The Farningham Day Nursery

The Farningham Day Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): 2774617
Address: Farningham Day Nursery, 13-14 Eynsford Road, Farningham, Dartford, DA4 0BD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 31/01/2024
Registers: EYR
Registered person: FD Nursery Limited
Inspection report: 10 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
Inclusion Strong standard
Leaders identify emerging needs swiftly and support all children to achieve. This includes
children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or those with barriers to
their learning. Children's progress is monitored using a rigorous assessment cycle. This
identifies any gaps in learning and enables staff to plan personalised support effectively.
Children with SEND benefit consistently from well-planned, individual support. This includes
purposeful resources and carefully adapted environments. For example, children have
access to their own calming spaces. They are also encouraged to use headphones to listen
to songs and stories when the environment becomes too overwhelming.
Leaders and staff work in close partnership with parents, carers and external professionals
to ensure that support is implemented well. Leaders have clear plans in place to reduce
barriers and improve outcomes. They ensure effective use of additional funding. As a result,
children, including those with SEND and those who face barriers to learning, are fully
included, taking part confidently and making rapid progress from their starting points.
Leaders create a fully inclusive environment by embedding and promoting equality and
diversity. They provide a range of books and resources that celebrate different languages,
cultures and family dynamics. This successfully helps to develop respectful attitudes and
broadens children's understanding of the wider world.
Leadership and governance Strong standard
Leaders are highly reflective and have a clear oversight of the setting. They have a secure
understanding of its strengths and areas of development. Leaders use ongoing monitoring
to identify priorities and respond swiftly to children's changing needs. They have
successfully identified the potential to raise the quality of teaching and consistency around
behaviour management and are currently providing well-targeted support to address these
issues. Although plans are being implemented, these are in their early stages and are not
currently consistently embedded.
Children are at the centre of every decision leaders make. They care deeply about the
children, staff and families they serve. Leaders set high expectations and lead with purpose,
creating a culture where everyone works towards the same shared goals. Leaders have
strengthened their own practice and skills through extensive training. This ongoing
commitment to learning is embedded across the setting. Staff regularly undertake training
that is impactful and based on the needs of the children. For example, some staff have
attended additional training, such as learning sign language, to enable them to work more
effectively with children who need support with communication skills. This has been shared
across the setting. Other staff have attended training to enhance the curriculum in the baby
room.
Leaders place a sharp focus on staff wellbeing. They highly value their team and strive to
make staff feel supported and respected in all aspects of their work. Staff comment on how

Expected standard
meaningful they feel the support is and how it helps them with their practice and overall
wellbeing. Leaders have an open-door policy, where staff feel secure and confident to seek
support and guidance.
Leaders have built excellent relationships with parents and carers. They communicate
openly and encourage families to play an active role in their children's learning. The
introduction of a new communication system has strengthened these relationships, allowing
parents, and even grandparents living overseas, to follow children's progress and feel
involved in nursery life. Leaders promote regular attendance and punctuality through clear
expectations and a rigorous attendance policy. This fosters good habits for future learning,
reinforcing to parents, carers and children that education is valuable and that their presence
matters.
Achievement Expected standard
All children make steady progress from their starting points. Those with special educational
needs and/or disabilities progress particularly well. They develop the skills and knowledge
they need and catch up with their peers. Babies develop their physical skills in an
environment that provides lots of opportunities to explore, move and play. Toddlers typically
build confidence in using new vocabulary and taking turns. Pre-school children develop their
fine motor skills through a range of indoor and outdoor activities such as digging, balancing,
painting and writing with marker pens on whiteboards.
Children are generally confident communicators. They talk about, and share, their favourite
activities enthusiastically. Children also enjoy sharing stories with adults and their friends,
helping them to build their language skills, imagination and a love of reading. Children apply
the skills they develop in their lives outside of the nursery. For example, children share
French words they have learned with their parents and carers. Overall, children develop the
skills, knowledge and resilience they need to prepare them for the next stage of their
education.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Children typically behave well and play collaboratively with others. They are enthusiastic in
their learning and engage positively in activities. For example, pre-school children love
digging up the potatoes they have grown. They work together as a team while sharing the
gardening tools.
Leaders and staff generally set high expectations for behaviour. While all staff provide gentle
reminders and use positive reinforcement effectively, some are more effective than others at
explaining the 'why' behind expectations and routines. As a result, some children do not
always fully understand the consequences of their actions and how they may affect others.
Children develop secure relationships with leaders and staff. Babies seek out their key
person to show them photos of their family, enjoying the positive engagement and

responses they receive. Leaders and staff use inclusive approaches to help all children
access routines successfully. They provide smaller groups or one-to-one support for those
who find larger groups challenging, so that they can join in confidently alongside their peers.
Children understand daily routines well. They know when it is time to wash their hands and
enjoy helping staff set the table ready for mealtimes. After breakfast each day, children
brush their teeth, learning valuable oral health habits. When they arrive each morning,
children self-register using photo cards. This promotes independence and establishes a
clear, predictable transition from home to nursery. Leaders are adaptive and continually test
new strategies to make transitions between play and mealtimes smoother and more
engaging for children.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Leaders and staff typically prioritise children's wellbeing and respond to them with warmth
and care. They create an inviting, welcoming environment where children happily arrive
each morning. Close working relationships with parents and carers ensure that important
information is shared. Staff know their children well and attend to them with kindness and
respect. As a result, children feel safe, secure and valued.
Leaders and staff adapt environments appropriately so that children feel calm and
comfortable. For example, in hot weather, babies play and splash in water trays while
indoors to keep cool. During sleep time, calming music is used to create a peaceful space
where children feel soothed. Staff manage sleep arrangements carefully and carry out
regular checks to ensure comfort and safety. Staff also support children's emotional
wellbeing. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities or barriers to their
learning have access to their own quieter spaces. This supports them to regulate their
emotions and take breaks from busy environments and larger groups.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders have created a new curriculum that is child-centred and focuses on children's
individual interests and needs. They skilfully adapt the environment to ensure that all
children, especially those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and diverse
backgrounds, can learn, develop and thrive. Children's learning builds step by step at every
stage of their nursery journey. Activities are generally well designed to support all areas of
learning, sparking interest and wonder.
The learning environment flows between indoors and outdoors, providing a wide variety of
activities. An extensive garden space offers several exciting learning opportunities. For
example, children enjoy building sandcastles and racing cars with their friends. They find joy
in growing their own herbs and vegetables at their garden-based allotment. This helps them
learn about healthy food and caring for living things while building confidence and curiosity.
Children benefit from hands-on, practical experiences that develop communication,
teamwork, problem-solving skills and physical coordination.
Leaders ensure that the curriculum is typically taught well. Mathematical skills and
vocabulary are explicitly taught and woven through a range of activities. For example, staff
encourage children to count while building and stacking blocks. Although the quality of

teaching is generally high, staff do not consistently identify when children would benefit from
interaction to extend their learning even further. For example, staff do not recognise the
potential benefit of providing additional resources to challenge babies who are engrossed in
water play.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children flourish in a nurturing and inclusive environment where they feel safe and valued.
They arrive happily with cheerful smiles and settle quickly into their play and learning. Clear
expectations for attendance help children establish positive habits and routines. This
supports their readiness for the next stage of learning. Children foster warm, trusting
relationships with leaders and staff, who provide them with reassurance, support and
comfort when needed. They show confidence as they explore their environment and have
the freedom to make choices about the activities they wish to take part in.
Children develop confidence and independence through familiar routines. They brush their
teeth, wash their hands, use cutlery at mealtimes and celebrate their achievements with
adults and friends. For example, children beam with pride after successfully spreading butter
onto a cracker, saying, 'I did it all by myself!' Children enjoy taking their artwork and
drawings home to share with parents and carers, proudly talking about what they have
created.
Children build secure friendships, show kindness to one another and work together. They
grow and nurture a variety of herbs, plants and vegetables in the nursery garden. When they
are ready, the children harvest these to enjoy in their play or at snack time. They proudly talk
about what they have grown, showing an understanding of where food comes from, as well
as healthy eating habits.
Children enjoy their learning and engage in a range of activities that spark their excitement
and curiosity. They talk with adults and their friends about what they are doing and share
their ideas. For example, children work together at the water tray to fill jugs and pour the
water through funnels and tubes. They discuss how many jugs they need and encourage
each other to have a turn. Visits to the local community, including a farm, enrich children's
understanding of the world and bring learning to life. Children enjoy weekly French lessons,
which introduce them to new words and cultures in an engaging way.

Inspector:
Ruby Hayes
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2774617
Address:
Farningham Day Nursery
13-14 Eynsford Road, Farningham
Dartford
DA4 0BD
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 31/01/2024
Registered person: FD Nursery Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30
Local authority: Kent
Next steps
Leaders should further enhance the support for staff to recognise and respond to
opportunities that arise to extend children's learning, and to provide greater consistency in
helping children to understand behavioural expectations.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinators,
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.

Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 10 July 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
1 to 4
Total number of places
34
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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