Buttercup Montessori Kindergarten Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, parents and carers receive a warm welcome when they arrive at the nursery. This helps children to settle into their day quickly. Each child has an allocated key person who knows them well and plans for their care and learning needs. The key persons consider each child's interests, making sure there are activities that will capture their imagination and encourage them to join in.

Children thoroughly enjoy listening to stories and looking at books. Nursery staff make sure there are plenty of books available for all children. Children spend time outdoors each day. They benefit from time in the fresh air, where they develop their coordination as they run and climb. Children particularly enjoy the small hills that they run up and down, racing with nursery staff and their friends.

The nursery staff incorporate Montessori teaching into the experiences for children. There is a variety of equipment designed to support the teaching of specific skills and concepts. Children behave well in the nursery, and staff help children with their regular reminders about the 'golden rules'. As children get older, they quickly recall the details of these rules, such as to use 'kind hands' and 'indoor voices'. This helps to ensure that children get along well with others and behave in a respectful way, looking after their friends, the toys and the environment.

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

• Staff make good use of familiar books to help extend children's communication and language skills. Children quickly recognise these stories, and they become firm favourites. Children eagerly join in with parts of the story. Staff's use of props helps to encourage children's participation and extend their concentration. Staff use Makaton signing with the babies and younger children to aid their communication and participation in story time.
• Staff place a strong focus on helping children to develop their physical skills and learn to do things for themselves. This begins with babies sitting at the table for meals and feeding themselves. Staff build on these skills, and as children get older, they learn to use cutlery when eating and eventually serve their own meals. Children learn to hold and use crayons and pencils to make marks. They become skilled in using scissors to cut paper.
• Children benefit from a wide range of experiences presented to them as part of their daily learning through planned and self-chosen play. Managers and staff include topics and themes designed to capture children's interest and further their knowledge of the world around them. Children learn about animals, their characteristics and the sounds they make. However, although staff plan a range of activities to support all areas of learning, they do not always clearly identify the specific skills or knowledge they want children to learn as part of the activities.
• Parents are very positive about the nursery. They praise the friendliness of the staff and say their children have made good progress since they joined the nursery. Parents comment that they receive regular updates about their children's progress and that staff provide ideas for how they can support children's learning at home. This promotes continuity in their learning and helps them to make good progress.
• The designated special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) is knowledgeable and confident in her role. She works closely with staff to identify children who may require additional support. The SENCo assists staff to implement children's individual plans. She liaises with parents and external professionals to ensure children get the help they need to make good progress. The physical activity and nutrition coordinator makes sure these important elements of promoting good health are included in the curriculum. Staff in these roles and senior managers provide information for parents on these aspects of early years care and education.
• The strong management team provides effective leadership. It gives high priority to staff well-being and has reward and recognition schemes for staff. The team is ambitious and has high expectations. Staff have regular one-to-one meetings with managers to look at some aspects of their practice. However, monitoring of staff practice and coaching are not used to rapidly raise the quality of teaching to a consistently high level.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• use monitoring of staff practice to sharpen the quality of teaching and help staff identify what they want children to learn
• support staff to consistently match the next steps to children's specific learning needs.