Olive Tree Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive with excitement to this friendly, welcoming and homely setting. They greet staff with open arms for hugs and smile and wave at their friends. Children form secure bonds with their key person from the start. They are confident and self-assured. For instance, children take turns during group time to talk and share experiences with their friends. They are motivated to be kind and care for others and the environment. Children enjoy helping staff to set the table at snack time and are eager to help with other tasks, such as sweeping the sand. Staff provide children with constant and specific praise. They offer children rewards, such as stickers. Children have the opportunity to ring a bell once they have collected an agreed number of stickers, to highlight to their friends their achievement. This helps children to develop a sense of pride in themselves.

Leaders provide children with a range of opportunities through an ambitious and varied curriculum. Children benefit from outings, such as to post their letters and drawings home. Staff invite local visitors to the setting to share their experiences, such as gardeners and people who care for animals. This helps to broaden children's experiences. A key strength of the curriculum is the promotion of children's communication and language skills. Staff use a range of effective teaching methods. For example, they teach children sign language, and use visual aids and picture cards to help to teach children how to communicate. Many children join the setting with very little spoken English and by the time they leave, they are confident communicators.

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

• The provider has ensured that all actions raised at the last inspection have been addressed. They have provided staff with training and sought help from the local authority, to help raise the quality and ensure children's safety. Staff complete risk assessments daily and on an ongoing basis. They understand safeguarding reporting procedures and how to escalate concerns, if required. This helps to keep children safe.
• Leaders work alongside staff, coaching and mentoring them. They provide staff with regular supervision sessions and support their well-being. Staff comment that they enjoy working at the setting and are appreciative of the support they receive. However, there are some minor inconsistencies in staff's practice that leaders do not identify. This means that, at times, some children do not benefit fully from the intended curriculum.
• Staff promote children's physical skills well. They provide children with many opportunities to develop their fine motor skills, such as through manipulating dough and spreading their toppings on toast. Staff ensure that children practise their gross motor skills. Children enjoy yoga sessions, where they bend and stretch to copy the poses and enjoy movement and dance. This helps children to develop physically and contributes to their good health and well-being.
• Staff complete assessments of children as soon as they start the setting. They recognise when children may need additional support. Staff implement interventions and referrals to outside agencies in a timely manner. However, despite staff having a good understanding of children's development, there are times when teaching is pitched too high for children. This means that children lose interest and do not fully benefit from what staff are teaching them.
• A strong focus of the curriculum is to help children to understand, label and regulate their feelings and emotions. Staff do this in a range of ways. For example, they use a story book and soft toys to help children to talk about and explore certain emotions. Older children choose a soft toy that represents how they are feeling today and describe the reasons why. Staff working with younger children recognise times when children may benefit from more rigorous exercise or rest periods. They adapt the routine accordingly to meet children's needs. This helps children to regulate their feelings and emotions.
• Leaders build strong and trusting relationships with parents and carers, who speak highly of the support offered to them and their families. Leaders hold regular sessions for parents and share a variety of information and guidance. For example, they have recently held a session to teach parents how to make nutritious meals using healthy ingredients. Parents comment that this has had a positive impact on their family and that their children are now eating better.
• Leaders recognise and celebrate children's unique and diverse backgrounds and heritages. They ensure that children hear familiar music from home as they arrive. Staff use key words and phrases from children's home languages that children recognise. In addition to this, leaders ensure that children learn about other cultures and celebrations through activities and experiences. For example, staff take children to visit shops that sell food from different countries. This helps children to learn about the wider world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the systems used for monitoring staff practice, to help to raise the overall quality of their practice and the setting even further
• help staff to adapt the implementation of the curriculum to ensure that it meets the individual needs of all children.