Ashbourne Montessori Stoneygate

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

All children are happy and well settled at the nursery. Babies giggle in delight as they lift the flaps and read books with their key person. Older children are confident and articulate. They excitedly give visitors a tour of the nursery garden and explain what they enjoy doing in each area. Children demonstrate they have strong bonds with staff as they ask for help when they need it. Children learn to keep themselves safe as staff teach them how to use scissors. They calmly explain where each finger and thumb need to go and how to open and close the scissors. Children are resilient. They persevere when they find things difficult, such as putting on their coats. Children receive praise from staff when they succeed, helping them to identify their achievements.

Children behave well. They understand the daily routine and remind staff when it is time to tidy away toys and resources. Staff remind children to use their manners, such as saying please and thank you. Children play well with their friends and are supported by staff to take turns and share. Staff use visual aids to help children understand when it is their turn, such as sand timers. Children are curious and inquisitive. They ask staff to help them locate ladybirds in the garden. Staff suggest that spiders may be hiding in their webs.

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

• Leaders have devised and implemented a curriculum, which helps all children become independent and have the life skills they need to start school. Children become highly independent and are able to manage their own self-care. They confidently locate their boots and change their shoes before going into the garden. Young children feed themselves at mealtimes and tidy their plates away afterwards. Children recognise their own belongings and help others to find theirs.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. They adapt their vocabulary to suit the needs of each individual child. Young babies learn new words, such as farmer and tractor. Older children learn that volcanoes erupt. Staff's interactions with children are generally positive and children happily talk to staff about what they are playing with. However, at times, staff do not skilfully use appropriate questioning techniques to encourage children to think, understand and respond. For example, sometimes, staff ask children closed questions that require a 'yes' or 'no' answer that children answer with ease. At times, staff ask several questions in quick succession, which confuses some children as they do not know which question to answer.
• Staff support children's physical development well. Children develop their large muscles as they learn to safely climb and use slides in the garden. Staff teach children where to put their feet to climb safely. Older children develop the small muscles in their hands in preparation for early writing. Staff teach them how to use tools, such as rolling pins, to manipulate play dough into different shapes. Furthermore, children enjoy using pipettes to water seeds they have planted.
• Children develop their mathematical skills. Outdoors, children find spiders and other insects in the garden. Staff support children to count the legs on spiders. Staff teach children how to compare the weight of pans in a pretend kitchen as they pretend to cook rice. Children begin to use mathematical language, such as 'heavy' and 'light'.
• Leaders implement a supervision system to support staff development. They hold regular staff meetings to share knowledge and provide training to all staff. However, this does not always focus on how staff can improve their individual teaching practice. Although leaders have identified the need to support some staff to further develop their skills, they have not yet targeted the coaching and support they provide precisely enough to ensure that all staff provide a consistently high level of teaching.
• Overall, partnerships with parents are good. Staff keep parents updated about their child's day and what they have enjoyed doing. They encourage parents to share information about their children's initial starting points in learning. This information helps staff understand the needs of each child. However, staff do not always communicate children's individual next steps in learning with parents. This means they are not able to continue their children's learning at home.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to develop their questioning techniques to give children more time to think, understand and respond to questions
• provide more targeted professional development support for staff so that they can all develop their practice to a consistently high level
• work in closer partnership with parents to provide more ideas and support with learning at home.