URN EY281897 · Inspected 2026-08-11 · Published 2026-10-26 · Inspector: Hayley Kiely Jane Appleby
Bright Horizons Caterham Burntwood Lane DayNursery and Preschool Unique reference number (URN): EY281897 Address: Burntwood Lane, Caterham-on-the-Hill, Surrey, CR3 5UL Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 31/08/2004 Registers: EYR Registered person: Bright Horizons Family Solutions Limited Inspection report: 11 August 2026 Exceptional Strong standard Expected standard Needs attention Urgent improvement Needs attention Safeguarding standards not met Leaders have not ensured that there is an open and positive culture around safeguarding. This puts children at significant risk of harm. There are widespread failures in safeguarding practice that do not help to keep children safe. Leaders within the setting and within the wider organisation have not ensured that concerns about children's safety and welfare have been reported in a timely manner. Those with lead safeguarding responsibilities within the nursery have not followed the correct procedures to manage concerns about children's safety, and they have failed to adhere to their own safeguarding policies in relation to this. Leaders outside of the nursery lack the understanding of when concerns should be reported to the local safeguarding partnerships. This does not enable them to effectively identify where there are failures in safeguarding practice and, consequently, leaders within the setting are not supported to improve their safeguarding knowledge. This compromises children's safety. 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. Achievement Needs attention Overall, children make progress in their development and are prepared for the next stage of their learning, including their move to school. However, children do not receive consistent support from staff to build on their knowledge and skills. Children enjoy taking part in group activities, such as playing a game of snakes and ladders. They learn to take turns with their friends and develop their mathematical knowledge as they count the number of spaces on the board. However, some children, including those who may face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, do not benefit from meaningful interactions from staff. This results in some children playing frequently on their own and not spending any time being supported by staff. This does not ensure that children receive targeted support to help them achieve their individual next steps. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Needs attention There are variations in the support that staff provide to children to enable them to manage their behaviour. This does not ensure that children receive consistent messages about how they are expected to behave. Although staff praise children when they show positive behaviour, such as playing well with their friends, they do not always respond to incidents of poor behaviour. For example, when children throw soft toys up in the air and run around the room, staff either do not intervene or are slow to step in. Additionally, the organisation of daily routines, staffing arrangements and the learning environment do not fully support children to behave well. For instance, at times, staff are all preoccupied with setting up for the next part of the day. This means that children, including those identified as requiring additional support to regulate their feelings, are not consistently supported by staff to remain engaged and maintain a positive attitude towards learning. Children generally develop warm and trusting relationships with staff. When staff interact well with children, they enjoy opportunities to engage in cooperative play. For example, they spend time playing board games with their friends, and staff support them to take turns. At these times, children are supported to tolerate delay and interact well with others. Leaders implement effective attendance procedures. This includes working closely with parents to ensure that absences are communicated. Leaders have policies in place to follow up on unexplained absences, to promote their safety and welfare. Children's welfare and wellbeing Needs attention Leaders have not supported staff to implement routines consistently well to ensure that they fully meet children's needs. For instance, staff are not always well prepared for the next routine in the day. They also do not always communicate well with each other or step in to support, to ensure that the routines flow seamlessly. This results in children experiencing delays, such as when they want to go to sleep or eat their food. This also means that, at times, children have limited opportunities to engage in purposeful learning while waiting for staff to finish setting up. Despite these weaknesses, children generally show that they have secure attachments with staff. Most children engage confidently with staff, such as showing them a family of caterpillars that they have made with the play dough. Staff also take steps to promote children's welfare and wellbeing. For instance, staff complete training in relation to keeping children safe during mealtimes and sleep times. Staff ensure that they check children's dietary requirements and stage of weaning to ensure that the food is safe for children to eat. Staff also ensure that children are well prepared for outdoor play, such as applying sun cream before going outside. Staff encourage children to regularly drink water. They set alarms to remind older children that it is time to hydrate themselves, and they enjoy gathering around the water station to pour their drinks. This helps children to learn to look after their bodies. Curriculum and teaching Needs attention Leaders do not ensure that the staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children, including those who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. For example, at times, they do not take sufficient steps to ensure that they meet qualification ratio requirements. There is a broad curriculum that is shared with staff, however, there are inconsistencies in how this is implemented, which means that not all children benefit from teaching that supports their learning. This results in variations in the quality of interactions and teaching that children experience. For example, more experienced staff provide children with meaningful dialogue during their play. Younger children enjoy naming different animals, and staff provide age-appropriate clues that help them to remember the animals that are less familiar to them. During these moments of high-quality interactions, staff ensure that they Urgent improvement correct any misconceptions that children may have, such as making sure that they know the correct names for each of the animals. However, some children spend long periods playing on their own or wandering aimlessly around. At other times, staff do not organise themselves well to ensure that children continue to receive effective support during the implementation of the daily routines. This does not enable children to consistently benefit from teaching that supports them to build on their knowledge and skills. Leaders and staff do not always make best use of available spaces, and some rooms have large numbers of children confined to one space. This impacts on the noise levels in these rooms, making it difficult to hear what children and staff are saying. This reduces opportunities for high-quality interactions. At these times, children do not receive consistent support to build on their communication and language skills. Although leaders have identified many of these weaknesses and developed an action plan, this has not yet been implemented. Children throughout the nursery benefit from regular access to books. Children, overall, enjoy opportunities to listen to stories being read by staff. This helps to support their love of reading and build on their early literacy skills. Inclusion Needs attention Children who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing do not receive consistent support to enable them to reduce gaps in their development. Leaders and staff are swift to identify when children would benefit from additional support. They create support plans and generally work well with specialist agencies involved with children's specific individual needs. Children overall enjoy their time at nursery. However, leaders do not ensure that staff implement agreed strategies consistently well. This results in some children spending long periods playing on their own, with little to no interactions from staff. This does not ensure that all children receive targeted support that enables them to reach expected developmental milestones. Additionally, leaders have not established effective partnership working with other settings that children attend, which does not enable them to have a clear overview of children's development and any support that they may be receiving. When children who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing are supported well, they enjoy conversations with staff. They share their thoughts and ideas, which helps them to build on their communication skills. Leaders have secure knowledge of additional funding that children may be entitled to and they work with parents to support them to access additional funding. Leaders are aware of how funding can be used to support children's ongoing development. Leadership and governance Urgent improvement There are breaches to requirements that impact on children's safety, wellbeing and development. Leaders within the nursery and within the wider organisation have not ensured that concerns about children's safety and welfare are reported in a timely manner. Additionally, leaders do not identify weaknesses in practice in relation to how safeguarding matters are managed. This does not enable them to bring about change to ensure that those dealing with safeguarding concerns are fully aware of the procedures they must follow. Leaders do not have a secure understanding of the requirements of registration. Although they work in partnership with agencies providing targeted support for children, they have not ensured that an effective 2-way flow of information sharing has been established with other settings that children attend. This does not enable them to have thorough knowledge of these children and ensure that they work together so that children receive consistent support in their learning. Leaders also do not ensure that staffing arrangements consistently meet children's needs and they are slow to rectify breaches in relation to qualification ratio requirements. This impacts on the quality of teaching and interactions, which does not fully support children to build on their knowledge and skills. Staff report that leaders place a high value on their wellbeing, and they regularly check in with them. They complete mandatory and additional training, which goes some way to strengthening the quality of their practice. As such, staff enjoy working at the setting. What it's like to be a child at this setting There are breaches to the requirements of registration that have a negative impact on children's safety, wellbeing and development. Leaders do not always act on or report concerns about children's welfare in a timely way, which does not help to keep children safe. Children typically enjoy their time at nursery and, overall, take part in learning and play opportunities. However, some children, including those who face barriers to learning and/or their wellbeing, do not consistently receive targeted support to enable them to make secure progress in their development. This results in these children playing mostly on their own and not benefitting from high-quality interactions with staff. The inconsistencies in staff practice mean that children receive variable support in their learning and care. This sometimes results in children's needs not being fully met. For example, mealtimes are not consistently well organised. At times, children are not able to eat when they want to, as they have to wait their turn to sit at the table. This impacts on children's ability to regulate their emotions as they become upset and frustrated. However, children generally develop warm and trusting relationships with staff. They enjoy times when staff interact well with them, including listening to stories being read aloud and joining in with group activities, such as snakes and ladders. This helps children to develop their communication and social skills. Children also enjoy opportunities to build on their independence skills. For instance, older children learn to serve their meals and pour their drinks. This helps them to learn to do things for themselves. Children do not consistently benefit from support to understand how they are expected to behave. Although staff praise children when they show positive behaviour, some incidents of poor behaviour, such as running around the room and burping in adults' faces, are not addressed appropriately by staff. Sometimes, staff fail to step in, at other times they tell children to stop but do not give them explanations as to why they need to modify their behaviour. Next steps To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage the provider must take the following actions by the assigned date: Action Completion Date ensure all leaders with safeguarding responsibilities understand their duty to act on and report safeguarding concerns without delay and implement effective oversight so that concerns are escalated and managed in a timely manner. 28/08/2026 ensure ratio requirements are met so that staffing arrangements meet the needs of all children 28/08/2026 support staff to improve the organisation of daily routines and the learning environment to ensure that children's needs are met at all times 28/08/2026 ensure that all staff respond promptly and appropriately to incidents of poor behaviour so that children develop a secure understanding of how they are expected to behave 28/08/2026 ensure that teaching and interactions are consistently of high quality so all children are supported to build on their knowledge and skills 28/08/2026 establish a 2-way flow of information sharing with other settings that children attend so that they receive consistent support in their development 28/08/2026 Inspectors: Hayley Kiely Jane Appleby About this setting Unique reference number (URN): EY281897 Address: Burntwood Lane Caterham-on-the-Hill Surrey CR3 5UL Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 31/08/2004 Registered person: Bright Horizons Family Solutions Limited Register(s): EYR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30 Local authority: Surrey Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. About this inspection The inspectors spoke with leaders, staff, the special educational needs coordinator, 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. We carried out this report as a result of a risk assessment, following information we received about the provider. The provider will be able to give parents further information about this/ This data is from 11 August 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 72 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