Treetops Kindergarden

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff currently focus on supporting children's communication and language as a priority. Staff provide children with good language models and interactions that purposefully support the children in the different rooms. For example, they provide Christmas craft activities to encourage children to talk about the celebration and their own experiences of this. When needed, leaders and staff provide children with language interventions, such as through the use of picture prompts to support their understanding of words.

Leaders understand the overall development needs of the children and ensure that the curriculum is designed to provide children with opportunities they may not have at home. For example, leaders have introduced regular cooking sessions for older children, so they can develop life skills and knowledge of how to prepare and cook a range of food. They have a purposeful designed kitchen area, so children can be fully involved in the process. Staff repeat some activities throughout the week, so all children can have the same opportunities regardless of the days they attend.

The key person system is designed to ensure that children can form close attachments with staff. Staff note which staff member the children connect with when they decide who will be the key person. This helps children to form close attachments from the onset. Staff provide children with gentle reminders about the expectations throughout the day, and children respond with respect and understanding.

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

• Leaders take positive steps to make ongoing improvements. They have recently introduced a combined lunchtime in the dining room, so children of different ages can share the experience together. In addition, they have introduced self-serving opportunities for older children to further support their independence and physical skills. Children are keen to manage a range of everyday tasks for themselves.
• Leaders provide staff with ongoing professional development to keep their knowledge updated. For example, when staff move to a new room, they receive training specific to the age range of children they are working with.
• Leaders routinely monitor staff's practice and provide them with some feedback to improve their teaching skills. However, monitoring has not been fully effective in identifying all aspects of staff's practice that need to be developed further to fully benefit the children's educational experiences.
• Partnership working with parents is effective. Leaders plan regular stay-and-play sessions so that parents can find out more about their child's time at nursery and speak with their key person. Parents share how staff meet children's individual needs well and provide continuity with what they do at home.
• Staff have a strong understanding of each child, including their learning needs. Overall, they plan well for their learning, especially for the planning of developmentally appropriate play experiences. They are successful in helping all children to progress well and engage them in purposeful play. However, staff do not use the information they gather from their observations and assessments to plan precisely for the development needs of each child, so they are fully challenged in their learning.
• Leaders work closely with outside agencies to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They carefully consider the ratios to ensure that children can have one-to-one teaching opportunities as required.
• Leaders and staff carefully consider how they will help children to manage their feelings and behaviour as they progress through the nursery. This begins with the introduction of simple rules with the younger children to understanding of the reasons for the rules with older children. Staff help children to tolerate delay and understand that there are times when they must follow the adults' direction.
• Leaders and staff have designed the learning environment to ensure that children benefit from continuous opportunities to build their physical skills. In babies and toddlers, children have access to climbing equipment both indoors and outdoors. They show increasing desire to be more adventurous and confident in their exploration of the resources. For older children, staff increase the physical skill level and opportunities to develop their hand strength and dexterity.
• A flexible approach to transitioning children on to the next room helps to support children's emotional security and manage the change. Staff recognise that some children need more time to settle and adapt the arrangements depending on children's individual needs.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• monitor staff's practice with more rigour to ensure the highest quality provision for children across the setting
• support staff to plan learning experiences that are fully effective in supporting children's next steps in learning.