Little Tree Day Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Parents and carers consistently comment on how well leaders and staff work closely with them to ensure that their children receive the support they need. Leaders carefully consider the voices of parents to decide how additional funding is spent for their children's individual needs. For example, they have purchased craft materials and musical instruments to help children to further build the essential skills they need in their development. As a result, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those in receipt of additional funding make significant progress in their learning and development.

The special educational needs and disabilities coordinators are knowledgeable. Staff receive appropriate training to gain the essential skills and knowledge to support children with SEND. They consistently monitor and assess the children and act promptly to address their individual learning and development needs. For example, staff use key strategies such as visual prompts, physical objects and specific words to support individual children with their understanding. In collaboration with parents, staff make timely referrals to ensure that the right agencies are involved to help children with their learning and development needs. This supports all children to achieve the best possible outcomes.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

Leaders have designed a curriculum that is inclusive. They assess what children know and can do and incorporate children's interests into planning. Staff are skilled at telling children's favourite stories, drawing out key vocabulary. They emphasise parts of the story through expressions and gestures to hook children in and provide further sensory experiences within the environment. This helps children to develop a real love of books.

Children learn to be independent. They access the indoor environment freely and select from a range of fun learning activities that are available to them. However, children do not have the same enriched experiences in the outdoor environment. That said, staff take children on outings, such as going on a local bus.

Staff's interactions with children are of high quality. Children typically develop well in their communication and language. Staff extend children's imaginations in dramatic play. Staff teach mathematics well. Children naturally learn to use numbers for counting. As children build towers, staff guide them to count one by one to find out how many blocks it took to build their towers. When children muddle the numbers, staff wait patiently, pausing and giving time to them to work it out.

Achievement: Expected standard

Children typically achieve well at this setting. They benefit from experiences to practise their next steps in learning. Children learn to hold information in their memory as they recall familiar songs. They become increasingly confident as they learn to grasp a pencil and draw pictures from their imagination. Through the joint efforts of parents and carers and staff, children learn the essential skills and knowledge to achieve within their age and stage of development.

Children develop their vocabulary skills and receive praise when they have learned to say some words. All children, regardless of their starting points in development, make progress in their learning and development.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders have embedded a friendly and respectful culture where children thrive emotionally and socially and develop very positive attitudes to their learning. Staff have highly responsive interactions with children that help to build positive relationships between children and themselves. Parents and carers consistently report that their children are happy and safe at the setting.

Children have secure attachments to all staff, including their key persons. Staff have sound knowledge of child development and consider the ages and stages of children when maintaining the high expectations of the setting. They consistently model positive behaviours. They teach children how to use their polite manners towards others. Children's behaviour is consistently courteous and kind towards their friends and staff. They learn the importance of waiting patiently in line to wash their hands before having their snack and share the jug to pour themselves a drink. These attributes of learning are a result of the impactful teaching of the highly skilful staff.

Leaders have effective systems in place to monitor children's attendance. The established relationships enable them to work very effectively with parents to ensure that all children are routinely in attendance.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Expected standard

Leaders and staff are nurturing and dedicated in helping children to recognise, express and manage their emotions in a secure and responsive manner. Parents and carers of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities celebrate the progress their children make. They express fondly how their children's wellbeing is cared for and how they have come on leaps and bounds in their emotional development. The well-established key-person system plays a key role, as it enables staff to form trusting relationships with children and their parents.

Staff teach children about their physical health. They use positive reinforcement to guide children to follow specific steps to wash their hands. Staff sit with children at snack time and discuss with them how milk benefits their teeth and bones. They encourage children to try healthy fruits and vegetables, such as apples, bananas and peppers. This helps children to learn about their bodies.

Leaders promote and share ideas with parents about putting together a healthy lunch box for their children. They have appropriate systems in place to check and ensure that the fruits they bring are prepared safely and that children with allergies are protected.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders are highly supported by the dedicated governance team. They work closely together to create an inclusive environment for all children. Leaders typically understand their setting's strengths. However, they have not fully embedded a culture of reflection to think about how they will enhance the quality of provision. That said, staff benefit from a supportive leadership team whose members consider the wellbeing and workload of staff. Leaders maintain regular supervision meetings with staff and focus on identifying any ongoing training needs. They also have online catch-up sessions to share and discuss relevant information. This ensures the smooth running of the setting and a collaborative approach to practice. This creates a positive working environment.

Leaders and staff have positive relationships with parents and carers. Effective engagement with external agencies ensures that children get the help they need to thrive. Children benefit from robust settling-in procedures, which helps to establish smooth transitions for children from home to the setting. Leaders make decisions in the best interests of children. Consequently, staff support, nurture and encourage children to do their best in their learning and development at this setting.