The Learning Tree (Cornwall) Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enjoy coming to this friendly nursery. They receive a warm welcome from nurturing and dedicated staff. There are plenty of exciting resources for children to play with and activities to take part in. Children play cooperatively together and learn to take turns. For example, older children excitedly close their eyes and wait while one of their friends hides the small plastic insects in the garden. When ready, they enthusiastically use their magnifying glasses to hunt for the hidden insects. Children show great resilience to look everywhere and celebrate their achievements when all the insects are found. They are keen to repeat the game, and another child offers to hide them again, to the delight of everyone.

Managers and staff are ambitious for children to become active and confident learners. They support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) exceptionally well. There is a strong focus to provide high quality, inclusive care and education. Staff use gentle hugging and sensitive touch to successfully build security and attachment. They teach children about the non-verbal communication of others. Children show very high levels of respect and kindness for each other. They understand some children may require their own specific resources to meet their emotional needs. Children receive lots of praise; this helps to boost their self-esteem. Children's behaviour is excellent.

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

• Staff are very knowledgeable and experienced about how children learn and develop. The passionate manager/owner shares her wealth of knowledge and motivates staff to focus on their continual professional development. Staff enjoy completing a wide selection of professional training. They enthusiastically share their learning with their colleagues and make highly effective changes to the curriculum. As a result, all children make very good progress.
• Children thoroughly enjoy listening to stories and are developing a love for books. Young children are eager to discover what they will see under the flap on each page. They excitedly find a soft-animal toy which matches the picture and try hard to make the animal sounds. Older children independently choose their favourite book and confidently retell the story to others. They regularly receive good-quality books to read with their parents and/or carers to support and extend their learning at home.
• Staff provide exciting experiences to extend children's learning. For example, children are fascinated to see the roots as they gently lift the onion bulbs out of the garden planter. Staff skilfully question and explore what children are thinking to help them go beyond what they understood before about plant growth. Children carefully use a ruler to measure the length of the onion's leaves and roots. They confidently recognise numbers as they exclaim, 'it's reaching to 10'.
• Children enthusiastically compare and know which is the longest and the shortest. They are keen to write their names and demonstrate very good pencil control and letter-writing skills.
• Staff are mindful that children's early experiences have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. They have, rightly, prioritised supporting children's personal, social, and emotional skills, and the development of their language and communication. Staff's high level of effective talking with children helps them to see themselves as good communicators and motivates them to keep developing their skills. Staff confidently use sign language and work hard to understand all children's interaction attempts, including those of gestures and sounds.
• There is a shared ethos which supports staff health and well-being. Staff feel valued and are very proud to be part of the team. Management provides lots of positive praise, regular extra treats, and opportunities for staff to socialise.
• Support for children with SEND is outstanding. Staff work very closely with other professionals and parents to put consistent strategies in place to help children to be settled and develop to their full potential.
• Partnership working with parents and carers is excellent. They speak extremely highly of the nursery, in particular about the level of support to help them with family concerns. They appreciate the information they receive about daily activities and their child's progress. Parents and carers are invited to share in their child's 'graduation day' to celebrate achievements and the next step in their child's learning.