Happy Hands Montessori Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The manager and staff create a warm welcoming atmosphere, where all children and families feel they belong. Children easily separate from their parents and eagerly start their day. The manager and staff develop positive relationships with children from the start. This helps children to feel happy, safe and secure at the nursery.

Staff are nurturing, they have a good understanding of what their key children know and need to learn next. This information is used to plan activities that capture the children's interests and help them achieve the next steps in their learning. The nursery is committed to working effectively with other professionals to support all children's development. This ensures that all children, including those with special educational needs and / or disabilities (SEND), make good progress.

Staff encourage children to be physically active and gain confidence in their skills. In the garden, children balance on beams, climb and ride push bikes. Staff use opportunities to develop children's resilience and perseverance. For example, they encourage children to use equipment such as the slide and use praise to keep children motivated when they find the task difficult. As a result, children are developing positive attitudes and a sense of self-pride. Children's behaviour is good and they show high levels of confidence at the nursery.

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

• The manager is an enthusiastic leader. She knows her staff well and is committed to supporting their professional development and emotional well-being. Since the previous inspection, the manager has developed support plans to strengthen staff's teaching skills. Children benefit from staff who value the importance of children's well-being and achievement.
• The manager has worked hard to redevelop the curriculum, ensuring that staff have clear intentions for every child's learning. As a result, children develop positive attitudes to learning and develop skills that prepare them for the next stage in their education. However, at times, the focus of group activities can be broad. This means that some group activities are not as focused on children's individual learning.
• Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour. Staff implement shared strategies to manage behaviour and effectively communicate with each other to support unwanted behaviour. Any minor disagreements are quickly resolved by staff, who model the expected behaviour, such as sharing and taking turns.
• Children have many opportunities to develop their independence. Children serve their own food and pour drinks independently at mealtimes. At times, opportunities for children to further extend their independence are not fully extended into all areas of the children's routines. For instance, some staff do things for children, such as putting their coats on for them. This does not fully extend opportunities for children to develop their self-help skills.
• Children participate in regular routines that promote their physical well-being. Children know to wash their hands after using the toilet and before they eat. This helps children to gain an awareness of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Children learn about oral hygiene as part of their daily routine. Staff use songs and praise to encourage children to develop their understanding. They actively learn the importance of toothbrushing as they brush their teeth after lunch.
• Staff use opportunities to develop children's vocabulary. For instance, children who are engaged in a recycling activity learn new words and their meaning. Staff repeat and explain vocabulary, such as 'recycle' and 'conservation'. They explain their meaning and use it in the right context. This helps children's understanding of the world around them.
• Staff use every day activities to support and embed children's knowledge and understanding of numbers. Children confidently count and use numbers as they explore play dough. Staff deepen the children's understanding through questions. They introduce new shape names as children play. This helps children build on their skills and knowledge.
• Parents speak highly of the nursery and particularly of the kind, caring staff. Staff work in partnership with parents to continue to support children's learning at home. Children can also borrow story books to share with their parents at home. This supports the continuity of children's learning and development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• enhance the planning of group activities to precisely match each child's developmental stage
• strengthen opportunities for children to develop and extend their independence and self-help skills.