Treetops Day Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy, relaxed and behave well at this welcoming nursery. They separate easily from their parents when they arrive, joining friends around the breakfast table or playing with toys. This shows that they feel safe and secure. Children benefit from the nursery's individual settling-in procedures when they join and even children who are very new to the nursery are contented and settled.

Children have great fun playing in the large and well-equipped outdoor area. They practise their writing skills, listen to stories and play musical instruments, snuggled up on bean bags in an outdoor shelter. In the garden area, babies are wrapped up warmly and enjoy watching and listening to the older children at play. This helps to develop their relationships with older children and supports their emotional well-being. Children develop their physical skills well as they learn to use a climbing frame, supported and challenged by staff to climb higher and higher.

Inside, children are enthusiastic as they enjoy smelling bunches of herbs, making comparisons between their shapes and sizes and discussing which they will choose. This helps to develop their language and mathematics skills. Children carefully use scissors to snip the herbs into play dough 'cakes'. As other children join the activity, they are kindly offered a pair of scissors by their friends. This demonstrates the children's positive attitude to learning and the respectful relationships between them.

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

• Children take part in activities such as circle time, where they patiently wait for their turn to pick a nursery rhyme card out of a special bag. They laugh out loud and clap their hands exclaiming 'yay' when their favourite song is picked. Children join in with singing and look at books, encouraged and supported by the enthusiastic staff. This supports the children to develop early reading skills and to understand mathematical concepts.
• Babies develop their physical skills well in the cosy baby room. For example, they enjoy playing with toys in a tray of cereal and exploring a 'busy board' of spinners and handles. Photos of babies with their families are displayed on the walls. This celebrates children's uniqueness and makes them feel secure.
• Children enjoy collecting leaves, conkers and sticks from the outside area to make a collage, digging in the sand and playing with their friends in the different areas of the well-organised rooms. However, occasionally, some staff are less clear about the intended learning for some activities. This means that they do not always challenge children precisely, in order for them to make the very best possible progress.
• Nursery leaders think carefully about the experiences and opportunities available to children. Children take part in the 'Treetops Committee'. They have afternoon tea, using a special tea service, with nursery leaders and discuss possible trips and visits. In response to the children's ideas, they have been on trips, such as on a train, a ferry and to a duck pond. Children also vote on a menu choice each week, using photos of the choices, to ensure that the youngest children are included. This shows how staff consider and value children's opinions.
• Children are taught to wash their hands after they have been to the toilet or before eating. They learn how to brush their teeth correctly and of the importance of being physically active. Staff support children to make healthy choices of water or milk to drink. However, the food choices on offer do not always fully support children well to understand what is healthy and unhealthy.
• Nursery leaders carry out regular supervision meetings to review staff's well-being and performance and to identify further training needs. New staff benefit from a thorough induction. This ensures that the quality of teaching continues to strengthen and improve. Staff are proud to work at the nursery, talk very positively about their role and how happy they are as a team. This shows that they are well supported by leaders and managers.
• Parents speak very positively about the nursery. They appreciate the strong bonds between their children and their key person. They remark on how happily their children come into nursery each day. This shows that the key person system is working effectively. Parents value the termly progress reports, monthly updates and ideas to support their children's next steps. They enjoy using the story bags that children are free to borrow and praise the parents' book exchange staff have developed. This enables parents to continue to support their child's learning at home, especially early reading skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to consistently identify and implement clear learning intentions, so that children are challenged more precisely to build on what they already know and understand
• provide consistent messages around healthy eating to give children the knowledge needed to make healthy food choices independently.