Toad Hall Nursery Crawley

Toad Hall Nursery Crawley
Unique reference number (URN): 2789383
Address: 117 Ifield Road, Crawley, RH11 7BP
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 12/06/2024
Registers: EYR, CCR
Registered person: Careroom Limited
Inspection report: 18 March 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
Expected standard
Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard
All children's wellbeing is of high priority and is the foundation of children's experiences.
Staff are consistently warm, responsive and attentive, establishing a caring key-person
approach that is thoughtfully tailored to each child. Staff get to know their key children and
families incredibly quickly. They gain a comprehensive and detailed knowledge of children's
unique backgrounds, personalities, development and routines. They value each child and
their family as individuals. This approach is highly effective in promoting children's wellbeing
and emotional security, particularly for those who face barriers to their wellbeing, which is
skilfully identified and monitored by attentive staff.
Staff are attuned to the emotional and developmental needs of each child. As a result,
children develop close relationships with staff, confidently seeking them out for play, comfort
and praise. Children benefit from consistent routines that promote their physical health and
wellbeing extremely successfully. The individual routines and personal cues of babies are
seamlessly supported. Staff personalise all aspects of their routines, including weaning,
sleep and feeding. The consistency between home and nursery is highly impactful on how
well children settle in.
Staff embed positive hygiene practices and promote healthy lifestyles. Activities and
discussions support children to develop healthy habits. Robust sleep arrangements and
procedures are embedded in practice. This helps keep children safe. Older children are
supported to understand how to keep themselves safe and healthy. For example, there are
robust arrangements in place to meet children's individual dietary needs. Children are
supported to learn about the things they cannot eat, as well as to develop an understanding
of the system used at mealtimes such as red plates for allergies. Consequently, children are
supported to develop an extremely secure understanding of how to keep themselves safe.
Achievement Expected standard
Children, including those who face barriers to their learning, generally achieve well from
their individual starting points. They develop knowledge and skills as they play and explore.
Children demonstrate increasingly high levels of self-confidence. For instance, babies
delight as they excitedly join in with familiar songs, learning early words and actions.
Children learn age-appropriate mathematical concepts, such as early numbers. They
recognise when things are full, half-full or empty. Older children develop and maintain
attention, focus and build on conversational skills. They recall where milk comes from as
they talk about the food they eat. They recall past learned information, such as how cow's
milk is used to make cheese. Children become confident communicators and gain
knowledge about the world around them.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make steady
progress. All children typically achieve the knowledge and skills they need to continue their
learning and development, preparing them for their next stage in learning.
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Leaders and staff recognise the importance of children feeling safe, settled and secure
before they can learn. They place high priority on children's emotional wellbeing and have
appropriate key-person arrangements in place. As a result, all children are supported to
build warm, trusting, nurturing relationships with their key person as well as other staff who
care for them. For instance, babies, including those who have recently started to attend the
nursery, confidently seek comforting cuddles from staff when they need reassurance. Staff
swiftly respond, meeting their emotional needs.
All staff have high expectations of children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. Staff model
positive behaviours, such as being calm, polite and respectful. Those who need additional
support to understand their emotions are well supported. The play experiences and activities
on offer are well considered to include children's interests. This supports children's
engagement in their learning as they play. Leaders actively promote positive attendance
patterns, recognising the benefits to children from their time at the nursery.
Staff manage minor conflicts between children well. They help children to understand their
own and each other's feelings, as they learn to problem-solve, take turns and respect each
other's wishes. Generally, staff support children well by giving reminders of behavioural
expectations. However, on occasion, the messages children receive are inconsistent, which
can be confusing as they begin to learn right from wrong.
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
The curriculum is designed to support all children's development, including those with
special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those who face other barriers to their
learning. It is bespoke, broad, and ambitious, designed to support all children's individual
learning. Staff use assessment to identify skills and knowledge children have learned. This
informs what they teach next. Typically, this ensures children are well supported to
continually build on their existing skills in all areas of learning, including their physical
development.
Overall, leaders demonstrate a clear and generally accurate view of the quality of the
curriculum and teaching. Leaders understand the importance of spending time in the rooms
to support staff's practice and understand what it is like for children who are attending. This
enables them to identify strengths and areas for improvement. For instance, leaders support
staff to recognise opportunities where children's learning can be extended even further,
coaching and guiding staff's everyday practice. This has a positive impact on the quality of
teaching and delivery of the curriculum. This means staff generally implement the curriculum
well, which supports children to achieve their next steps in learning.
Children's communication and language skills are a focus. Babies benefit from a language-
rich environment, where they confidentially babble and learn first words and numbers.
Children hear new words in context, such as 'full' and 'empty'. This enables children to

broaden their growing vocabulary and develop an early understanding of mathematical
concepts. Older children develop conversational skills, sharing their thoughts and ideas.
These opportunities positively impact on children's ability to communicate and actively
promote their personal, social and emotional development as they build confidence and a
positive sense of belonging and self-esteem.
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders and staff team use their knowledge of individual children to promptly identify any
gaps in their learning. Those staff with lead responsibility for inclusion recognise the
importance of working in collaboration with other staff, parents and carers and any external
professionals. They attend training which further supports them in their roles and enables
them to provide ongoing advice and guidance to other staff. This enables swift assessment
of children's needs and means that tailored support can be put in place. Leaders
demonstrate a clear understanding of external referral processes to seek specialist
intervention when needed. They understand the importance of involving parents in these
processes, as well as working together as children's needs change, to provide consistency
between home and nursery.
Generally, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from
targeted plans. These incorporate specific strategies and bespoke targets to support their
ongoing learning and development. Overall, staff have a secure awareness of these and can
incorporate them throughout each child's day. However, this is not consistent, as not all staff
are fully aware of children's precise targets when working with them. This does not fully
support these children's learning in order for them to make the best possible progress.
Despite this, children with SEND do make positive progress towards their goals. Leaders
are fully aware the additional funding that can be claimed to support children. They ensure
any additional funding is used effectively and monitored to measure the impact on individual
children.
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders are passionate about their roles and are dedicated to promoting the best outcomes
for children. Generally, they identify priorities for improvement and support staff to implement
these in daily practice which they continue to embed. This supports the continual growth of
the nursery and the staff team. Leaders value their staff, recognising the important part they
play in children's lives. Leaders are ambitious for all children, including those with special
educational needs and/or disabilities, or those who face other barriers to their learning or
wellbeing. They understand the importance of positive partnerships with parents and carers.
They place emphasis on working together, creating an open and effective two-way flow of
information. Parents are highly complimentary of the care and learning experiences their
children receive. They value how their children make significant progress in their language
development, self-confidence and social skills, which they attribute to the nursery.
Leaders ensure staff receive regular supervision sessions and support their continued
professional development. Staff have access to a variety of ongoing training and are
supported to achieve qualifications. This supports the ongoing upskilling of the staff team,

which improves outcomes for children. Staff report a genuine love for their roles and feel
that leaders are approachable, inclusive and supportive.
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 eager to start their day and babies hold out their arms to welcoming staff.
Older children quickly delve into activities and excitedly greet friends. Children demonstrate
genuine happiness to attend and have an embedded sense of belonging. Staff get to know
individual children and their families, obtaining in-depth information and building positive
relationships. This enables staff to build warm and sensitive bonds with children, as they
personalise their care, routines and support to meet their needs. Leaders promote the
importance of children's attendance to ensure the relationships they form with staff are
maintained, supporting consistency in their emotional wellbeing. Children's personal, social
and emotional development are extremely well considered and are key strengths here.
Children benefit from a broad, ambitious curriculum that includes all areas of learning. Staff
understand what children can do and what they need to learn next. This supports children,
including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those who face other
barriers to learning, to make steady progress from their starting points. Staff skilfully plan an
array of play experiences and activities based on children's immediate curiosities and
ongoing interests, as well as their individual stage of development. As a result, all children
are eager to join in and show positive engagement in their early learning experiences.

Inspector:
Natalie Moir
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2789383
Address:
117 Ifield Road
Crawley
RH11 7BP
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Children have an abundance of opportunities to be physically active, both indoors and
outside. For instance, babies cruise around the carefully planned baby room. This supports
their early physical skills. Young children delight as they join in group parachute games and
use ride-on toys competently. Older children eagerly access the outdoors, manoeuvring their
whole bodies and practising their balance as they complete obstacle courses. They benefit
from opportunities to run, climb and jump. This supports children's muscle development, as
well as a love for being physically active. informing healthy habits for life. Leaders actively
promote children's attendance to help them fully benefit from the range of experiences and
activities the nursery provides.
Next steps
Leaders should ensure all staff are fully aware of precise strategies and bespoke targets,
to consistently support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities to make
the very best progress possible.
Leaders should support staff to give consistent messages to children about behavioural
expectations.
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, including those with lead responsibility for safeguarding
and inclusion, staff, children, parents and carers 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.

Registration date: 12/06/2024
Registered person: Careroom Limited
Register(s): EYR, CCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Local authority: West Sussex
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 18 March 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
Total number of places
76
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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