Little Treasures Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Staff greet children with warm and welcoming smiles as they enter the nursery. Children happily separate from their parents with confidence and excitedly wave goodbye.

Children have close bonds with their key persons. For example, babies smile with joy as staff lie on the floor and use facial expressions and eye contact to engage them. Children appear to feel happy and secure.

Staff are positive role models and children behave well. Staff skilfully use effective strategies to support children to understand behaviour expectations. For example, to support children to follow routines, staff play a game with toddlers in th...e garden where they are asked to 'freeze'.

In response, children stop what they are doing and listen to the staff. At group time, pre-school children put up their 'thinking thumb' if they would like a turn to answer a question. Children are beginning to understand why behaviour rules are in place.

Children have endearing social skills. They make lovely friendships and enjoy sharing their thoughts and ideas with friends in play. For example, pre-school children chat back and forth as they explore fire engine toys.

This helps children to grow in confidence and they are beginning to take pride in their uniqueness. For instance, children animatedly share with staff that they recently 'turned four' and had a party for their birthday.

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

Staff and leaders plan a sequenced curriculum.

They pride themselves on igniting children's 'love of reading'. For example, children regularly visit the nursery's library and enjoy sharing the story sacks on offer. Children of all ages repeatedly sit with books and enjoy sharing them with others.

For instance, staff enthusiastically tell babies stories and they enjoy pointing to pictures in books. In addition, older children confidently retell the story of the 'Three Little Pigs' at group time. Children have good early literacy skills.

Staff and leaders understand the importance of children developing strong communication and language skills. Staff support this by offering comments to children in play and asking them to share their thoughts and ideas. For example, babies happily babble back as staff repeat simple words, such as 'bouncy'.

However, at times, the quality of interactions between children and staff is variable in some rooms. For example, some staff working with younger children do not use sufficient language with them during play. This does not consistently support the younger children's communication and language development.

Children have positive attitudes to play and learning. For instance, babies giggle with delight as they crawl through tunnels, toddlers enjoy pouring and tipping water in jugs and pre-school children squeal with excitement as they mix paint to make the colour brown. Staff plan activities to support all areas of learning in a fun way.

They offer plenty of experiences to children that help them to learn about the wider world, including their own and others cultures. For example, staff explain how they have recently taken older children to the local church as some children had never had this experience. Children have a wealth of experiences that prepare them for life in modern Britain.

Staff know the children well and know how to meet their needs. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress from their starting points. Staff plan individualised support for those children with SEND to help them meet their next steps in learning.

For example, staff recognise when some children require quieter one-to-one interactions rather than joining in with a group time. This helps children to regulate their emotions.Staff eagerly share that leaders are extremely compassionate and go above and beyond to support their well-being.

This helps staff to feel happy and engaged with the children. Staff receive regular training to keep their knowledge up to date. For example, they attend training focused on the different ages and stages of children's development to help them to meet children's needs.

However, at times, leaders do not effectively identify when some staff need further professional development to maintain consistency in teaching.Leaders and staff build positive parent partnerships. Parents appreciate the daily verbal feedback they receive about their children's learning and development.

They say that staff are 'friendly, approachable' and support the whole family, not just the children who attend. Parents adore the activities sent home, such as making gingerbread men. This helps parents to support children's home learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Leaders promote a positive safeguarding culture. Staff regularly attend training to keep their knowledge of safeguarding issues up to date.

Staff know where to locate contact details of other agencies if they need to refer concerns over a child's welfare. They know how to spot signs and symptoms of children who may be at risk of physical abuse or female genital mutilation. Leaders are knowledgeable about how to refer their concerns if they receive an allegation about a member of staff.

Staff carry out thorough risk assessments. For example, they ensure they check rooms and garden areas for any broken toys before the children enter.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nembed the curriculum for communication and language across every room, so that all children make good progress in this area develop further staff knowledge and skills to maintain consistently high-quality interactions to support children's learning.