Holly Trees Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are confident and enjoy spending time in this setting. When they need help or reassurance, they approach staff with ease, showing they feel secure and trust the adults who care for them. Staff provide opportunities for children to make choices. For example, during an activity, children change the rules of the game and choose which child will select the next item in a memory game. These experiences promote independence, support decision-making and give children ownership of their play and learning.

Leaders have a clear vision for the curriculum and work closely with staff to implement it across the setting. Staff plan activities to meet children's needs and build on what they already know and can do. This supports good progress from their starting points and helps children develop the skills and knowledge needed for the next stage of learning.

Some staff have a strong understanding of children and their individual needs. Newer staff are still getting to know the children as they settle into their roles. As a result, there are minor differences in how staff engage with children, reflecting varying levels of experience and familiarity. Where relationships are well established, staff respond sensitively to children's emotional needs. They notice when a child needs reassurance and offer comfort or use strategies tailored to that child. This helps children feel understood, safe and secure, enabling them to manage their feelings and grow in confidence.

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

• Children enjoy the range of activities provided and show curiosity as they play. They wash toy dinosaurs in water, adding food colouring and watching the colours change. This sparks excitement as they explore together. Other children take part in role play, using props and imagination to act out familiar experiences. These experiences contribute to children's enjoyment and support their creative and social development.
• Children are becoming more independent through daily routines. For instance, they are encouraged to scrape their plates after meals, pour their own drinks and butter their own crackers. Staff give gentle help when needed, encouraging children to try things for themselves. This helps them build confidence, learn new skills and take care of their own needs.
• Children have regular, planned opportunities to develop their physical skills in the garden where they confidently use the climbing apparatus. Staff support babies' physical development well. For example, they hold the hands of those learning to walk and encourage them to move up and down, giving them plenty of opportunities to practise and strengthen their muscles in preparation for independent walking.
• The quality and consistency of staff interactions with children vary across the setting. Some use daily routines effectively to build vocabulary and model language. Others rely on closed questions that require one-word answers, which do not promote children's thinking. This limits meaningful interactions and reduces opportunities for children to develop their communication skills and build on their vocabulary.
• Staff demonstrate an understanding of the strategies to help some children regulate their behaviour. However, these approaches are not consistently applied across the setting. Behaviour expectations and rules are not always reinforced or explained to all children. As a result, some children do not receive the consistent guidance to help them understand and manage their behaviour effectively.
• Partnerships with parents are strengthening, and this contributes to improved outcomes for children. Parents report that communication, previously inconsistent, has become clearer and more regular following the increased support from the senior leadership team. They say they feel listened to and that their feedback is acted upon. Leaders plan events for parents to attend, such as a teddy bears' picnic, which further fosters a sense of community and engagement. During the inspection, parents spoke positively about the care their children receive and said their children are happy and settled in the setting.
• Staff feel well supported in their roles and can contribute their ideas, both during planning and in day-to-day practice. They value the whole-setting training days, which help to build their skills and deepen their knowledge. Leaders prioritise staff well-being, recognising its importance in maintaining a positive and effective workforce. They offer thoughtful gestures such as breakfast, which help staff feel appreciated and motivated.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• continue to strengthen the quality and consistency of staff interactions with children to ensure all children receive high-quality support that fully promotes their communication and language development and helps them reach their full potential
• support staff to consistently manage behavioural expectations so that all children develop a clear understanding of rules and boundaries.