Great Learners Montessori Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are warmly welcomed into this outstanding nursery. Children and staff form wonderful relationships. Children chatter to each other and the staff and share fantastic conversation skills. Young babies use gestures to communicate their affection, such as reaching out to their key person for a reassuring hug when needed.

Children's behaviour is exemplary. Children consistently demonstrate extremely high levels of engagement and focus across the whole nursery. Staff have very high expectations of children's behaviour. They reinforce excellent manners and act as superb role models for children. Kindness is promoted throughout the nursery. Children demonstrate this virtue in their play and daily interactions. During circle time, children recall a visit to the local charity shop where they donated toys that they no longer needed.

Staff purposefully plan each activity to develop children's skills and knowledge, alongside appealing to their interests. They ensure they promote curiosity and exploration. For example, a baby is shown how to smell tulips. Staff role model new language and facial expressions relating to this. The baby then places the tulip under the nose of a staff member for her to sniff. Staff swiftly offer the opportunity to paint a tulip and bring a vase of flowers for the baby to look at as she paints.

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

• The nursery implements a very clear and well-sequenced curriculum that covers babies through to pre-school age children. Highly qualified staff adapt the curriculum, ensuring this continually meets the needs of the children. This enables all children to achieve and make exceptionally good progress. Staff use their deep knowledge of the children to provide suitable activities to support them. For example, at snack time, children are given broken crackers and are challenged to take the right pieces to make a whole one. Children demonstrate fantastic problem-solving skills and persistence.
• Babies experience a highly positive settling-in process. Staff receive all the relevant information before the child starts and ensure that they consider each child as unique. They implement an individual plan to enable a valuable settling-in experience for all children.
• Parents and carers speak extremely positively about the care and education their children receive. Parents praise the caring and 'lovely' staff team. They comment on how much their children learn at nursery. They are confident that their children are very well prepared for school.
• Support for children who speak English as an additional language is exceptional. Staff celebrate each child's and family's individuality, actively promoting a culture of inclusivity and diversity. For example, a parent visits the nursery to share how their family has recently celebrated Eid al-Fitr. Staff and children listen in awe to the story and details of the festival. Afterwards, children individually thank the child and his parent for sharing this with them. Children continue to talk about this together in their free play.
• Children's personal development is excellent. They play cooperatively together and show high level of respect for each other. All pre-school children tidy up independently when they have finished playing with an activity. They are confident to select new activities of their choice, and the classroom is well organised to support this. All children are exceptionally independent. Young babies toddle over to retrieve their own coats at garden time. One baby brings a coat over to his peer when he sees it is left behind.
• Staff feel valued by the manager and comment on her highly approachable nature. The manager meets regularly with staff individually and as a team. The manager targets staff's professional development, helping them to build their skills and knowledge to the highest level. The managers are inspirational and fully dedicated to supporting their staff team to deliver exceptionally high-quality learning experiences and care. The staff team works highly effectively together. This helps to provide a first-class learning environment for the children.
• Staff swiftly identify any children who require additional support and embed strategies to help children catch up. Where necessary, the manager acts quickly to seek support from other professionals. This ensures that all children achieve the best possible outcomes.