Epping Montessori Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children enter the nursery very happy and ready to start their day. They separate contentedly from their parents and run off to play with their friends. Children show they are settled and have strong bonds with staff, who are attentive to their needs. As a result, children feel safe and secure.

Staff and leaders model appropriate behaviour to help children manage their feelings. Children refer to sand timers to help them patiently wait for their turn with popular resources and toys. This helps children to understand boundaries. Staff praise children for behaving well, which builds their confidence and self-esteem.

Staff deliver a curriculum that is designed to support children in developing their independence and build connections between their experiences and the real world. Children thoroughly enjoy opportunities to become involved in these experiences. For example, staff encourage children to explore the differences they see between leaves and discuss the different colours and textures. Children delight in exploring the soil and planting 'garlic', using water to help things grow. This helps children to develop their physical skills as they dig, mix and manipulate the soil. Staff encourage children to be gentle when they find a worm and help them understand about caring for living things.

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

• Staff and leaders are deeply enthusiastic in their roles. They develop new ideas to ensure children get the most from their learning. They often reflect as a team to determine how children in their care can make further progress in their development. Sharing observations and regularly communicating helps staff understand what children can do and what they need to learn next.
• Children benefit from nutritious snacks. They become deeply involved in the process of preparing their own snack. Staff are very skilled at encouraging children to become more independent. They support children to use age-appropriate tools to slice bananas. Children learn words, such as 'segments', to describe the inside of an orange. When they are finished, children push their chairs in and wash up their own plates and cups.
• Circle time activities provide support and opportunities to develop children's language. Children learn new words and sing songs they are familiar with. For example, staff use visual aids, such as a 'spider', as they sing 'Incy Wincy Spider'. Although this sparks children's interests, at times, staff do not ensure that group circle times meet the needs of all children involved. Therefore, there are occasions when some children lose their focus and become distracted.
• Staff and leaders ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive early support. Individual strategies are put in place to ensure that children can make good progress. The team works closely with other professionals to ensure appropriate plans and support are in place and the learning needs of children with SEND are met.
• Overall, staff support children to develop their ideas in their play. Children experience a range of activities, such as role play and arts and crafts, that help develop their creativity and thinking skills. However, staff are not always consistent in their interactions to further enhance opportunities that develop children's deeper engagement.
• Children immerse themselves in creating patterns with blocks and using visual aids to guide them. Staff talk about the colours children can see and how many blocks they have used to create their pattern. They encourage children to extend their mathematical thinking and develop their problem-solving skills. For example, they show children that when blocks are turned in a different position it creates a new shape such as a diamond. Children enjoy testing out their ideas as they make different shapes.
• Parents say they are happy with the nursery and commend them on their levels of communication and efforts made to help children settle in. Partnerships with their children's key persons are a highlight of parents' experiences, and they outline how well they know the children. Parents appreciate the newsletters and reports shared by the team of their children's progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the delivery of group activities to ensure that circle time meets the learning needs of all children
• support staff to strengthen the consistency of their interactions to further enhance the opportunities that develop children's deeper engagement.