Cherry Tree Day Nursery LTD

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm welcome on arrival from the kind and nurturing staff, who know them well. All children, including those new to the nursery, build close relationships with their key person. Parents comment that their children love coming to the nursery. Staff are caring and attentive to children's different needs. They follow babies' routines from home to maintain continuity in their care. Staff work closely with other professionals, such as the community health visitor, to make sure that children can get the best support available.

Children have excellent opportunities to develop their physical skills. Older children show good hand-to-eye coordination as they cooperate when taking part in ball games. Staff are vigilant to ensure that children remain safe, while encouraging them to continue to develop their physical abilities. A range of climbing equipment helps children to learn to balance and negotiate their surroundings carefully. Younger children take great delight in their achievement of climbing the steps of the climbing frame independently. Children have a positive attitude to learning.

Parents strongly recommend the nursery. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have maintained close contact with families. They have provided a range of activities and online story and song sessions to engage and support children. This helped children to continue their learning at home.,

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

• Staff know the children well and confidently talk about where they are in their learning. They encourage parents to provide any relevant information at the start of the day. This helps staff to meet children's day-to-day needs and provide tailored care and support. Parents receive daily verbal feedback from staff, when they collect their children. In addition, an electronic app provides routine information to parents throughout the day.
• Children are provided with a variety of healthy home-cooked meals, freshly prepared on the premises by the nursery cook. Children eat well and choose how much they want to eat, often having second helpings. Staff talk to children about portion sizes. They are aware of children's allergies and dietary requirements when serving food, and ensure these are always adhered to.
• Overall, nursery managers and staff are clear about what they want children to learn. Although staff are responsive to children, at times they do not fully support children to make choices and follow their own interests. Occasionally, this limits children from freely exploring their chosen activities.
• Children develop a good understanding of the world around them. Staff encourage children to be kind and thoughtful. For example, children previously had opportunities to visit the elderly. However, these visits have ceased due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite this, staff have been proactive in supporting children's learning by keeping a connection within the community. For instance, children send cards and pictures to the elderly residents.
• Children learn to express themselves creatively. Older children use the skills they learn to produce unique artwork. They mix primary colours of paint to make new colours. Toddlers enjoy the experience of sticking, gluing and making pictures.
• Staff use a broad vocabulary when speaking with children to teach them new words. For example, as younger children use dough imaginatively to make snacks, staff narrate what they are doing. They use words, such as 'squash, roll' and 'flatten'.
• Nursery managers identify staff's well-being as a priority. Staff have regular supervision meetings to discuss their workload and any potential issues. Staff feel comfortable to approach managers with any worries and concerns, and know they will be listened to.
• Although staff read books in an engaging way, some staff in the pre-school room do not always consider the best ways to share books and stories with children. For example, staff are interrupted, and stories changed part way through. As a result, some children lose interest in the stories on offer and do not stay engaged in their learning.
• Self-evaluation is effective with staff and parents involved in the process. The manager has a clear vision of the strengths and of the areas for development of the setting. She understands the impact of activities and experiences on children's learning and development. She plans to focus on staff's professional development to build on their good teaching skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• increase staff's awareness about the interactions they provide, to help children make choices in their own learning and follow their own interests
• review ways that staff share books and stories with children in the pre-school room, to ensure they are all fully engaged and deepen their learning.