Cherubs Montessori Day Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages are confident and happy during their time in the inviting nursery. Staff have a secure knowledge of the curriculum and how they implement this successfully. They plan challenging and motivating activities for children and have high expectations of their abilities. For example, children learn about the concept of decimal points during a mathematical activity. Children are keen to join in with the interesting activities that staff carefully plan for them. For instance, children learn about colour and what happens when they mix substances. They are excited to make different coloured lava from their erupting volcano. Babies enjoy washing farm animals and learn new sounds as they go on to listen to, and join in with, animal songs.

Staff are positive role models. All children behave well and are polite. They show kindness and empathy. For example, they demonstrate an understanding of other children's different personalities and needs and are caring towards each other. Children learn about the importance of healthy lifestyles. For instance, they talk about healthy food choices. They are excited to grow their own healthy produce, such as runner beans. Children of all ages develop good physical skills and learn to move in different ways. For example, they confidently and safely use age-appropriate climbing and balancing equipment, including rope ladders.

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

• All staff know all children well and get to know their unique personalities, needs and abilities. This includes fully understanding the routines of babies. Staff establish secure and trusting relationships with all children. This helps children settle quickly into the setting and they enjoy the positive interactions provided by staff.
• Staff support all children to make good progress. This includes those children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). For example, staff implement strategies that support children effectively. This includes providing children with a quiet sensory room where children feel safe and calm if they become overwhelmed.
• The manager and staff establish positive partnerships with parents, who speak very highly of them. Staff keep them well-involved and informed about their children, what they have been doing and the next steps in their learning. Staff encourage parents to share children's learning and experiences from home. Parents praise the staff and their level of communication they receive and are very happy with the nursery.
• Children demonstrate a positive attitude towards their learning and overall, they are engaged in their learning experiences. However, staff do not always recognise when they can minimise the wait time between activities and organise the changes between activities more effectively. For example, babies become restless when waiting for their lunch due to a lengthy wait.
• Some staff are unaware if their key children attend another setting. This means that they do not communicate with other staff in these settings to help them provide the highest consistency in children's shared care and learning experiences.
• The manager closely monitors the quality of care and teaching that children receive. Staff evaluate together as a team. They reflect daily on what they could change to enhance practice next time. Staff have regular individual meetings to discuss their performance and highlight any training needs. The manager and staff use constructive feedback to support their future practice.
• All staff attend regular and beneficial training. They have recently learned about the different ways children prefer to play and learn. This has helped staff to understand how to support all children to engage in their learning. Therefore, their curriculum plans are effective, and children of all ages make good progress.
• The manager and staff ensure the setting is inclusive and diverse. They support children to develop a good understanding of other cultures and languages from around the world. For instance, children learn words such as 'hello' in other languages, including Romanian and Portuguese.
• Staff support all children to develop confident communication skills. Older children share their ideas and thoughts with confidence. Babies enjoy listening to songs and happily babble to their friends. All children hear a wide range of vocabulary and engage in meaningful conversations.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• provide guidance for staff so they can organise the changes in routine to ensure that all children remain fully engaged throughout
• provide staff with all the information they need to have a clearer knowledge about whether their key children attend another setting and establish effective partnerships with the staff there.