Lamb Setts Montessori Nursery School and Out Of School Club

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make a strong start to their learning in this warm and nurturing nursery. Experienced staff help babies to build strong bonds with them and to settle smoothly into nursery life. Children make good progress overall and are well prepared for the next stage of their learning, including starting school. Staff make good use of their knowledge of children's interests and abilities to plan for their learning. They help children to become independent and self-aware. For instance, children learn how to work together and use their imaginations as they develop role play in their fairy garden or use toy diggers and tractors in their muddy construction area.

Children feel safe, learn to behave well and show concern for each other. They rise to staff's high expectations and are polite and thoughtful to others. For instance, children listen to others and take turns when they choose and recite their favourite nursery rhymes. Staff help children to play safely and try new experiences. For example, babies become increasingly confident to explore new sensory activities, such as mark making in dry coloured rice or sticky pastes. Parents appreciate staff's warm and caring nature and the clear guidance and information they receive.

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

• Staff promote children's communication skills well overall. They encourage babies to pay attention to others and repeat phrases from rhymes and stories. Staff often join children in friendly conversations. However, they do not consistently further enrich and extend children's language skills throughout their activities. For instance, staff sometimes use words that are too simple or do not build on children's responses by introducing new and exciting vocabulary.
• The nursery strongly supports children with SEND. Staff identify gaps in children's learning and development at an early stage. They work closely with parents and other professionals, such as local authority advisers and speech therapists, to plan for children's further development. Staff support children well in their transition through the nursery and into school.
• Staff support children's love of books very well. They build children's experiences as they progress through nursery. For example, they introduce children to new and different fiction and non-fiction books that build on their interests and past experiences. Staff read stories in ways that engage children and stimulate their curiosity. For instance, older children have a keen understanding of the role of the author and the illustrator, and eagerly anticipate the development of the plot. Staff bring stories to life. For example, they create a 'Gruffalo trail' through the nursery grounds.
• The experienced and well-qualified managers provide passionate and sensitive leadership. They lead a well-established and very committed staff team, who know their community very well. Staff's morale is high and they feel that their contributions to children's learning and well-being are valued. The managers carefully review the effectiveness of the nursery and draw on the views of children, staff and parents to develop teaching and learning well.
• Staff promote children's good behaviour and personal development well. They encourage children to say 'please' and 'thank you' throughout their play and during healthy mealtimes and snack times. Staff support children to make decisions and persist in activities. Parents appreciate the support that staff give to help their children to manage and improve their own behaviour at home and in the nursery.
• Staff help children to develop their physical control and skills. They encourage children to make patterns in their water play and creative work using a wide variety of media, such as hands, fingers, brushes and pens. These skills help to prepare children for their later handwriting development. Staff help children to increasingly build their strength and core muscle control as they balance on tyres and wooden planks and join in aerobic and simple sporting activities.
• Parents highly recommend the nursery. They say that staff keep them very well informed about their children's progress. Parents particularly appreciate the care and commitment that key persons show to the children they are responsible for.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to strengthen their interactions with children, to enrich and deepen children's vocabulary and language skills.