Treetops Northfields

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy and are warmly welcomed by their key person or key buddy. This ensures that children feel secure and settle quickly with a familiar adult. Children build strong attachments. They receive regular cuddles and reassurance when needed, which supports their emotional well-being.

Children benefit from the wide range of resources on offer. They make choices and engage in activities which spark their interests. Babies explore and investigate different objects in the room. They show delight as they bang their hands in water and squeeze water from the sponges. This helps develop their hand muscles. Older children's learning is extended as staff engage them in conversations, which helps to increase their understanding as they make mud pies in the mud kitchen.

The manager has high expectations for all children, including those with additional needs. Young children learn the routine from an early age. They listen well to staff and follow instructions. Toddlers help to tidy away their toys and use cloths to wipe spills. Children share resources, and older children help peers with fastenings on coats as they prepare for the garden. Children behave well and their independence skills are supported well by staff.

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

• The manager and staff have designed a well-sequenced curriculum with a particular focus on children's communication and language and physical development. Staff know children well, and understand what they are working towards. All children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children who speak English as an additional language, make good progress from their starting points. Additional funding is used to enhance children's learning experiences as staff understand children's individual needs well.
• Staff promote children's communication and language well. They actively engage children in conversations, ask questions and give children time to respond. Staff babble with babies, use facial expressions and respond to sounds. Toddlers are encouraged to add words together and learn new vocabulary. Staff enthusiastically share stories and sing with children to increase their confidence in communicating.
• Children use mathematical language during their play and learning. For example, older children enjoy making mud pies in the garden and talk about the numbers on the oven and how long to cook them for. Younger children join in number rhymes. Staff introduce mathematical language such as 'tall' and 'bigger' as they read familiar stories to the children. As a result, children become confident to use mathematical language in their play.
• Staff provide children with a variety of activities which they are eager to join in with. Overall, staff deliver good interactions with children, who make steady progress from their starting points. However, staff do not consistently communicate with each other about what activities are next, particularly during changes in routines and mealtimes. Therefore some children, particularly babies, become distracted and do not fully benefit from the learning on offer.
• Partnerships with parents are strong. Staff keep parents informed about their children's development through various methods, including regular parents' evenings, daily feedback and an online application. In addition, staff organise opportunities for parents to come to nursery to read to the children and join celebrations. This helps to promote the continuity of care, learning and development. Parents comment positively about the staff and nursery.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles and diversity well. Children use the garden to extend their imaginative skills and problem solving. Regular trips to the local parks support children's large muscles as they run and climb. The chef provides nutritious meals, which include various foods to embrace children's cultures. Trips in the community help children to learn about other cultures and what makes them unique.
• The manager regularly monitors practice and provides support to ensure that all staff clearly understand their roles and responsibilities. Staff contribute to their own supervisions and identify areas where further training would help them to increase their knowledge as well as how to improve children's experience within the environment.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen further communication between staff to enhance children's learning even further.