Harriet House Montessori School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children of all ages enjoy their time at the Montessori school. Overall, they benefit from the provider's curriculum, which promotes the Montessori approach alongside the early years foundation stage. Other activities planned for children include music, ballet and forest school. These help to enhance children's developing and current interests. Children enjoy the many open spaces that help them to develop confidence, independence and risk awareness and that enable them to explore freely. The outdoor classrooms provide opportunities for children to play outdoors all year, regardless of weather. Children enjoy time spent in the sensory garden and are learning about planting and growing produce. They spend time there with both parents and staff.

Children demonstrate that they feel happy, safe and secure. Children of all ages have warm bonds with staff, who know them well and encourage their personal and emotional well-being. Some children are showing an emerging confidence to speak in small groups and share what they know and understand. For example, during Harvest festival celebrations, children recall how wheat is harvested and processed for making bread. All children behave incredibly well. They are polite and respectful to their friends and staff. Children understand staff expectations and the routines of the day.

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

• Staff morale is high. Staff state that they feel valued and supported in their roles. For example, they explain they are listened to when requesting further training opportunities. Staff have been proactive in making improvements since their last inspection. This includes the ways they find out about children's development upon entry to the setting.
• Overall, staff implement the provider's curriculum effectively in order to promote children's learning across a broad spectrum and prepare them for their next stages of learning. However, planning of the curriculum is not precise enough. This is most evident during children's freely chosen play. Staff are not always confident about what they want children to learn and how they will build on children's experiences.
• Staff in the baby room engage younger children well during story time. Babies snuggle up to listen to the story and commentary and are keen to look at the illustrations. Older children thoroughly enjoy taking part in a singing activity entitled 'Journey home from grandpa's'. They confidently join in with familiar verses and use props depicting a range of vehicles to identify the different sounds these make. These activities promote children's developing language well and encourage a love of books and rhymes. However, interactions throughout the day are not always fully consistent in helping all children build new vocabulary. For example, staff do not always model language effectively during play activities.
• Children demonstrate a positive attitude to learning. They sit patiently as activities start and listen intently to instructions. Older children are prepared to participate. They show curiosity about what they are learning. For instance, as older children learn about the story 'Handa's Surprise', they help each other recall the names of the fruits. Children are confident to suggest what might be happening. For example, they predict that the monkey has taken the banana.
• Overall, staff help to ensure that all children meet their potential. This includes children who speak English as an additional language and those children with identified or possible special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff know the importance of working alongside other professionals involved in children's learning.
• Staff promote children's confidence and independence to help them develop an awareness of healthy lifestyles. For example, staff help children to be independent in their self-care skills. Children are learning about how to protect the environment. This includes an understanding of recycling and composting.
• Parents are positive about the care their children receive. They state that communication about children's learning is informative and that their children flourish at the setting.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review and improve the arrangements to plan for the curriculum across all areas, to build more successfully on what children already know and understand
• develop more consistent practice to model language and promote children's language and communication.