Chapel Grange Montessori Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. They promote 'Grace and Courtesy' and support children to learn how to behave well. Children follow the nursery rules with little or no prompting. Children help to stack the chairs after eating. They relish being given special duties and eagerly choose a daily task to complete. Children excitedly tell their friends that they are the 'lunchtime helper' today. Children demonstrate positive behaviours and attitudes to learning.

Children happily rush into the small and friendly setting. Staff provide a carefully considered environment, which helps to encourage creative choices. This helps children to feel valued and they direct their own play. Children acquire a rich understanding of the world around them. They have fun outdoors as staff provide meaningful experiences to teach them about farm animals. Staff enhance the activity by taking children to see chickens, the cockerel and to count sheep in the farmer's field.

The impact of the quality of education on children's literacy is evident. Children select books for staff to read to them. They impressively recall the story from a favourite book. Staff provide books to reflect children's home languages. Older children's control to use small tools is developing well. Staff encourage two-year-old children to strengthen their finger muscles and they pick up small pieces of dry pasta and rice grains. Children carefully pour coloured water between different sized jugs. Staff help to prepare all children for future reading and writing.

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

• Leaders and staff have made significant improvements. They have worked hard to achieve a consistently good standard. Staff feel valued. Morale is high and they share the same aspirations for all children. Leaders ensure that additional funding is used well. Construction toys were bought for children who struggle to concentrate. Children are able to occupy themselves with building blocks, which helps them to maintain attention during the morning greeting.
• Overall, the curriculum for supporting children's physical development is strong. Older children climb up and across large apparatus outdoors. Staff provide a variety of mark-making and creative tools. Older children use these with precision. They carefully paint glue onto paper and write recognisable letters from their names. However, there are less opportunities for babies and younger children to develop their physical skills, core strength and coordination.
• New staff receive a robust induction. This helps them to become familiar with their role and responsibility. Staff access an online training package and leaders closely monitor for the completion of mandatory training. However, leaders do not focus professional development precisely enough. Staff are not fully supported to develop their individual skills and knowledge to raise the quality of practice to the highest level and implement the curriculum consistently.
• Parents are happy with the provision and praise staff for their caring approach. Parents receive updates about children's learning and development. Many methods used to communicate with parents are effective. That said, staff do not routinely share information with parents to enable them to support children's learning at home and complement children's progress.
• Staff help children to develop increasing confidence in their independence as they encourage self-help skills. Children serve themselves breakfast, clear away their plates after lunch and wipe their own hands and faces. Children show they are secure in the established routines in preparation for school.
• Staff plan experiences based on children's interests. Occasionally, staff fail to adapt some of these activities to focus on individual children's learning needs. This is more evident during group activities, when staff sometimes overlook leaders' intentions for children's learning. Some children are happily engaged and sing a song naming the days of the week. However, others lose interest in playing the instruments and the learning for them is less meaningful.
• Staff have embedded consistent routines. Children follow the routines well and know the nursery rules. Young children naturally look at their reflection in the mirror to make sure their face is clean. They know that after lunch it is nap time and promptly walk to the sleep room for a rest. Older children tell their younger friends that they only run outside. Children take turns to ring the bell to remind others to tidy up. Children are healthy and safe.
• The provider failed to notify Ofsted of a significant event, which is a requirement of their registration. However, there was no impact on children's safety and welfare or learning and development as a result of this failure to notify.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• focus training and professional development more precisely, so that staff are clearer on how to implement what leaders intend and practice is raised to the highest level
• strengthen the curriculum for physical development for babies and help them to develop their core strength and coordination further
• help all parents to support children's learning at home and provide more consistency in supporting children's progress.