Yew Tree Nursery And Preschool

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Overall, children behave well, feel secure and enjoy their learning. For example, older children independently use trial and error to complete jigsaw puzzles. Toddlers happily look at books with their friends and successfully build friendships.

Staff help babies to explore and be inquisitive. Older girls and boys enthusiastically use water and brushes to start forming letters in their name. Staff help two-year-olds to construct a road and add small-world people, which prompts a discussion about pilots, helping children to recall their own experiences.

Older children develop concentration and learn to listen to others a...s they begin to engage well in stories. They have good opportunities to ask and answer questions and extend their imagination. Staff provide good support for children learning English as an additional language, to ensure all children have good-quality learning experiences.

Parents do not enter the setting as frequently as they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they are very positive about the provision. Parents comment on how well staff share information with them and find out about their children's care and learning needs.

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

The manager has recently returned from maternity leave. She is already making a positive difference to the quality of the provision. The manager and the provider are focusing on staff well-being as they know the impact this can have on their motivation and the children.

The manager has started with staff supervisions to provide support and identify their professional development needs. She ensures training, such as Talk Boost, has a positive impact on children's development.Staff know what children can do and plan well for what they need to learn next.

For example, children concentrate hard on items that float and sink, and on learning to use scissors. However, this is not as effective for babies' outdoor play. Although the curriculum intent is for babies to have daily outdoor learning, such as sensory experiences, staff do not always ensure that the environment enables them to successfully implement their plans.

The manager is proactive in ensuring parents and children receive all the help they need when children have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). She has recently reviewed their needs and contacted outside agencies to get additional funding and support, as well as training for staff. The manager provides hands-on support for staff and ensures children's individual learning plans are implemented successfully so they quickly catch up.

Children develop safe and healthy practices. For example, they learn to use the large slide independently, and know to use scissors at the table and which way to hold them. The manager has re-instated forest school for all ages, to enable children to manage age-appropriate risks.

Children independently brush their teeth and learn about oral hygiene. Staff meet the care needs of babies and toddlers effectively.Staff know their key children well.

They help them to be independent from being babies, and confident to try new experiences and persevere with new skills. However, on occasions, when key persons are not present, not all staff are secure in knowing children's individual learning needs, to help them focus on children's specific learning and development.Partnerships with parents and outside agencies are a strength of the setting.

Parents confirm that they know what staff are supporting their children with next, so they can be consistent with helping them at home. From initiatives such as Hungry Minds, the manager sends out activity ideas for all ages. Parents confirm that their children are making very good progress in their communication and language skills, especially those with SEND.

Members of the management team are using effective systems to evaluate the provision, including seeking parents' views. For example, they are improving the sensory room for toddlers and the woodwork area for children to practise skills they learn at forest school. The acting deputy has introduced 'book of the week' to develop children's love of books and support their development further.

However, sometimes, staff do not use all opportunities to challenge and extend children's mathematical development.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.The provider and manager ensure that all staff have training in all aspects of safeguarding children.

They use team meetings and supervisions to help staff embed their knowledge. The managers and staff have a secure understanding of the signs to be aware of and the procedures to follow if they have concerns that a child may be at risk of harm. The manager has recently reviewed the risk assessments according to the needs of their current cohort of children.

As a result, she has taken action to remove the stone path to replace it with a sensory path instead. The management team ensures ratios are met within the setting and deploys staff effectively to keep children safe.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support staff in ensuring the planning for babies' outdoor learning is implemented successfully help staff covering a key person's absence to know children's next stages of learning, so that they can provide high-quality contributions to the curriculum intent focus staff training on supporting children's mathematical development further.