The Learning Tree Nursery

Inclusion: Strong standard

Right from the start, leaders and staff work in close partnership with parents to ensure they fully understand the context and needs of all children. This helps staff to secure a collaborative and consistent approach to how children are supported to learn and develop, both at the nursery and at home. Leaders ensure staff are comprehensively trained and supported to identify and address any gaps in children's learning and development and meet their needs. Careful monitoring of children's progress ensures that any concerns are quickly escalated and the right interventions are put in place through well-designed individual learning plans.

Leaders work tirelessly to ensure children quickly receive the precise help they need from external professionals. This includes helping to secure additional funding, specialist intervention or an education, health and care plan, in time for children starting school. This is something parents particularly value. Leaders work closely with parents to use additional funding in the best possible way for each child, such as providing one-to-one support or extending their hours of attendance.

Leaders and staff closely monitor the impact of all adjustments and adaptations they make to their curriculum, teaching, resources and environment. This ensures children are fully included, have their needs met and any barriers to their learning and development are reduced as swiftly as possible.

Curriculum and teaching: Strong standard

The dedicated leadership team takes time to meticulously design and implement a highly ambitious, broad and carefully-sequenced curriculum. Highly effective links with local schools ensure leaders have an excellent understanding of how to help all children become ready for school. Leaders prioritise the development of children's communication and language, physical, personal, social and emotional skills, crucial for their school readiness. They regularly review and evaluate the impact of their curriculum and teaching and make adaptations as needed to ensure all children gradually build the knowledge and skills they need to a high standard.

Staff work closely with parents and regularly assess children's learning and development. This ensures staff have an in-depth understanding of children's needs and what they know and can do, both when they start and as they progress through the curriculum. Staff use this information to tailor their teaching, including making the right adjustments and adaptations. This means that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are fully included and very well supported. Staff use every opportunity to teach children in a fun and exciting way that children are highly responsive to. All staff know exactly how to support the babies, toddlers and pre-school aged children to develop their communication and language skills. All staff consistently maintain level eye contact, model correct language and sign with the children. They regularly read and sing with children in ways that are appropriate to their age and stage of development.

Achievement: Strong standard

All children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning, make significant progress through the curriculum. Babies and children build impressive vocabularies and language skills over time. By the time children leave to go to school, they can take part in often complex back-and-forth conversations and are extremely confident communicators.

Children are developing secure mathematical knowledge and skills. With the support of staff, children successfully count the number of cups they have knocked down with the ball, count and show that same number using their fingers and then write the numeral on a board. Toddlers confidently count bees and show their understanding that bees visit flowers by tracing their finger from the bee to the flower in a picture book. All children secure breadth and depth in the knowledge, skills, confidence and independence they need to continue to achieve and thrive at school.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Leaders ensure parents understand that children arriving on time and attending regularly is an important part of supporting children's progress and securing their readiness for school. Leaders and staff make well-thought-out adaptations so that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, can attend and are fully supported to thrive. Parents know that non-attendance will be followed up and why. Children show they feel settled and secure through their eagerness to learn and take part, and their warm and friendly interactions with staff and each other.

Staff build highly positive relationships with children and make learning fun. They carefully consider children's needs and ages and stages of development when supporting them to learn and adopt the routines and expected behaviours of the nursery. As a result, children are extremely kind, caring and respectful of others and the environment. Their behaviour is exemplary. Older children show impressive personal, social and emotional skills. They excitedly wait to take turns and accurately throw a ball at a stack of cups. They cheer each other on and applaud and congratulate their friends' achievements. Babies are extremely comfortable to play and explore alongside their peers, and toddlers learn how to share and take turns early on.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

Leaders and staff work extremely closely with parents and review their provision to ensure care practices and routines precisely meet the needs of the children. Adaptations are made to the daily routines of the setting as necessary to support children's individual needs. For example, at mealtimes, children with serious allergies are seated at a safe distance from their peers while ensuring they are fully integrated. For children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), leaders ensure all staff understand how to meet any specific medical or care needs they may have.

The key-person arrangements are highly effective and staff have developed close, positive relationships with children. Staff support children to take safe risks, have a go and persevere. Children become increasingly independent and confident in their physical skills and personal safety over time. Children develop an excellent understanding of their physical development, health and wellbeing. At lunchtime, older children show impressive knowledge as they correctly name which food on their plate is a source of protein, carbohydrate and fibre and how it helps their bodies develop and function.

Leaders understand how children's communication and language skills and emotional development are deeply interconnected. Building on their successes in children becoming confident communicators, leaders have now prioritised developing children's ability to manage and express their emotions with words. Staff invest considerable time listening to children, and they model words to help children understand their own feelings and those of others. Staff provide adaptations such as visual cues to support children, including those with SEND who do not yet have the words to express their emotions.

Leadership and governance: Strong standard

Leaders have created a highly reflective and aspirational culture across the leadership and staff teams. Leaders know their strengths and are always looking for ways to improve so that they maintain high standards of care and education. Any decisions regarding the provision for children are taken with great care. Leaders make sure that decisions, such as changes to staffing arrangements or spending additional funding, have a positive impact on the children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning.

The safety and wellbeing of staff is a high priority for leaders. Leaders make sure they are always available to their staff and provide sensitive, professional and personal support and guidance as needed. Leaders regularly meet with staff to check in on their wellbeing, discuss children's progress, review their performance and identify any professional development needs. Staff feel supported, valued and able to perform at their best.

Leaders regularly check the quality of teaching and care practices and skilfully provide the right support, training and guidance to staff at the right time. This helps to embed high-quality teaching and a consistent approach to delivering the intended curriculum, so children make the best possible progress. Teachers from local schools have visited the nursery to see for themselves how leaders and staff are managing to secure children's readiness for school as well as they do. This is practice worthy of sharing with other settings so more children can benefit from their approach.