Treetops Ashbourne

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children benefit from playing in the stimulating and spacious garden and playrooms.

They make lots of decisions and choices about what they want to do. For example, some children choose to explore the outdoors, while others stay indoors and learn about outer space. Staff have high expectations for all children, who thoroughly enjoy experimenting with a wide range of different materials.

For example, older children use all their senses as they explore items such as custard powder and sugar. They watch intently and predict that 'it might fizz', before they add bicarbonate of soda to vinegar. All children are curious abou...t the world around them.

Younger children develop their physical skills as they use furniture and play resources to pull themselves to standing and start to walk around the playroom. Older children use their thinking skills and consider what sounds they can hear while outdoors. Children are motivated and eager to learn because activities and experiences build on their unique interests and lifestyles.

For example, children are made aware of how others in the nursery, who are of Scottish ethnicity, celebrate 'Burns Night'.Children happily enter the nursery and show that they feel safe and secure. They receive a very warm welcome from friendly staff and enjoy lots of hugs and cuddles.

Children behave well and play cooperatively together with their friends. For example, they throw and kick the ball to each other while playing in the garden.

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

All children develop their literacy skills.

Younger children concentrate well as they make marks on paper using paint and utensils such as brushes and sponges. Older children use their imagination and name colours as they draw pictures using crayons.Children show a real interest in books and reading.

They select their favourite storybooks from the nursery library. Children sit and concentrate well as staff read the stories to them. Children turn the pages and predict what will happen next.

Staff ask children questions, introduce new words and help them to build on their vocabulary.Staff provide children with lots of opportunities to broaden their knowledge of the world in which they live. They are attentive to any possible gaps in children's experiences.

For example, younger children are given time to be independent and to do things for themselves, while at home their older siblings do things for them. Older children are excited to participate in new science activities and learn that different media can be combined to create new effects.Staff work in partnership with parents.

They talk to parents in the morning and evening and at planned parents' evenings. Staff keep parents up to date with the progress that their children make. They share ideas with parents about activities they can plan at home and about care practices, such as weaning.

Parents are highly complimentary about the care and learning experiences offered to their children. They comment on how quickly their children settle into the nursery. They state that the nursery is very clean and that the manager is 'massively informative'.

The managers and staff are well qualified. They use their team-time talks and supervision meetings to identify what needs to be developed in the nursery. They have recently improved how they promote children's mathematical development.

Staff weave mathematics through children's play very well. They encourage children to count as they explore the resources, and to use mathematical language to describe shape and size. For example, younger children hear number names while singing rhymes.

Older children correctly name shapes while painting pictures. They explore 'big' and 'small' as they race cars through cardboard tubes.Staff use assessment to check what children can do well and what skills they need to learn next.

The key person identifies children's learning intentions. They use the information to plan and to help all children to make good progress. However, this information is not always shared with the rest of the staff.

Consequently, some staff are not clear about children's learning intentions and do not support all children to make the best progress they are capable of.Staff working with younger children do not always organise routine times, such as speaking to parents, tidying up and preparing for children's lunch, effectively. At these times, some younger children wander around the playroom and are not as well engaged in meaningful activities and experiences.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff attend regular training events to enhance their safeguarding knowledge and skills. They attend training on child protection and the wider aspects of safeguarding such as the 'Prevent' duty.

All staff have an in-depth understanding of the actions they must take to protect children from harm. Recruitment procedures are robust. Managers complete regular checks to make sure staff are suitable to work with children.

Staff complete daily checks of the nursery and remove any potential hazards. This helps to make sure children are safe as they play.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: make sure all staff are informed and know the intentions for children's learning so that all children are helped to make the best progress they are capable of norganise routine times better, such as speaking to parents, tidying up and preparing for children's lunch, so that at these times, younger children continue to be engaged in meaningful activities and experiences.