Bright Horizons Poole Montessori Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and emotionally secure in the setting because staff sensitively help them to settle according to their individual needs and parents' wishes. Babies enjoy a cuddle and warm reassurance from their key person, which helps them to part from their parents or carers. Children develop very strong bonds with all staff. The well-planned environment supports the curriculum effectively, and children make independent choices from a good range of resources. For example, older children develop practical skills, such as grating a lemon or screwing nuts and bolts together. Children have good opportunities to be outdoors and develop their small- and large-muscle skills as they kick balls, balance on low planks, and use writing resources.

Staff have good opportunities for training and development, which has a positive impact on children's development. For example, staff use Makaton with babies to aid their language skills. Children throughout the setting are confident communicators. Staff respond effectively to babies as they babble and introduce new vocabulary to older children, who use extensive mathematical language. They pause for children to fill in familiar words in stories and give children plenty of time to think and respond to questions. Children behave extremely well. Staff provide highly successful support for all children to learn about kind hands and sharing. Older children cooperate and play together harmoniously.

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

• The manager has an ambitious curriculum. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company has changed its curriculum, placing a strong focus on children's well-being. This is underpinned by research and the Montessori approach to teaching. The manager and deputy are very passionate about how they give children firm foundations, not just to prepare them for school, but for their lifelong learning. They have a very good understanding of what they intend for children's development before they move on to the next room and school.
• Children have highly positive attitudes to learning. They persevere with new skills and keep on trying when something does not work the first time. For example, older children try to build an arch, carefully removing the support once built. They keep trying until they succeed. Children gain confidence in the environment and value each other's differences. For example, older children learn new words from those learning English as an additional language and choose to use them in routines.
• Effective monitoring ensures that staff know the children well and quickly notice any gaps in their development, seeking early help when needed. The special educational needs coordinator works closely with staff and outside agencies to help children quickly catch up. Staff plan engaging activities, which children are eager to take part in. For example, they enjoy finding out which items float or sink in water. However, not all staff make full use of children's experiences to further extend their understanding of how one thing can cause an effect on another.
• Children develop important practices to keep themselves safe and healthy. For example, two-year olds explain that they wear cream and a hat because of the sun. Older children practise brushing plastic teeth and discuss how milk is good for their bones. Staff have an ingenious way of focusing children's attention on being safe: by using a particular toy to help them assess risks for themselves.
• Partnerships with parents are one of the key strengths of the setting. Parents are extremely positive about how staff work with them. They confirm that they receive excellent communication. Daily discussions at handover enable children to receive consistent care and learning. In addition, parents receive regular information about their children's development, routines, and ways to support them at home. Parents cannot speak highly enough about the nurturing staff and how well they accommodate babies' individual routines.
• There is a strong management team, which receives additional, effective company support. Through constant evaluations, managers focus on ways to develop their service, seeking parent, staff, and children's views. For example, they have created an outdoor reading room, where children have somewhere quiet to read. They now have a chef, who provides children with nutritional meals. Older children now choose when to have snack, so as not to interrupt their learning. Babies have an enclosed balcony garden, enabling them to freely move outdoors to explore a wider range of experiences.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff in consistently helping children to extend their awareness of cause and effect to develop their thinking skills further.