Coolham Montessori Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children receive a warm and friendly welcome from staff when they arrive at the nursery. After finding their name card, children settle quickly at their chosen activities. Staff play alongside, giving prompts and ideas to help children to focus and extend their learning. For example, staff encourage children to persevere to make a ball with sand. They show children how to shape the sand and suggest that they squeeze it very hard to make a ball.

During play, staff teach children to share and take turns. They role model good manners and encourage children to be kind to each other. This helps children to develop good social skills and play cooperatively with their peers. Children enjoy story time. They listen well and concentrate on the book. Children help to turn the pages and point to pictures. Staff listen to what children have to say and repeat their words clearly. This supports their developing speech and language skills.

Staff provide stimulating activities, which help to promote children's curiosity for learning. For example, children relish playing with sea creatures in the water tray. They excitedly splash the water and enjoy it falling on their faces. Staff introduce new terminology, such as 'hammerhead shark' and 'reef', to extend children's vocabulary.

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

• The manager plans and ambitious curriculum and is focusing on developing children's speech and language skills. For example, she seeks advice from professionals, such as speech therapists, who visit the nursery and share strategies with staff to support children's language skills. This helps to provide continuity of learning between the nursery, speech therapy sessions, and home.
• Overall, staff develop positive partnerships with parents, and parents appreciate the feedback they get each day. However, some communications with parents are less effective. For instance, some parents are unaware of who their child's assigned key person is and they are not familiar with what their children are learning to do next. This means that they cannot support their children's learning at home as well as possible.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive good support. Staff use extra funding well to provide resources that support children's individual learning needs. For example, staff use mirrors and sensory materials successfully to help to develop children's concentration skills during their play.
• Staff use different strategies well to support children's early communication. For example, staff regularly teach children sign language. Children begin to use signs about the weather, such as 'sunshine', in their interactions with others.
• Staff use opportunities during play to develop children's mathematical skills. For instance, they introduce simple mathematical language, such as 'biggest' and 'smallest', and count objects. Staff encourage children to count the sides of a shape they have built. They introduce larger numbers to extend children's learning further.
• Children enjoy experimenting with mark making and they practise their early writing skills. For example, children enjoy rolling paints on the easel and drawing pictures, such as with pencils and crayons. Staff help to develop children's hand muscles and fine motor skills, such as by encouraging children to squash and squeeze malleable materials.
• Staff use effective strategies to manage children's behaviour. For instance, staff respond swiftly to help to resolve a sharing dispute. They use distraction effectively, encouraging children to count the cars that they are playing with, which helps them to quickly refocus on their game.
• Children learn to be independent at snack time. For instance, they pour their own drinks and butter bread. Staff supervise and ask children if they want their bread cut into triangles or squares. They use the opportunity to promote healthy eating, such as by talking about healthy eating options.
• Children are developing good personal hygiene skills. For instance, they know how to blow their nose and put the tissue in the bin. Children visit the toilet independently or ask for support when necessary. These skills will help children when they take their next step in education.
• The manager evaluates her practice and supports staff to learn new skills. For example, she completes staff appraisals and identifies opportunities for professional development. Staff say that they feel supported by the management team and enjoy working at the nursery.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen parent partnerships, making sure that all parents are aware of and build relationships with their child's assigned key person.