendance and helps each child settle successfully into the setting. They used
this support to work alongside each family, providing guidance and resources beyond the
setting to promote consistency between home and the setting.
Effective strategies are implemented promptly to identify the support children need. Close
working relationships with parents and other professionals ensure that targeted and tailored
support is quickly accessed. Through strong relationships, responsive practice and effective
use of resources, leaders ensure that children develop confidence, a sense of belonging
and the skills they need to make rapid progress.
Leadership and governance Strong standard
Leaders have established a strong leadership structure with a new manager, recently
appointed to strengthen the established leadership capacity of the setting. Effective
oversight of staff development has ensured that this is a priority to drive the setting forward
and to provide the best outcomes for children. Leaders identify the importance of
consistency in the implementation of the curriculum and its goals and their aims for what
they would like children to achieve.
Leaders monitor practice through regular supervisions, observations and staff meetings to
nurture staff development and continually strengthen the quality of provision. Leaders place
a strong emphasis on staff wellbeing, creating an open culture where staff feel listened to,
valued and supported. For example, recent changes to the lunchtime routine were
implemented by the room leader after discussions with leaders, and this has had a positive
effect on children's wellbeing and has created a calmer environment.
Staff speak positively about the guidance they receive and explain that leaders act on their
ideas and suggestions for improving the setting in a collaborative way. This approach
strengthens staff confidence, promotes continuous improvement and contributes to high-
quality experiences for children. As a result, the leaders' vision of ensuring every child is
supported to thrive underpins staff practice. Staff have high expectations for every child and
respond sensitively to meet children's and their families' needs. Families value the strong
relationships they have developed with staff and leaders. This effective partnership working

ensures children receive consistent support and empowers families to play an active role in
promoting their children's learning and development and wellbeing.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
From the start of their journey at the setting, children build secure relationships with
nurturing and experienced staff who know them well and respond sensitively to their
individual needs and interests. The established settling-in process ensures that children and
families feel well supported throughout the transition and are part of the process. Children
are happy to attend and are listened to, respected and supported to become increasingly
independent. They thoroughly enjoy their time at the nursery, and the planned activities
linked to their next steps are both inviting and engaging, with a focus on exploration and
investigation. Children develop a very strong sense of belonging in the community through
regular weekly visits to a local forest area for outdoor learning and a nearby supermarket to
buy items for mealtimes.
Children develop confidence through well-established routines, opportunities to make
choices and encouragement to manage their own needs. Children develop skills that
support their future learning, from babies learning familiar routines, such as preparing for
mealtimes with washing their faces and hands, to older children confidently taking
responsibility for personal care and belongings by finding and accessing water bottles
through name recognition.
Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities are very well supported to
achieve and thrive through targeted support. Staff have a clear understanding of child
development and what they would like children to achieve. High-quality teaching ensures
that all children make strong progress from their individual starting points, regardless of their
age or stage of development.
Parents comment that their children are thriving because of the nurturing 'home-from-home'
environment provided by the staff. They value the strong relationships with staff and leaders
to support their children's learning and development and their wellbeing. The consistent
care, guidance and partnership working provided by the staff have meaningful impacts on
both children and families.

Inspector:
Stephanie Barrett
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2806567
Address:
Girton Village Day Nursery
48 Cambridge Road, Girton
Cambridge
CB3 0PJ
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 01/10/2024
Registered person: Cambridge Nurseries Ltd
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Local authority: Cambridgeshire
Next steps
Leaders should continue to sustain the high standards already achieved while driving
further improvement across the setting. They should focus on strengthening consistency
in staff practice to ensure all children experience high-quality teaching. Leaders should
continue to use their effective knowledge of the local community to create a
transformational impact on the experiences and outcomes of children and families who
face a range of barriers.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with the nursery manager, staff, children 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.

Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 15 July 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
7 to 58
Total number of places
40
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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