Evolution Montessori School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy in this nurturing environment. Staff greet them as they arrive, and children quickly engage in the activities that are on offer. Staff have a clear understanding of how to sequence the curriculum to ensure that all children achieve to the best of their ability. Children are encouraged to be independent, and they enjoy self-selecting the resources they would like to play with. Children feel valued and emotionally secure and quickly form strong bonds with their key person. Staff and children enjoy looking at the designated display board that celebrates children's artwork.

Children behave well. There is a clear structure in place, and children enjoy the daily routines. They follow adult instructions and join in with actions as they clap and sing the 'good morning song' together. They enjoy circle times, and staff remind them of their expectations for sitting, looking and listening. Children enjoy singing and dancing at nursery. They express themselves as they joyfully sing and dance with scarves to a range of familiar songs. Staff pause their singing, and children enjoy filling in the missing song words. Children enjoy counting songs. This helps them to further their understanding of number.

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

• Parents feel well supported by the nursery, and their children enjoy coming. Parents describe the nursery as having a 'home-from-home' feel. They say they are fully involved in their children's learning and know their children's targets. They receive advice on how to help at home, for example with potty training and reading. They enjoy sharing the nursery library books with their children at home.
• Children understand the expectations for tidying away resources when they have finished playing with them. They use the designated bins to dispose of their used tissues when they have blown their nose. They stop in response to a small bell and move to different activities when asked by staff. They show kindness to one another and share resources.
• The nursery promotes a love for reading. For example, there is a cosy reading area complete with a tepee for children to enjoy looking at books and listening to stories. Children listen with interest as staff use puppets to introduce them to the story of 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears'. Staff ask questions, and children enjoy making contributions about all the ingredients they like to add to their porridge when they eat it at home.
• Children understand what makes them unique. The family board displays the range of countries that the children come from and the different languages they speak. Children learn about a range of religious festivals from around the world, including Holi, Eid, Christmas and Easter.
• Children enjoy a range of activities to strengthen the small muscles in their hands. They enjoy filling and emptying containers of water and spooning grains and pulses into different-sized pots. They make marks on large paper and practise copying the letters of their name.
• Children are encouraged to be independent. They hang their coats and bags on their pegs at the start of the day and dress themselves for outdoor play. They wash their hands, collect their snack boxes and water bottles and sit together for snack time. They serve themselves milk and eat using a range of cutlery.
• Children enjoy preparing foods in the role-play kitchen area. They use mark-making resources to take orders from their friends and use real vegetables to prepare the food. Staff support them well by modelling the language for the names of the different foods. However, during their interactions with children, staff do not consistently challenge children to develop their communication and language skills. For example, children are not always given the opportunity to respond to questions with a more-detailed response. They often just give a 'yes' or 'no' answer. Challenging children in this area would help them to keep their play going for longer and further support them in role playing with their friends independently.
• The manager has a clear vision for continuous improvement. She is a reflective practitioner and works closely with her experienced team to consistently review practice. Staff receive regular supervision meetings and have opportunities to engage in training to obtain recognised early years qualifications. The manager makes effective use of external agencies to ensure all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve the best possible outcomes.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• further support staff to ensure their interactions with children give opportunities for them to be fully challenged in developing their communication and language skills.