East Lane Montessori

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff welcome children into the setting. Children receive warm and reassuring handovers when they arrive. This helps them to build their confidence. Children are confident to navigate the well-structured routines and ask for support when needed. They are kind and work together well. For instance, they pass resources and work together to hunt for minibeasts outside.

Staff place children's confidence, communication and independence at the centre of their practice. The close and well-established partnerships with parents, as well as the effective key-person system, support children to be happy and settled within the setting. This fosters positive and trusting relationships between children and staff, helping children to feel safe and secure. Staff take into account children's languages, cultures and prior experiences to support them to learn. This makes children feel valued. All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, make good progress towards their expected goals.

Staff are highly skilled at promoting children's physical skills. Younger children use the outdoor space well to run, climb and balance. This helps to support children's physical development and awareness of safety within play. Older children independently demonstrate excellent dexterity as they practise using pegs and drawing. This aids in developing their pre-writing skills. Children hold a pencil effectively and show good control in preparation for their future school experience.

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

• Children communicate well for their age. Staff have high expectations for children's vocabulary development. Children use challenging vocabulary, such as 'cavities' and 'syringe', when discussing oral health and trips to the dentist.
• Staff support the communication skills of children who speak English as an additional language effectively. For example, staff who are multilingual speak to children in their home languages and English. When staff do not speak children's home languages, they are diligent to learn key words and phrases in children's home languages.
• Children are well prepared for their transition on to school. Children talk about their new schools with pride and excitement. The manager ensures that children have smooth transitions through her excellent relationships with local schools, which support families confidence in their new setting.
• Parents speak very highly of the care their children receive. They comment that they frequently communicate with their child's key person, and they understand what their child's next steps in learning are. As a result, they know what they can do to support their child at home. Parents appreciate what the setting offers and are impressed with their children's progress, in addition to the additional support staff offer parents, such as family days and workshops. The manager knows all families well and is diligent to signpost parents to helpful services within the community.
• Children demonstrate high levels of independence. Staff encourage children to do things for themselves. Children are proactive in their ability to self-care, such as they independently wipe their noses, set the table for lunch and make choices.
• Older children concentrate well when participating in engaging activities. During a play dough making activity, children learn the names of the objects and ingredients and use them in their play. Once they learn and observe the teaching, children remember the order of making play dough and are confident to try to make their own. However, at times, staff do not consistently adapt activities to suit the needs of younger children. As a result, younger children do not always get opportunities to engage in activities that are based on their next steps in learning.
• Outside, children enjoy a range of activities to engage with. Children are curious as they find minibeasts, asking questions about the names of unusual insects. Staff encourage children's curiosity, such as by teaching them interesting facts about worms. Children have the freedom to explore and initiate their own play. However, inside, staff do not consider how to organise adult-led group times to interest all children and to support them to practise skills. This means that children are not consistently engaged in their learning.
• Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour and children learn to make good behavioural choices. These are developmentally appropriate and progressive. For example, children independently take turns when waiting for the slide and support each other. Older children support younger children to pour water from a jug. Children politely greet visitors and ask how they are.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to think about what younger children need to learn next when planning activities
• review the organisation of adult-led group times to ensure that all children are interested and engaged.