Mace Montessori Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Leaders and staff implement effective procedures to provide a safe and happy space for children. They create nurturing and affectionate relationships, which help children to feel settled and secure. Children confidently interact with others and make choices about what they want to do. Staff take a genuine interest in children and families and get to know them well. This helps them to tailor each child's care and learning. Staff focus on children's individual personalities and support them to develop their self-identity. For instance, staff talk to older children about their learning. They ask what their individual goals are and support them to achieve these. This helps to promote children's positive attitudes to learning. Children become highly engaged during their play and are eager to join in with activities.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for all children. They provide a broad and challenging curriculum, which helps to prepare children for their next stages in learning. For example, as children progress through the nursery, they gradually learn to manage their own personal care. Children become adept at tasks such as putting on their coats and washing their hands. This puts them in good stead for starting school. Staff help children to understand what is expected of them. They praise children's positive behaviour and provide consistent reminders. Therefore, children learn to follow the rules and routines in the nursery.

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

• Leaders have clear oversight of the nursery. They regularly review and develop the provision based around the needs of children attending. Recently, leaders have identified that many children do not experience 'messy play' at home. Therefore, they ensure that activities include a wide range of materials and textures to help stimulate children's senses as they learn. For example, babies experience the different sensations of ice and water as they make marks using frozen 'paint lollies'.
• Staff monitor children's progress across all areas of their learning to identify any gaps within their development. Leaders know how to seek advice and support from other professionals if children need additional help with their learning. They describe how strong partnership working helps all children to make the best possible progress.
• There is good support for children's communication and language development throughout the nursery. Staff use a wide range of words and ask meaningful questions while children play. They also enable children to hear and use other languages that they speak at home, such as when counting and singing. Children become confident communicators and express themselves effectively.
• Staff skilfully incorporate mathematics into children's learning experiences. For instance, as toddlers create 'birthday cakes' from dough, staff encourage them to compare sizes and count how many candles they add. This helps children to develop a good grounding in early mathematics.
• The curriculum for understanding the world is strong in some aspects. For instance, staff value children's diverse cultural backgrounds and celebrate their languages and customs within the setting. They take children on daily outings and encourage them to notice features, such as the different vehicles they see. However, staff do not consistently provide a rich range of experiences to further enhance children's understanding of the natural world.
• Staff understand the link between behaviour and emotional well-being. Therefore, they place a strong focus on children's emotional development. For example, staff provide pictures of facial expressions to help younger children indicate how they feel. Children learn to express their feelings in positive ways and moderate their behaviour well.
• Staff promote healthy lifestyles for children. This includes daily opportunities for children to be physically active, indoors and outdoors. The meals and snacks that are provided for children are nutritious, well-balanced and freshly prepared each day.
• Staff encourage parents to be actively involved in their children's learning, such as by attending events and play sessions in the nursery. They work in partnership to promote children's positive behaviour and support their development, such as toilet training. Parents speak highly of the caring and dedicated staff. They say that they are well informed about their children's experiences and learning at the nursery.
• There are good systems to support and supervise staff, which promotes a low staff turnover and consistently good practice. Staff are knowledgeable about their roles, the curriculum and the children. They speak positively about the opportunities for training, which help to further enhance their skills.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• develop the curriculum for understanding the world to further enhance children's understanding and exploration of the natural world.