Cherry Trees Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children thrive in this inspiring and friendly nursery. They enthusiastically explore and investigate with their friends, rapidly building on what they already know and understand. Leaders create a strong ethos for children to become confident, independent learners, which is evident throughout the nursery. For example, children choose to make their own dough to play with. They work out when to add more water or flour to create a good consistency for their dough. Children ask staff for an orange which, after gentle encouragement from staff, children proficiently peel. They squeeze the juice into their dough mixture to help create a unique dough. This supports children's growing creativity and strengthens their thinking skills.

Babies and very young children are immersed in language and songs. The dedicated and nurturing staff teach babies signs, such as 'more', to help encourage communication from a very early age. As they grow, children become aware of their emotions through the array of resources, including books and dolls, staff purposefully introduce to them. Children quickly begin to regulate their own feelings and behaviours towards others. They know they can independently use button and sand timers, helping them manage minor disputes around sharing and taking turns with their friends. This contributes to the exceptional behaviour and attitudes children display.

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

• The provider and senior staff have high expectations for staff performance. From the onset of their employment, regular training and coaching helps to ensure staff extend their own knowledge and understanding to provide excellent care and education for babies and children. Training is purposeful, helping staff focus on the precise needs of the children in their care. As a result, staff have a deep understanding of how to most effectively support children's learning. Regional staff and leaders meticulously review and monitor the quality of provision to help ensure that children do not fall behind in their individual learning journeys.
• Partnerships with parents are valued. Staff have a deep respect for the views and knowledge parents have about their own children. Regular communication and information sharing helps staff maintain an exceptionally clear understanding about children's emotional and developmental progress. Parents have access to a wealth of information to help support them in their role through a secure online system. In addition, key persons offer advice and practical support to help children and parents navigate changes in their lives, such as potty training and preparing for school. Staff encourage parents to borrow items, such as resource sacks and books, from the well-maintained lending library. This helps to ensure times of change are made as smooth as possible.
• Children make choices about the direction of their learning. Their interests and discussions help to shape exciting and memorable activities, experiments and investigations staff facilitate. These help children rapidly build on what they already know and understand. Children embrace the new language and concepts they encounter, helping them find out about the world in which they live. For example, conversations about glass trigger discoveries about windows. Staff take children on a bus to visit a building with stained glass windows. Children's enthusiasm triggers further experiences leading to staff introducing even more activities relating to different kinds of transport. Staff confidently assess when to add challenge to accelerate children's learning and when to let children independently play and experiment to consolidate and put into practice their rapidly expanding knowledge.
• All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who speak English as an additional language, make excellent progress. Staff ensure individual needs are integral in children's day-to-day experiences in the nursery. Regular assessments of what children know enable the dedicated staff to precisely focus on aspects of learning that follow a clear sequence. This helps to promote new achievements.
• Children's identities are celebrated. For example, parents record themselves welcoming their children to nursery in the language they hear at home. Staff learn traditional songs in different languages to sing with all the children in their group. This helps to promote a respectful and diverse community.
• From an early age, children show very high levels of independence. Through staff's encouragement, children quickly learn to look in mirrors while they wipe their faces after they have eaten. Children know where to find tissues to blow their own noses and understand why they need to wash their hands. At mealtimes, children look at a display box containing the raw ingredients of the food they are eating. This helps to trigger conversations around nutrition and health that provide an exceptionally solid foundation for future learning.