The Treehouse Club

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children happily leave their parents at the main door and are eager to start their session.

They immediately gather on the carpet to share their news with staff and friends. Children enthusiastically join in conversations and staff listen attentively to their news. Once everyone has arrived, the children listen carefully for their name and enjoy taking part in registration.

The older children support the younger children to answer. Registration is followed by stories and music time which they join in with wonderful energy. They follow the adults' instruction, playing instruments very loud, then quietly beating rhythms....

The children know the morning routine well and eagerly take part in this fun start to the session.Children experience time outside every day. They take part in local walks exploring the community and learning road safety.

Forest-school sessions are offered every week and specialist teachers teach a variety of skills building on children's knowledge. Children are supported to develop independence skills putting on their outside coats and puddle suits, ready for outside adventures in all weathers. Children show confidence in the environment.

They explore the wide variety of activities that are set out. They work together to create imaginative play scenes. They move boxes around to create a car and use old mobile phones to replay familiar scenes with their friends.

The children demonstrate a sense of ownership of the setting, which is fostered by the staff.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

On joining the setting, parents complete an in-depth 'All about me' form. This informs key persons of the child's stage of development.

Staff use this information to plan for individual children to make progress. Key persons complete in-depth observations to get to know their key children well and plan next steps with the information. Staff are aware of the importance of supporting communication and language development.

This is a focus for all children. They engage well with children and build on conversations, offering extension to vocabulary.The curriculum planning offers a wide variety of opportunities, and next steps are planned for each child.

However, the setting supports children to influence their sessions. This often results in plans changing to meet child's interests and fascinations. Staff encourage children to express what they want to explore and learn.

Also, they plan visits from local services, such as the mobile library and local police officers. This offers children a wider variety of experiences.Children recall what they have previously learned.

Staff offer regular opportunities to revisit activities to consolidate learning. However, for some children, these repeated adult-led activities do not offer further challenge or opportunity to progress. For example, a whole-group walk did not offer some children any extension to learning, and they became disinterested.

Staff report feeling well supported by managers. The take part in regular supervisions. They feel valued and listened to which has a positive effect on their approach to their work.

The management work alongside all staff to develop systems for reflecting on and improving practice. As a team, they reflect and are committed to developing their service for the benefit of the children and families. They listen to suggestions from staff and implement improvements, drawing on the team's previous experiences.

For example, a new calm area is being developed following a recommendation from a new staff member.Staff are skilled at identifying children with development delay or special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They are committed to implementing strategies from specialist professionals to support children.

However, they report there are delays in gaining specialist support in the area and staff lack the confidence to implement specific strategies without the recommendation of specialists. This leads to a delay in some children receiving the specific, individual support they need.Parents offer high praise for this pre-school.

They are particularly complimentary about the staff team. They report that children are eager to join in the sessions and greet the staff with affection. They feel well informed of their child's day and would not consider any other setting.

They particularly appreciate the outside learning that the setting offers, including the forest-school sessions and local walks and adventures.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff have good understanding of their duty to keep children safe.

All staff undertake level 2 safeguarding training. The managers regularly check understanding and refresh knowledge with safeguarding quizzes and top-up training on specific safeguarding aspects, such as witchcraft and female genital mutilation. Staff are confident in their knowledge and the procedure to follow should an allegation be made against a colleague.

They have use of an online staff portal, which gives them access to the setting's policies and procedures. They have completed risk assessments and put appropriate procedures in place to ensure they keep children safe when using the public playground and playing fields adjacent to the pre-school.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff to understand how to provide children with the appropriate challenge, to further extend their learning and build on what they already know nenhance staff practice to enable them to develop increased confidence in supporting children with SEND using specific individual strategies.