The Trees Day Care Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children are motivated to learn and engage in a wide range of activities that help them to achieve. For instance, staff encouraged babies and the youngest children to press resources into a dough mixture to develop the small muscles in their fingers.

Older children enjoyed the challenge of creating a model from junk to make a boat that floats on water. Staff supported children well to make choices from resources to test out their ideas. Children giggled as they floated their boat and experimented to see how many pebbles they could put in it before it sank.

Children's behaviour is good. They play harmoniously together a...nd celebrate their achievements, for example with a 'high five'. Staff are positive role models and provide children with clear explanations of expectations.

For example, children are keen to help clean the 'messy trays' at tidy-up time using cloths. Staff teach children about recycling to help them learn to care for the environment. Pre-school children know that they need to put uneaten food in the blue bin and to put used paper tissues in the green bin.

Children develop confidence and their independence skills. Older children carry their plates of food competently from the serving area to the table at mealtimes. Younger children know to put on their wellington boots before they go outside in the rain.

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

Children benefit from an effective key-person system. Staff know children well and support them to settle quickly on arrival. Staff make regular assessments of children's progress and plan for what each child needs to learn next.

Children are happy and settled, demonstrate good levels of emotional well-being and make good progress.Children of all ages enjoy plenty of fresh air and physical exercise. Babies showed good coordination skills as they caught water from tubes in their buckets.

Young children were fascinated by the water wheel and persevered in their attempts to pour water to make it spin. Older children negotiated space well as they rode tricycles and balanced on push-along scooters.Staff support children's communication and language skills well, including those children learning English as an additional language and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

They engage children in conversations, developing their listening and social skills. Staff provide a running commentary during activities and routines to reinforce children's understanding. Staff extend children's vocabulary and understanding through effective strategies, such as repeating words and using sign language and pictures.

However, at times, staff do not ask children effective questions to extend learning and thinking skills further. Some staff tend to jump in with an answer before children can respond.Children learn to respect each other and their similarities and differences.

However, the manager and staff recognise that children have limited opportunities to engage in activities and experiences that reflect their individual home languages, family backgrounds and traditions.Staff embed mathematics throughout the nursery. For instance, they support younger children to count how many times they jump on the trampoline.

Two-year-olds develop an understanding of capacity as they fill and empty containers with water. Older children build different shapes using construction toys.Children of all ages develop a love of books and stories and have plenty of opportunities to develop their imagination.

Younger children enjoy playing with toy sea creatures in the water tray and pretend to feed them spaghetti. Older children focus for extended periods as they play with small-world people in a toy castle.The manager reflects on and evaluates the quality of the provision and children's progress effectively to identify areas for improvement.

For example, she identified that some older children were not progressing as swiftly as possible in some areas. As a result, she has introduced more natural resources and made changes in the learning environment to encourage children's curiosity, sensory and exploratory play.The manager observes staff practice regularly and supports staff with professional development opportunities to benefit children.

For example, staff have recently attended a course about motivating boys' learning. As a result, they provide a greater variety of activities that capture boys' interest and promote their all-round development.The special educational needs coordinator liaises with parents, key persons and other professionals effectively for those children who need extra support.

She uses the information to create individual plans to help close any gaps, and updates these regularly to promote children's progress.Parents are full of praise for the manager and staff. They feel well informed about their children's daily care and education.

Parents appreciate staff's suggestions to help them support their children's learning at home, to provide a consistent approach.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The manager has recently focused on ensuring that she and her staff have updated their safeguarding knowledge and understanding.

Staff know what to do if they have any child protection concerns or if an allegation is made against staff or the management team. They know where to find the contact details should they need to make a referral. The manager uses robust recruitment and induction procedures to ensure staff are suitable to work with children.

She checks staff's ongoing suitability on a regular basis. The manager and staff carry out regular checks on the learning environment to identify and minimise any hazards to children.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nextend children's learning even more effectively and give them enough time to think and respond to questions asked develop ways to help children to use and value their home languages and explore their different cultural heritages.