Willow Tree Nursery Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff build strong and supportive attachments with all children and their families. Parents appreciate the respectful relationships that leaders have created. These relationships help children to bond quickly with staff. Children are happy and secure. Children are motivated and willing to learn new skills. Staff use children's interests and plan overarching themes and activities that immerse children in meaningful learning. For example, younger children laugh and giggle as they make slime from sand and foam, eagerly exploring the changing texture. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress. The curriculum builds on the knowledge and skills that children already have and what they need to learn next. Children gain an abundance of skills they will need to thrive in the next stage of their learning.

Children are confident and hold meaningful conversations with their friends and adults. They happily approach adults and involve them in their play. Children clearly understand the expectations staff have of them. They happily follow instructions and quickly respond to requests. Staff are supportive. They give children an abundance of praise for positive behaviour. Children who occasionally struggle to regulate their emotions receive a nurturing and caring approach. This creates a calm and respectful atmosphere across the nursery.

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

• Leaders are clear about their curriculum and have high ambitions for children. Staff know children well. This allows them to offer learning opportunities that sequence children's learning and help them build on what they already know and can do. As a result, all children are engaged in their learning and make good progress.
• Leaders and staff are passionate about their roles and ways to continuously develop children's learning. They work well together and share the setting's ethos and vision. Leaders are reflective and look to continuously develop the nursery.
• Leaders and staff are committed to removing barriers that families face in accessing education and care for their children. They adopt a flexible approach to support families. Staff complete thorough assessments of children's development. Children who need extra support receive rapid and targeted help. Leaders create robust links with external professionals. Staff work closely with parents and carers. They swiftly put interventions in place to ensure all children enjoy their time at the setting and make the progress they are capable of.
• Overall, staff deployment is effective. Staff engage with children as they play and extend their learning. However, there are times that staff do not fully support all children. This is because, occasionally, staff are busy with routine activities, such as preparing for the next activity and focusing on their group of children. When this happens, there are children that are not engaged in meaningful learning activities. This results in an unsettled learning environment.
• The curriculum for physical development is strong. The environment in the youngest rooms is organised to support children develop their gross motor skills. Children develop their strength as they use the climbing equipment and build resilience as they go for walks within the local community. Older children have many opportunities to develop their physical skills, coordination and dexterity.
• Staff provide opportunities for children to gain self-care skills. Older children learn how to attend to their own hygiene and toileting needs. For instance, all children learn to wash their hands. Younger children are asked permission to change their nappies and given privacy. However, at times, some staff change children from wet or messy clothes in front of others. This means that the organisation of these arrangements does not fully assure children's privacy.
• Leaders are very reflective of the setting. Staff attend regular training to enhance their knowledge and skills. Staff say that they are happy with the support they receive from leaders. Leaders share their own skills and knowledge sufficiently, such as through regular observations of practice and supervision sessions.
• Partnership with parents is valued by staff and leaders. Parents feel that the communication is good, both in person and using the online application. Parents comment staff are nurturing and work hard to develop a strong attachment with their children. This supports children to feel safe and secure.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• deploy staff effectively and ensure that they are clear about their roles and how to best meet the needs of all children
• build on staff's understanding of how to further support children's privacy and respect during changing routines.