Treasure Chest Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children flourish in this highly inclusive nursery. They form warm and close attachments with the kind and caring staff. The team gives children lots of praise and encouragement throughout the day. Children's achievements are celebrated. For example, when children manage to do their coat up without assistance for the first time, all staff and children clap with delight. The highly effective key-person system means that every child has an adult that knows them very well.

The manager and staff have high expectations for every child. They provide a range of activities that are carefully planned to ensure every child is appropriately challenged and making progress. Staff provide exciting activities that encourage children to interact with each other. Children share their ideas about how to create a den together, which their friends join in with. They become excited when they notice the shadows they make with their bodies. They support one another to share these discoveries and staff pay close attention to extend children's learning even further. Children are polite and considerate of one another. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress.

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

• The leadership team has developed a challenging, engaging and well-thought-out curriculum. All children make good progress in their development. Staff know how to adapt the curriculum to meet the individual needs of every child. They concentrate on children's individual next steps to extend their learning within activities. This leads to high levels of engagement and concentration from children, who thoroughly enjoy their play and exciting learning.
• Staff skilfully promote children's literacy. They read to children in an exciting and engaging way to encourage children to contribute to conversations. They read well-known stories, repeat phrases from the story and pre-empt what will happen next. Older children often choose to spend time looking at books and talking about what they see in the pictures with their friends. Younger children are encouraged to select props to help them to choose which stories they would like to share. This promotes children's love of reading.
• Children with SEND are supported extremely well. Staff use a range of strategies to support children with SEND. For example, they use the Picture Exchange Communication System effectively to help children indicate what they would like to play with. They work hard to involve other relevant professionals. Parents say that the provider 'moves heaven and earth' to support children. They comment on the useful strategies they learn about that they then use at home. As a result, children with SEND make the best possible progress of which they are capable.
• Children sit together to eat their packed lunches. However, staff do not consistently work with parents to promote healthy eating or good oral health practices. Children enjoy the healthy snacks that are provided by staff. However, the drinks children have are less focused on health benefits. For example, children and babies often drink juice from feeding bottles. As a result, children are not always fully supported in their understanding of how to lead a healthy life.
• The children go on outings in the local community and learn about where they live and the people around them. The children occasionally access digital devices with an adult to view information about topics online, and children talk to their friends about going online at home. However, staff do not effectively teach children, or share information with families, about digital technology and how to keep safe online to protect children's welfare.
• The provider values her staff team. Leaders work together to ensure that staff access appropriate coaching and training opportunities to ensure that they can fulfil their roles and responsibilities well. Thorough recruitment and induction procedures are in place. Staff know their professional development targets to improve their teaching and report that their well-being is very well supported.
• Parents value this nursery. They comment on the daily communication that they receive about their child. Parents of children with SEND say that leaders and staff go 'above and beyond' for the whole family and to ensure that their child's needs are being met. They commend the staff and management team on the 'exceptional support' that they provide.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• build upon the partnership with parents to promote children's healthy eating, to help children further develop and understand the importance of a healthy lifestyle
• develop children's knowledge of how to keep themselves safe online.