Treetops Nursery Bootle

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff warmly welcome children on arrival and take time to chat to them and their families. Leaders prioritise children's individual needs and implement a carefully considered key-person approach. Staff are kind, caring and considerate. For example, they offer younger children hugs and reassurance. Staff help and guide older children as they play or learn new skills. Children demonstrate a real sense of belonging in this home-from-home nursery.

Children have positive attitudes to their learning. All children display high levels of engagement in their play and learning. Babies develop their core muscles and demonstrate high levels of concentration as they navigate the soft play. Furthermore, toddlers show resilience as they try hard to thread different loose parts, such as pasta shapes onto pipe cleaners, as they build on their small muscles and dexterity.

Leaders and staff think carefully about what they want children to learn. They have sequenced the curriculum so that children learn and develop from their starting points in development. In addition, staff focus keenly on assessing children's progress. They adapt the curriculum to enable all children to make progress.

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

• Support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength in the nursery. Staff work in partnership with other agencies, such as speech and language therapists and health visitors. They attend training to further their knowledge of ways to support children with SEND. Parents and carers value the support they receive from staff. They say that their children benefit from the strategies that staff share with them to use at home. Children with SEND thrive and make progress at this nursery.
• Parents express how pleased they are with the nursery. Staff involve families in their children's learning through shared and targeted plans. This enables consistent support between home and the nursery. Parents report that their children are happy attending the nursery. They comment that the progress their children make is due to staff's supportive efforts.
• The curriculum for communication and language is very good. Staff recognise that many children require support with their communication and language development and therefore focus on providing children with an environment filled with language. In addition, staff teach Makaton throughout the day to support children's communication. This, together with vision boards, gives children the tools to help them to express their wishes. All children become confident communicators.
• Leaders provide a strong and highly qualified workforce for children and their families. They focus on ensuring that staff are well supported and receive the effective coaching and teaching they need to increase and improve their skills and professionalism. This benefits children's care and emotional well-being.
• Staff encourage babies and toddlers to do things for themselves, such as wiping their own hands and face after eating. In addition, pre-school children try hard to put on their jumpers and outdoor wear by themselves. However, there are some tasks that staff complete for children that they can do for themselves. For example, staff serve meals and pour drinks for pre-school children. Therefore, children do not benefit from all opportunities to develop their independence.
• Staff work closely with parents and liaise well with other agencies to provide essential support to meet individual children's needs. This helps all children to be prepared for their next stage in learning.
• Staff have spent funding for individual children with SEND well to support their physical development. For example, children with SEND excitedly engage in dance lessons to help support their large-muscle development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the curriculum to support and extend opportunities that enhance all children's independence skills and complete tasks for themselves.