Heath Hayes Early Learners

Heath Hayes Early Learners
Unique reference number (URN): 2844597
Address: Unit 4 Hawks Green District Centre, Cannock, WS12 3XP
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 27/04/2025
Registers: EYR
Registered person: Open Space Nurseries Limited
Inspection report: 19 February 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.

Expected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and are good role models. Leaders and
staff have established routines, which children learn. Children take turns through games and
share resources. When playing in the sand tray, children are actively encouraged by staff to
wait for the coloured sieve they want or to fetch a different colour. Staff praise children for
making good choices while playing. For example, children take turns to cuddle a soft toy,
even though initially they were reluctant to share. Staff praise them and explain why it was
hard to share as the soft toy was brought in from home.
Children are reminded to use their manners when eating. Staff sing songs about 'please'
and 'thank you'. There is an abundance of resources for children to choose from to play with.
Some children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning and sustain long periods of
engagement at their chosen activity. They show perseverance in carrying out their tasks,
and staff recognise this achievement and say, 'well done'. This helps to build confidence in
children and gives them a sense of achievement.
When unwanted behaviour is displayed, staff swiftly intervene with words of positive
encouragement and explanations, so children can learn from their mistakes. Some children
have been absent from the setting for various reasons. Leaders and staff give some support
to parents to understand the importance of children attending regularly. This could be
enhanced further to establish positive routines to significantly improve children's attendance.
This would help children to become more confident when they attend, so they interact more
with the resources on offer and not rely so much on staff comfort.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Children's wellbeing is prioritised by leaders and staff. Children form strong attachments to
their keyworkers who support them emotionally as they are nurturing, kind and caring.
Young babies are helped to settle in by receiving lots of cuddles and reassurance from staff.
Their routines are followed with respect to feeding and sleeping. Staff rock babies to sleep
but then follow safer sleep practice by placing them down on their backs in cots. Older
children are supported well by staff to manage their emotions. They receive positive praise
when sharing, and staff talk to children about how their friends may feel if they are not kind
to each other. This helps children to recognise their actions may affect others.
Older children know they must wash their hands before eating and exclaim that they are
going to wash them to get rid of germs. All children benefit from healthy snacks, such as
apples, oranges and bananas. Children practise their physical skills as they pour their own
drink of water or milk.
Children benefit from fresh air outdoors. While the nursery has no outdoor space of its own,
children are taken to the community garden and local parks. They also enjoy seeing their
local community through visits to the local nursing home and the supermarket where they
can choose and buy their healthy snack for the afternoon.

Needs attention
Inclusion Expected standard
There are no children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or children
with barriers to their learning enrolled at the nursery. Leaders and staff demonstrate an
understanding of how they would identify children who may need extra support.
The nursery employs staff who receive training to support children who may require more
specialised help. Some staff have previously worked with physiotherapists to help promote
children's physical skills and have experience within school settings providing one-to-one
support for children who need it. Leaders and staff are aware of their responsibility to
identify children who may need support. Professional working relationships with outside
agencies means that parents will receive support and guidance to help them with their
child's learning.
While there are no SEND children or those with barriers to their learning at the time of the
inspection, weaknesses identified in the curriculum and teaching may mean that any
adaptations needed to support these children may not yet be successfully sustained.
Achievement Needs attention
Children do not achieve as well as they could because there are weaknesses in staff's
knowledge and understanding of the curriculum. They gain some skills for their next stage of
learning. Children do not consistently build on these skills to further their learning because
activities are not planned well enough by staff to meet their individual needs. This means
children do not always access sufficiently challenging activities. For example, when
completing an activity whereby children use paintbrushes and water to make marks on
special coloured paper, staff do not adapt their teaching to provide any challenge for
children who are more capable. Children who become bored quite quickly no longer take
part but wipe their faces and hair with the water. Staff do not know how to consistently
support children to remain interested and engaged in their learning.
Children are happy and confident. They can put their own coats on and manage their own
personal care needs. Young babies are supported to feed themselves. Staff read books to
children and talk to them, which helps early language development. Sometimes though,
children's learning is incidental and not necessarily as a direct result of the teaching they
receive while at nursery. As a result, children are not as well prepared as they could be for
their future learning.
Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Leaders have not yet fully embedded a curriculum into staff's practice. Staff do not fully
understand what is expected of them in terms of planning and providing a curriculum that is
rich and varied and adapts to meet the needs of the children. Staff do not assess children's
progress to enable them to plan precisely for children's next steps in learning.

The quality of teaching is variable and, at times, inconsistent. Not all staff enhance children's
learning through their play as they do not build on and improve the skills children already
have. Children's communication and language skills are supported as staff do talk to them
and have positive interactions, but these fail to provide chances for children to practise their
conversational skills. Staff do not promote critical thinking in children. Mathematics is taught
through counting games and identifying quantities of dots on dice.
A consistent approach to developing children's personal and emotional skills is given priority.
Children form strong bonds with staff, who are caring, kind and nurturing to children's needs,
especially the babies. Due to staff's lack of knowledge and understanding of the curriculum,
they do not always promote the physical development skills in babies. Leaders recognise
that more needs to be done to promote and enhance these skills. Resources are provided to
help children pull themselves up. Staff need to consistently implement this into their practice.
Leadership and governance Needs attention
Following recent intervention from Ofsted due to requirements not being met, leaders took
appropriate action and have sustained improvement for children. Leaders and staff create a
warm, welcoming environment that is free from hazards and risks. Staff have undergone
training to help them with their professional development, but more support is still required
to help implement the curriculum and plan effectively for children's learning and next steps.
Leaders are supportive towards staff, and their wellbeing is prioritised.
Leaders have focused their attention on making these improvements, which has led to a
decline in the oversight of the quality of teaching and learning. They recognise this has
happened and are now working with staff to implement the new curriculum, but this has not
yet had an impact. Staff need support to consistently deliver high-quality interactions with
children. As the curriculum is not yet fully embedded, it means staff do not plan appropriately
for children's next steps in learning.
Partnerships with parents are positive. Parents comment that they are happy with the
nursery and that it is small and intimate. They like the nurturing their young children get and
that information is shared daily with them and through an online application.
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children are cared for by staff who are attentive and nurturing to their needs. Young babies
seek out reassurance from familiar faces and receive cuddles and comfort. They enjoy

looking through books that they can touch and feel. Staff give some support to their
emerging physical needs but do tend to hold babies quite a lot.
Older children enjoy exploring their environment. While there is a wide range of resources to
ignite children's curiosity for learning, the curriculum is limited and still needs time to be
embedded. Staff are not yet confident in the aims of the curriculum and do not plan
sufficiently well enough for children's next steps in learning. This means that although there
are some activities for the children, staff do not adapt their teaching style to match the needs
of the children in attendance. Leaders are supporting staff by role modelling to help them
consistently deliver high-quality teaching experiences to children. This is still in its infancy
and has yet to make a difference for children. Therefore, some learning is incidental as it is
not sequenced or well planned for.
Children are happy and confident. They can attend to their own basic care needs and can
express themselves, their needs and wants to staff. Staff support children in understanding
mathematics and counting. Children enjoy using paintbrushes to make marks in sand and
discover hidden plastic numbers. They manipulate play dough with their fingers, which helps
to strengthen smaller muscles ready for pencil control and writing. Children learn to work
together and understand that sometimes they must wait their turn. Games involving rolling
dice and moving different toy animals across a board help to reinforce sharing and taking
turns.
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
devise and fully embed the curriculum into staff's
practice so that all children receive well-sequenced
learning experiences to equip them with skills needed
for their future learning
29/05/2026
support staff to use assessments effectively to plan and
consistently deliver high-quality activities in line with
children's interests and which meet their next steps for
learning.
29/05/2026
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, practitioners, the special educational needs coordinator
and children during the inspection.

Inspector:
Johanna Holt
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): 2844597
Address:
Unit 4 Hawks Green District Centre
Cannock
WS12 3XP
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 27/04/2025
Registered person: Open Space Nurseries Limited
Register(s): EYR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00
Local authority: Staffordshire
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 19 February 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
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.

Total number of places
49
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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