Willow Childcare

Willow Childcare

Unique reference number (URN): 2545201 Address: Willow Childcare, Greenway Avenue, Plymouth, Devon, PL7 4RR Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 24/07/2019 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Willow Childcare

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

All children make excellent progress from their starting points across all the areas of learning. They grow into confident communicators whose creativity blossoms as they share their ideas, thoughts and feelings. For example, children talk excitedly about the stories they are making up for their dragon puppets. They show that they feel safe and quickly build secure bonds with staff. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities thrive because staff provide highly personalised support that removes barriers to their learning.

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Achievement Strong standard

Across the nursery, children demonstrate high levels of engagement and an eager curiosity. They benefit from a rich learning environment indoors and outdoors, where they explore, investigate and develop their creativity and critical thinking. As they move through the nursery, children become increasingly independent. They treat one another and staff with kindness and respect. These secure foundations ensure they are ready to flourish when they move on to school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

The nursery provides a happy environment, where warm and respectful relationships help children to feel secure. Staff embed routines so well that children transition smoothly through the day. This creates a consistently calm and purposeful atmosphere. They interact with children in warm and empathetic ways. Staff show genuine care for children, offering positive role models. Their approach supports children to behave very well and form meaningful friendships. Children use each other's names and share resources, often cooperating without adult support. When children become distressed, staff respond swiftly and sensitively, using their deep knowledge of individual needs to help them to re-engage in learning.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children take pride in their achievements; they are confident to share and celebrate their talents and interests. These interests are extended and deepened by community partnerships. For example, staff and leaders are working with a university to enhance children's creativity across the curriculum.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff work closely with parents and carers to promote regular and punctual attendance. They take time to understand each family's context and put tailored plans in place to remove barriers. Their proactive approach ensures children benefit fully from the curriculum and daily routines. As a result, children develop positive attitudes, engage enthusiastically in learning and grow into confident, increasingly independent learners.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children's welfare and wellbeing are given the highest priority across the nursery. Leaders greet children and parents and carers by name and take time to check in with them at the start of the day. Leaders have designed highly flexible and robust settling-in procedures tailored to children's individual needs. Settling-in sessions are carefully planned, meaning trusting relationships between staff, children and families develop swiftly.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff develop this relationship further by implementing a highly effective key-person system. All staff know their key children very well and act swiftly in response to children's changing needs and circumstances. Consequently, children's emotional wellbeing is consistently prioritised to ensure care and learning are tailored to each child's needs.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff promote children's emotional and physical health very well. Children learn how to stay fit and healthy and communicate their needs from an early age. For example, babies confidently indicate they are tired by pointing to the cot, showing secure attachments and self-awareness. During mealtimes, staff create a calm and nurturing atmosphere that supports children's wellbeing and independence. They sit alongside children as they serve themselves food and engage in relaxed conversations, taking opportunities to encourage healthy eating habits. Excellent hygiene procedures and clear teaching about keeping themselves safe further enhance children's wellbeing.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders design a broad and ambitious curriculum that enables all children, including those who face barriers to learning, to access a wide range of meaningful experiences. Staff assess children's progress systematically and use this knowledge to ensure their learning builds in a clear sequence. They enrich the curriculum further by introducing opportunities that extend children's skills and interests. Leaders strengthen this approach through purposeful work with community partners. For example, children in the Foxglove room benefit from visits from local artists, who help to ignite children's creativity, imaginations and enjoyment of learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Babies experience calm, sensitive and reassuring care that supports their emotional security and early communication. Staff intentionally create opportunities throughout the day to develop children's language. They consistently use visual prompts and sign language to support their understanding.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff weave mathematical learning throughout the curriculum and use children's interests to explore new concepts. For instance, when pre-school children became curious about telling the time, staff used this interest to teach them core number skills and wider mathematical ideas.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children move freely between well-organised indoor and outdoor spaces. Outside, they access plentiful opportunities for physical exercise, exploration and creative play. Staff use these moments to teach children how to recognise and manage risks. This helps children to develop confidence and an understanding of how to keep themselves safe in their environment.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff show a consistent commitment to inclusion across the nursery. They run a robust monitoring system and use their secure knowledge and detailed understanding of each child to plan individualised support. Leaders hold regular discussions with parents and carers and other professionals. This enables staff to implement timely and targeted interventions within the provision, so that children achieve their next steps in learning alongside their peers. For example, staff provide motivating sensory activities when children become overwhelmed, enabling them to re engage swiftly with their learning.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff fully understand the importance of creating an accessible, adaptable environment that strengthens children's sense of belonging. They take swift action to help children overcome barriers to their learning. Staff adapt their teaching skilfully to meet different needs and consistently support children's understanding by using visual prompts, signs and gesture.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders ensure staff have access to high-quality training. They train and support those responsible for making referrals so they are confident and experienced. Leaders also use pupil premium and disability access funding effectively to provide targeted resources and enriching experiences that help vulnerable children thrive. Parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those known or previously known to social care speak highly of the setting. They value the warm relationships and the progress their children make.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders show passion and dedication in their roles and create a very effective and cohesive leadership team. They prioritise staff welfare and wellbeing. Leaders actively promote professional development at every level to benefit both staff and children. As a result, they maintain a very stable, highly professional and harmonious team.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders set a clear and ambitious vision for the nursery and demonstrate a precise understanding of its strengths and of where they can improve further. They work closely with local partners to enrich the curriculum, giving it depth, breadth and richness.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The team reflects continually and responds swiftly to the changing needs of children and families. Their actions for improvement are purposeful and consistently lead to positive outcomes for children. For example, they modified pick up and drop off arrangements to better support all children's wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders communicate highly effectively with parents and carers. They implement robust systems for sharing information so that children's learning and development remain prioritised and celebrated, both in the setting and at home. Parents speak positively about the nursery, reflecting the excellent partnerships leaders and staff build with families and the wider team.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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Voluntary Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

The nursery creates a warm, inclusive and nurturing environment. This helps every child to thrive, achieve and develop a deep sense of belonging. Leaders and staff show a steadfast commitment to inclusion. They use their detailed knowledge of each child to provide personalised support that removes barriers to learning. Staff plan routines carefully, build highly effective key-person relationships and interact sensitively, so children feel emotionally secure and confident from the earliest stages. Across the nursery, children engage enthusiastically in a broad and ambitious curriculum. This is enriched by meaningful

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Inspector:

Sarah Roberts community partnerships, which help them explore their creativity, deepen their critical thinking and strengthen their communication skills. For example, small groups of children engage in musical mathematics sessions, where practitioners play the guitar and children are encouraged to sing, count the beat and notice the changing rhythms.

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Inspector:

Staff organise indoor and outdoor environments thoughtfully to promote children's independence, curiosity and physical wellbeing. For example, some children enjoy pretending to make pancakes in the mud kitchen, while others mix potions that will give them 'superpowers'. Staff play alongside children and take every opportunity to support and extend their language development. They skilfully adjust their approaches to the developmental needs of individual children.

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Inspector:

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities flourish because staff provide timely interventions, targeted resources and work in excellent collaboration with parents and carers and professionals. As a result, all children make rapid progress from their starting points. They grow into confident communicators, who express ideas, build friendships and take pride in their achievements. The nursery's caring ethos, very positive partnerships with families and unwavering dedication to children's welfare create a joyful, respectful community, where every child feels valued and able to flourish.

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and the special educational needs and/or disabilities coordinator during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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Address:

Willow Childcare Greenway Avenue Plymouth Devon PL7 4RR

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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