Eco Montessori Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff provide a warm and welcoming environment for children. They follow a familiar daily routine and build caring relationships with children. Interactions are consistently reassuring and supportive. For example, new babies receive lots of cuddles and attention from their key person to help them settle. This helps children feel safe and secure.

Staff provide a curriculum that combines the Montessori philosophy as well as learning across the early years foundation stage. The curriculum for literacy is well sequenced throughout the nursery. For example, staff frequently read stories to children and sing songs and rhymes. Babies thoroughly enjoy drawing lines and squiggles using crayons. Older children confidently sound out letters as they write their own stories. These activities help to develop children's creativity and literacy from an early age.

Children's behaviour is good. Staff support children to be kind and respectful. They model positive behaviour and calmly help children to learn what is expected of them. As a result, children play cooperatively, take turns and share resources. Children confidently engage in their chosen activities. They independently put them away once they have finished playing.

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

• Children are becoming increasingly independent in their self-care skills. For instance, staff encourage babies to use spoons to feed themselves from an early age. Toddlers learn to manage their personal care needs and wash their hands before mealtimes. Older children skilfully use knives to cut up their own fruit at snack time. This helps children to learn lifelong skills ready for their future.
• Staff incorporate mathematics into everyday activities. They model counting to younger children and encourage them to count past numbers they already know. Older children eagerly match numbers and count out objects. In addition, all children spontaneously count as they play. Children are developing good mathematics skills.
• Children of all ages have lots of opportunities to develop their small muscles in their hands. For instance, babies concentrate intently as they explore locks on an activity board. Older children access practical, real-life activities. For example, they show increasing control as they pour water from one jug to another. This helps them build the physical strength and control in their hands and fingers that they need to support their early writing skills.
• Staff support children's communication and language skills well. Staff use sign language with babies to support their communication development. Older children take part in group activities and take turns to talk and share their views.
• In addition, staff value and respect children's home languages. They learn and use key words to help children settle into the nursery. All children, including children with English as an additional language, become confident talkers.
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) make good progress. The special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has a secure understanding of how to support children with SEND. She works closely with staff, parents and other professionals to create targeted plans. Staff use funding effectively to meet children's individual needs. For example, they buy new resources to support children's specific gaps in learning.
• Partnerships with parents is good. Staff share information about children's learning and development. Parents comment on the progress their children have made since attending the nursery. They know who their child's key person is and speak highly of the friendly team.
• The manager and staff work well together as a team. Staff say they feel valued and have regular supervisions to discuss their well-being. The manager is reflective and committed to the continuous improvement of the nursery. She has plans to extend training opportunities to help staff build on their good practice. This will help to swiftly identify and address any minor weaknesses in practice.
• Overall, children make good progress in their learning and development. Staff use assessments to identify any gaps in learning. They plan a wide variety of activities and follow children's interests. However, some activities do not always match the capabilities of the children taking part. As a result, some children do not understand what is being asked of them and lose interest.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further their skills in planning and delivering activities so that the learning intentions are more closely matched to the needs of the children taking part.