Blossom Trees Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff work effectively to provide a friendly and welcoming nursery in the centre of a thriving community. Staff are patient and responsive to individual children's needs. This helps children to settle quickly. Staff interact warmly and positively with children and give them extensive praise for their achievements. Overall, children behave well. They happily approach staff for comfort or reassurance. For example, when babies wake after sleep time, they confidently look for familiar staff before eagerly joining in play. Babies and children show high levels of emotional resilience.

Staff plan an ambitious curriculum with purposeful learning environments that help spark children's imagination. They build on children's interests and what they can do to nurture their creativity. For example, babies giggle and dance as they play peekaboo standing up inside a tube tunnel. Older children make mud spaghetti Bolognese to serve to the adults by mixing garden materials such as twigs, soil and leaves. All children make good progress from their starting points.

Staff support children to become independent. For example, staff model to babies how to wash hands before eating, and how children can use cutlery appropriately. Children are curious in making independent choices about where they want to play and what they want to play with. For instance, young children vigorously use the soapy water provided to wash the steps of the climbing frame. Other children focus intently on washing their bikes or mixing water and mud together using the mud kitchen pots and pans. Children are confident in leading their own learning.

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

• Leaders have an ambitious vision for the nursery. They use feedback from parents and outside agencies to make continuous improvements. For example, purpose-built play areas outside allow children to practise large-muscle movements through climbing and building. The development of specific areas in pre-school encourages children to play in smaller groups, supporting increased focus and engagement. This positive approach to self-reflection helps to enhance children's experiences.
• Overall, staff manage children's behaviour well. They provide clear explanations and gently remind children when some behaviours are not appropriate. However, sometimes staff working with older children do not help them understand their behaviour's impact on others. At these times, children's understanding of good behaviour is less well supported.
• Clear and strong leadership across the setting means transitions between activities and the different playrooms are well planned. The well-established key-person system means that staff know children well. They share detailed information about each child's care and learning. This helps to ensure that the individual needs of all children are met as they move on to the next stage in their learning.
• Staff have specific training to meet the individual needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They work with the manager of the setting to establish effective communication with other professionals. Staff devise and implement clear and targeted support to ensure a fully inclusive environment meets all children's needs. Consequently, children with SEND progress well from their starting points.
• Staff take pride in their involvement in the local community. For instance, children visit the local park in the village and attend the nearby church for story time. Nursery staff work with the local school to facilitate children's involvement in forest school sessions. Staff forge exceptional links with the local school. Children take part in craft sessions led by the schoolteacher. These experiences help children to develop their social skills and gain an awareness of their local community.
• Staff are keen to promote children's understanding of the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. They talk to children about different foods that help them grow strong. Staff provide activities that support young children with dental hygiene practice and they guide parents on toilet training and the benefits of not using dummies. This contributes successfully to children's overall health and positive well-being.
• Staff prioritise children's communication and language development. Children enjoy an abundance of stories and rhymes. Staff introduce new words with clear and appropriate explanations while sharing stories. They confidently ask thought-provoking questions that encourage children to connect their ideas and recall past learning. For example, while children are learning about the Olympics, staff ask, 'What do athletes look like?' Children discuss their ideas and eagerly draw an athlete in a wheelchair. Opportunities such as these help to develop children's communication and language skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to consistently support older children's growing understanding of the impact of their behaviour on others to further enhance their knowledge of good behaviour.