Frimley Town Montessori Nursery School Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are welcomed warmly in this nurturing nursery. They arrive happily and are excited to spend time with staff and their peers. An effective key-person system means that staff develop warm, trusting bonds with the children they look after. Their nurturing interactions help children settle quickly into nursery routines. This helps children feel safe and secure.

Overall, leaders and staff have developed a suitably ambitious curriculum that enables all children to make progress in their learning and development. Staff place a high priority on children's language development in their curriculum. They babble and make sounds with babies to encourage back-and-forth interactions. Staff model communication and language well for children. For example, they speak slowly and clearly using simple language and vary their tone to capture children's attention. Children respond by repeating new words they hear. Staff encourage children's love of books from an early age. As such, children thoroughly enjoy listening and sharing stories with their friends. Children are becoming confident communicators.

Staff have high expectations of children. They work well together as part of a team to support children's behaviour. They give children consistent messages to support their emotions. Staff gently help children to learn to take turns with their friends. This helps children understand what is expected of them and promotes their overall behaviour.

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

• Staff support children's physical development. They support babies who are learning to walk. This helps to build their leg muscles, to reach their goal of independent walking. While creating an obstacle course, children enhance their strength and coordination as they carry planks and crates to create a bridge. Child develop their balance as they walk along beams. This helps children develop the skills they will need for their next stage in learning.
• Staff complete accurate assessments of children's development. They have a clear understanding of what they want children to learn next. Overall, children access a curriculum that fosters their interests and builds on what they already know and can do. However, staff do not always implement the curriculum with precision, to consistently support the intent of some activities. For example, during some adult-led activities, staff over-direct children's participation. This means children do not always benefit from the learning outcomes.
• Leaders and staff promote children's health. For instance, they provide guidance for parents to help them understand what makes a healthy packed lunch. Children wash their hands before they eat and are encouraged to develop healthy eating habits, such as having their savoury food first at lunchtime.
• Furthermore, staff teach children about oral hygiene. For example, children practise brushing pictures of teeth and talk about how if food gets stuck, it can cause 'cavities'. This helps children develop healthy habits for the future.
• Staff encourage children to become independent in their self-care. Children confidently put their coats and boots on to play out in the rain. If children become wet and need to change their clothes, staff give them plenty of time to succeed in their self-care. This helps to develop children's self-confidence.
• Staff understand the link between behaviour and emotional well-being. Children learn to express their feelings in a positive way. For instance, staff gently remind children to use their manners and give children time to negotiate sharing resources. This helps children to manage their behaviour and develop kind friendships. Children treat each other with consideration and respect.
• All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make good progress from their starting points. Leaders and staff work closely with other professionals to ensure that children with SEND receive tailored support for their individual needs. For example, staff plan target sessions to support children's speech and language.
• Partnerships with parents are good. Staff share information about what children need to learn next and ideas to continue their learning at home. Parents say that their children have made good progress, especially with their communication and independence, since starting nursery.
• Leaders' self-evaluation is mostly accurate and identifies areas for further development. They implement a programme of supervision and training to help develop the practice and knowledge of staff. However, staff's teaching and practice are not consistent across the nursery. For example, staff do not always consider precisely what it is they want children to learn in planned activities. This means some children do not always benefit from the activities.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the monitoring and coaching of staff to enhance the implementation of the curriculum, to increase children's learning during adult-led activities.