URN EY497493 · Inspected 2026-04-07 · Published 2026-06-01 · Inspector: Sheena Bankier
Monkey Puzzle Day Nursery Hartley Wintney Unique reference number (URN): EY497493 Address: Hartford House, Hulfords Lane, Hook, RG27 8AG Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 27/01/2016 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Cherryliz Limited Inspection report: 7 April 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 Achievement Expected standard Children make steady progress and gain skills for their future learning, including those who may have barriers to their learning or special educational needs and/or disabilities. Children are interested in their play and learning and are happy to take part in activities. For example, older children engage well as they sing to a musical instrument being played. Children develop confidence in completing tasks. For instance, pre-school children choose their lunch and carry their plate to the table and learn to use cutlery to cut up and eat their food. This helps to prepare them for school. Children show awareness of numbers and counting and gain understanding of mathematical and positional language, such as 'heavy', 'top' and 'bottom'. All ages of children enjoy books and songs regularly through the day. They benefit from a lending library, which encourages reading and learning at home. Babies and toddlers show they are learning the words and actions to familiar songs. Older children remember prior learning, such as pre-school children recalling what ingredients they need to make play dough and parts of a musical instrument during a music session. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard Staff and leaders form caring, positive relationships with children. Children are keen to attend, enjoy their play and activities, and feel safe and secure in the staff's care. Leaders provide information to parents about the expectations of children's attendance and have clear procedures to follow should there be any concerns regarding this. Staff typically provide consistent daily routines to children. They offer babies sleep routines similar to home, which helps provide a familiar daily routine to them. Leaders and staff recognise the importance of supporting all children's behaviour. They give praise to children about what they do well. Staff are generally positive role models to children. They are calm and respectful to their colleagues, for example. Not all staff consistently promote some behaviour expectations, such as modelling good manners with the younger children. Occasionally, staff do not recognise times to remind older children about the behaviour expectations, such as when play between children becomes more physical. This does not always guide children's developing understanding of respectful interactions with others. Staff identify children who need extra help to manage their feelings and emotions. They provide well-considered support to children who struggle with this aspect of their development. This includes calm, quiet spaces for children to spend time in and offering cuddles and time to talk about their feelings and emotions. This supports children who need additional help with their feelings and behaviour well. Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard Staff welcome children warmly on arrival and develop close bonds with them. Children are happy and settled and develop a positive sense of belonging at the nursery. They leave their parents easily on arrival. When needed, staff give children caring support as they arrive. They reassure parents that their children have settled if children have found it difficult to leave them. Leaders have identified effective procedures to support and protect children's welfare and wellbeing. This includes recognising and acting on any potential concerns relating to children's welfare. They have established routines that ensure privacy for all children during toileting and nappy changing. Staff have a clear understanding of these expectations and implement them consistently. Staff and children follow good hygiene procedures, including regular handwashing. Staff support children to recognise their self-care needs, such as using tissues. Staff generally promote children's independence. For instance, babies start learning how to clean their hands and faces after eating. Leaders ensure that there is a healthy, well-balanced diet that meets children's individual dietary needs. Staff demonstrate they know and understand the process for managing children's individual dietary requirements, such as being aware of any allergies. Staff typically help children develop their awareness of healthy lifestyles. For example, they plan activities to help children learn about brushing their teeth. Staff generally promote children's awareness about the healthy food they eat and why it is good for their bodies. Curriculum and teaching Expected standard Leaders and staff have a secure understanding of the individual learning needs of children, including those with barriers to their learning and special educational needs and/or disabilities. They have a curriculum that focuses on developing children's skills and knowledge across all areas of learning over time. Staff use observations and assessments well to identify children's learning needs or areas of the curriculum that may need more focus. Staff typically understand what they are teaching and how activities support children's learning. Staff plan activities across all areas of learning to help children build on their knowledge and skills. They identify activities for individual children, including those with additional learning needs, to help close gaps in their development and progress. For example, staff plan specific activities to support children's physical skills. Staff support children's independence. For example, toddlers develop their hand–eye coordination as they learn to balance the jug and pour their drinks at snack time. Staff consider children's emotional wellbeing sensitively. They use stories and characters from books to help children recognise and learn how to manage their feelings. Staff typically interact during play and activities at the same level as the children. Some staff provide more effective teaching to children. These staff use routines well to build on children's learning, such as encouraging discussions and modelling language to younger children. Staff read books to children regularly throughout the day and sing songs and rhymes with them, which helps support children's language development. Staff weave in mathematical learning appropriately during activities, such as counting and identifying sizes and quantities. Inclusion Expected standard Leaders and staff know their responsibilities to support children who have or may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or other barriers to their learning. They monitor children's development closely, identify any emerging gaps and take steps to close these. This includes putting individual education plans in place for children when appropriate. These identify areas of learning that need more support to help children progress. Staff adapt activities to help children build on their learning and support their progress. They regularly review children's progress through observations and assessments. Leaders and staff hold discussions with parents about any emerging concerns linked to their child's development. They make referrals to other professionals when needed. Leaders and staff understand the importance of following other professionals' guidance to help support children's needs. Those with lead responsibilities for SEND are due to complete specific training to further support their knowledge about their role. Leaders and staff gain information about children's backgrounds on entry. They use this information well, liaising with parents about how they celebrate festivals and religious dates of importance to them. This helps staff provide appropriate activities to help celebrate and include children's backgrounds, which develops other children's awareness of the wider world. Leadership and governance Expected standard Leaders are engaged and hands-on in the nursery to help support the staff team. They reflect on the quality of the nursery and identify areas to continue to develop, such as enhancing the curriculum. They make improvements to the nursery, such as extending the areas used for the care of babies to offer resources and an environment better suited to different stages of development. They have created a natural play area for children to explore and understand more about the world. Leaders typically know and understand the quality of the provision and practice, and they take steps to develop and improve this. They generally support staff's professional development and training well, although they do not always precisely identify and develop staff's skills and practice further. Staff speak positively about their work and the support they receive from leaders. For instance, leaders organise staffing to ensure that there are additional staff working above the required staff-to-child ratios. This provides further support to both children and staff. There are very positive partnerships and communication with parents. Parents speak highly about the staff and their children's experiences. Leaders and staff make links with other settings children attend, which helps to promote continuity of children's learning and care needs. They involve themselves in the local community and participate in events with children. This helps children gain experience and understanding of their local community. 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 Voluntary Childcare Register requirements This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register. How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare Register When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes: Met Not met What it's like to be a child at this setting Leaders provide a welcoming environment to children and parents. They highlight to parents the importance of routine and attendance for children and arriving in time for the key learning activities. Children benefit from a curriculum that covers all areas of learning and which enables them to explore and investigate. For example, toddlers and pre-school children enjoy transporting materials in the natural play area. Leaders ensure that resources and activities reflect children's similarities and differences, helping to value their uniqueness. All children's individual learning needs are known, including any barriers to learning or special educational needs and/or disabilities. All children make steady progress in their learning, with some making more rapid progress from their starting points. Children build trusting relationships with staff. They feel safe and confident to approach staff and express their needs, such as older babies indicating with some words and actions that they want to change their clothes after water play. Staff respond warmly to babies and reflect back what they are saying. This means babies hear how words are put together to make sentences. Children develop friendships with other children and learn to cooperate with others, such as toddlers passing the jug of milk around the table to each other when staff ask them. Staff introduce new words, such as 'crunchy' when children eat peppers at snack time, supporting them to build on their vocabulary. Children develop their independence and self-care well. Older babies learn to drink successfully out of unlidded cups. Staff guide pre- school children in how to use their knife and fork to cut up their food independently. This helps children gain skills for the future. Staff are mindful of changes that may affect children's behaviour, such as new baby siblings. They sensitively explore these changes and how children feel, such as through reading books to help them adjust to these changes in their lives. Staff provide a caring response to children's needs. For example, they quickly give comfort and reassurance to children who become upset. Staff promote children's resilience, including helping them compromise when appropriate. Next steps Leaders should build staff's awareness of times when children need more guidance to help support their best possible behaviour. Leaders should focus more precisely on mentoring, supporting and guiding staff to help improve the consistency of teaching and practice and the overall quality of the provision further. About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, the designated safeguarding lead, 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. The inspection started on 7 April 2026. It was paused in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. Inspectors returned on 9 April 2026 to complete the inspection. Inspector: Sheena Bankier About this setting Unique reference number (URN): EY497493 Address: Hartford House Hulfords Lane Hook RG27 8AG Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 27/01/2016 Registered person: Cherryliz Limited Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30 Local authority: Hampshire Facts and figures used on inspection This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. This data is from 7 April 2026 Children numbers Age range of children at the time of inspection 0 to 4 Total number of places 67 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. 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