Willow Tree Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children settle quickly on arrival at this warm and welcoming nursery. Children are happy and feel safe, settled and assured. Children form strong and caring bonds with their key persons. Babies who are settling in get plenty of cuddles and individual care, which helps them to become confident within the nursery environment. For example, leaders carefully consider the individual needs and experiences of children when allocating staff as key persons, to nurture strong attachments. Staff learn words in children's home languages to help children who speak English as an additional language (EAL) feel welcomed and understood.

Staff have high expectations for children. In turn, children's behaviour is good. Staff give children clear boundaries and encourage them to manage disputes amicably. For example, when two children play with sand and want to use the same spades and forks, staff ask them what they could do. Children decide to let one child have the equipment for a few minutes and then to swap. As a result, children are beginning to manage their emotions and behaviour and to understand the impact their actions have on others.

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

• The manager and staff have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn. They provide a range of activities that fulfil this and allow for children to make their own choices. However, the curriculum for communication is not implemented consistently well across the nursery. For example, support for some children's thinking skills and language structures is not as effective. This results in children not consistently benefiting from high-quality interactions that promote their all-round language development.
• Children's literacy skills are well supported. Staff share books with children and read with excitement in their voices as they become the characters from the story. Children identify their own name cards and are beginning to write independently. For instance, toddlers make marks and patterns in sand. Older children begin to practise hand-muscle strength using dough. This helps to develop children's early reading and writing skills.
• Children who need extra support are swiftly identified, and interventions are quickly put in place. Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language (EAL) effectively. Staff speak regularly with other professionals to share information about children's learning and development. This helps staff to actively plan to move children with SEND and EAL forward in their learning.
• Staff have thought clearly about how children develop their independence skills. From an early age, children learn to pour their own drinks. Two-year-old children begin to serve themselves their meals and use cutlery with increasing control. By the time children reach the pre-school room, they serve themselves competently and learn to cut up their food.
• Overall, partnerships with parents are good. Parents feel supported and are kept informed about their child's care and learning daily. They receive detailed information about their children's experiences. However, staff do not always ensure that some parents know what their children's next steps in learning are or how they can continue this learning at home.
• Children flourish in the large outdoor space. They run, negotiate space, climb and balance. This helps to develop their large physical skills and enables them to have lots of fresh air daily. Indoors, babies negotiate objects, such as climbing up and down soft-play equipment. Two-year-old children work out how to move their bodies to go up, over and down a climbing frame. Pre-school children concentrate as they complete threading tasks and design intricate hair designs. This helps them to continue to engage in learning.
• Additional funding, such as early years pupil premium, is used effectively to support children's development and experiences. For example, additional training and resources have been purchased, such as 'Mini Minds Matter' and the story 'The Colour Monster', to help children learn more about their feelings and to support them to settle at the nursery. Furthermore, staff ensure that children have access to the wider community and enjoy a variety of outings, such as to farms, local shops and on the bus. This helps to widen children's experiences of the wider world.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• help staff to implement the curriculum for communication and language more precisely
• enhance ways of sharing more detailed information about children's learning with parents, enabling them to know how and why to extend this at home.