Treehouse Nursery Schools Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are very confident and show high levels of independence. They have exceptional relationships with their key person and other staff. Babies and toddlers are happy and settle easily. Children demonstrate extremely high levels of emotional stability and confidence. Staff plan a highly ambitious early years curriculum which incorporates high-quality activities that meet children's individual needs. They provide excellent support for all children, including children who speak English as an additional language and children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Children are enthusiastic about their learning and play for extended periods. Children are self-motivated and enjoy exploring various materials, such as clay, paint, dough, water, herbs and spices. They thoroughly enjoy mixing paints and create new colours. Children develop excellent mark-making skills, such as when they use a range of different-sized paintbrushes. Staff use their recent training in developing children's communication skills wonderfully to enhance children's speech and language. For instance, they provide children with adequate time to think about their responses and ideas.

Children eagerly express what they know, and staff build on this. For example, children pretend to role play as teachers and use words and phrases such as 'habitat', 'polar region' and 'the Antarctic' as they play with a small world of arctic animals and blocks of ice. Staff provide children with clear, consistent and age-appropriate expectations for their behaviour. This helps children to understand the acceptable boundaries for their age and stage of development. Children behave very well and readily listen to their friends and staff.

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

• Staff have an exceptional understanding of how to support children's ongoing learning and development. Children become fully absorbed in activities such as using a mortar and pestle to crush coloured chalk, leaves and turmeric to create their own paint. Staff are skilled in supporting each child and knowing where they need to challenge them further to reach their next stage in learning. Children make high levels of progress in their learning, including children with SEND and those in receipt of additional funding.
• Leaders make excellent use of the local facilities in the community. For instance, as part of their eco-school status, children participate in helping to pick up litter in the park. Children also learn about money as they are actively involved in various fundraising events for local charities. They then deposit the money raised at the local bank. These activities enrich children's learning experiences wonderfully.
• Children receive high-quality interactions with all staff. For instance, staff encourage toddlers to talk about the facial features of dolls as they bathe them. Children confidently learn to problem-solve as they take their time to count as they fill various-sized containers with water.
• Children love spending time in a purpose-built, safe and secure garden where they can enjoy fresh air. They eagerly show each other how to ride on wheeled toys and climb apparatus safely and with ease. Babies and toddlers also have a great time as they explore reflective, shiny toys and a variety of textured materials. This helps children to develop their physical and exploratory skills extremely well.
• Staff serve as positive role models with high expectations for children's behaviour. Children consistently display respect towards their friends, their toys and resources. They work remarkably well together, which supports them to be motivated learners who are more than ready for starting school.
• Children have ample opportunities to develop their independence, which they take immense pride in. They take part in tasks, such as cleaning and setting up tables with the correct number of cutlery and plates during mealtimes, which contribute tremendously to children's self-help skills.
• Leaders and staff place a high value on partnerships with parents, local schools and other professionals. Parents are highly complimentary about staff and leaders. They say that staff are extremely caring and attribute their children's progress to staff's teaching. Staff ensure active parental involvement in children's learning. These collaborative partnerships also ensure excellent consistency in the children's care.
• Supervision meetings for staff are of high quality. Staff are deployed in a way that maximises their skills and knowledge, which helps them to provide an outstanding service for all children. In addition, leaders implement extensive training programs successfully in the nursery, which in turn help to enrich all aspects of staff's practice.