Happy Hands Montessori Nursery Ltd

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive happy to start their day at this exciting nursery. Staff are enthusiastic and children respond well to this, joining in with activities that are on offer. Behaviour is good. Older and younger children play well together. Older children are respectful of their younger peers and young children play cooperatively together, handing toy farm animals to each other with adult support.

Children access activities based on their interest and developmental stages. Staff rotate activities as different age groups access the main room. Children busy themselves in the garden. Some older children plant flower seeds and discuss how much water they need to make them grow. Other children talk about meals that they are cooking in their outdoor kitchen area.

Opportunities for physical development are plentiful. All children have regular access to the garden, where they use ride-along toys, balls and balancing toys. Inside, children engage in music-and-movement sessions where they dance and follow the actions of different songs with their peers. Children develop their smaller muscles, learning to use spades to dig soil, burying various vegetables in it. Younger children explore paint and make marks using strings, using different motions to create different shapes.

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

• Communication and language is taught very well. Children have lots of opportunities to build on their existing vocabulary. Staff skilfully introduce new words to older children. They discuss words like 'hydrate' as they talk about adding water to soil during a planting activity. Children enjoy regular stories and song times and look at books independently. Children who speak English as an additional language are equally well supported. For example, they benefit from interactions with multilingual staff, who support children to learn English words as well as speaking with them in their spoken language.
• Children enjoy learning about mathematics. Staff use mathematical language during activities, such as 'dividing mud' and talking about the volume and size of things. Younger children talk about how many toy hens are in a tray and enjoy singing counting rhymes. Children in the garden spontaneously count number beanbags and smile as they guess the correct numbers.
• Staff acknowledge children's feelings. During morning group time, older children discuss their feelings and describe them in ways that are personal to them. Staff acknowledge this and explore further with children, encouraging them to explain how they are feeling. As a result, children are confident when expressing their wants and needs and show they feel safe and nurtured within the nursery.
• Children benefit from well-balanced and nutritious meals. Staff encourage children to try new foods and work with parents to support this area. Staff encourage some independence at mealtimes. However, sometimes staff spoon food onto younger children's plates with them, rather than letting them have the time to do it by themselves. As a result, younger children are not benefiting from developing skills needed for later life.
• Staff at the nursery understand the importance of early intervention and help for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The nursery's special educational needs coordinator works well with families to ensure that all children get support in order for them to make good progress. The nursery has a specific unit to support children who need additional support. Children enjoy activities, such as 'bucket time', where staff provide sensory experiences and children are introduced to language. Children use the sensory room when they need time to understand their behaviour. Parents comment on how beneficial the SEND support that staff provide for their families is.
• The manager holds weekly meetings with staff to ensure that activities are purposeful and give opportunities for staff to evaluate the individual progress of each child. Staff comment that they discuss relevant safeguarding topics and overall they feel well supported. However, the manager acknowledges that staff supervisions need to be more structured to ensure that staff feel supported professionally and personally.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• consider the organisation of mealtimes to ensure that they are purposeful, specifically so that younger children can continue to learn and develop their independence
• develop staff supervisions to ensure all staff have opportunities to further their professional development.