Leamington Montessori Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are happy and enjoy nursery school. The staff team offer a very welcoming environment for both parents and children. Children arrive before nursery school to feed the pony and look at the animals in the field next door. Staff provide comfort and reassurance as they enter, and children settle well and quickly become engaged in an activity.

Children develop independence in the nursery school. For example, they wash their own hands before snack and lunch time and wipe them again afterwards. They try to pour milk or water from small jugs into a beaker with support from staff if needed. At snack time, children learn how to handle tools. For example, they use small tongs to lift pieces of fruit onto their plate and attempt to peel their own fruit.

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

• The provider has an effective professional development system in place. Staff talk with enthusiasm about the training days and courses they are able to attend to further their professional development. They also have regular staff supervision meetings. This ensures staff are able to discuss any concerns they may have about children in their key group. Managers set new targets during the supervision process, which help to ensure staff develop their practice further. The staff team feel supported in their roles and valued by the management team.
• A strength of the nursery school is the partnerships it has developed with both parents and professionals. This ensures that children are supported well, and their individual needs are met. The nursery school provides excellent support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Additional funding is used effectively; therefore, children with SEND make excellent progress from their starting points. Parents speak highly of the staff team and their commitment to provide the best possible care for their children.
• Children develop good physical skills due to the range of experiences offered. When they are outside, they enjoy playing on tree swings, climbing ladders and sliding down slides, helping to strengthen their arm and leg muscles. They also learn to coordinate and balance as they jump on and off log stools of varying height. Inside, children are able to use a grip when holding writing tools, such as pencils. Some children use scissors with support to cut paper when making their own pictures. They use glue spreaders confidently and take great pride in their achievements.
• Communication and language skills are developed as children listen to stories and rhymes. The expressive way in which the staff read stories captures children's interest. They use open questions with the older children to help them understand what is happening. They ask, for example, 'What are they doing? and 'What do you think might happen next?' For younger children staff develop early language skills. For example, they join in making the 'brum brum' noise of the tractor. They also practise new words, such as 'rustle' and 'crispy', as they are used to describe leaves.
• The provider has a clear vision of what she wants the children to learn. For example, children explore growing and caring for plants and flowers. Children begin to observe that they need water to make them grow. In a large sandpit, they empty and fill different-sized buckets of sand. This helps to develop an understanding of comparing different quantities. In the outdoor kitchen, children use pots, pans and wooden spoons. They add leaves, flowers and conkers and pretend to make potions during imaginary play. However, at times, the quality of staff's interactions with children, particularly outside, does not help them to fully participate in some of the activities. Therefore, some children do not experience the broad range of learning opportunities available to further extend their development.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the quality of staff interactions with children, particularly outside, to help all children access the full range of learning opportunities available to extend and develop their development even further.