Raising Eagles Montessori Nursery

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children make good progress in this well-organised, stimulating nursery. From the start, staff take care to ensure that children settle well and build strong relationships with them. Children feel secure and happy in the nursery. They are independent and quickly settle into their chosen activities. For example, on arrival each day they place their belongings onto their allocated coat pegs and change their outside shoes for indoor shoes. Staff know children well. They follow their interests and take these into account when planning interesting and fun activities. For example, children enjoy exploring a range of different textures and materials. They create pictures of flowers by cutting and sticking paper tissue onto card. The curriculum has a clear focus on helping children acquire the key skills they need for their future learning, such as physical development, personal, social and emotional skills and communication and language.

Staff give priority to supporting children's emotional development. Children are kind and considerate towards each other, cooperating well during activities. Staff are consistent in their approach to behaviour management. They effectively role model the kind and positive behaviours they expect. Children become friends with each other and behave well. They have regular opportunities for physical exercise. Staff talk to children about the benefits of healthy eating and the importance of exercise as part of a healthy diet.

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

• The manager and staff are passionate about delivering good quality care and education to the children, following a curriculum based on the Montessori philosophy. They gather information from parents to support children when they first start. This helps them to understand what children need to learn next.
• Children show a positive attitude to their learning and play. However, at times, staff are not consistent in ensuring that transitions from play to mealtimes are effective. As a result, some children spend longer than is necessary waiting around until they can eat, and they become unsettled.
• Staff promote children's good health and well-being. Children enjoy lots of fresh air and exercise in the outdoor learning environment. They learn to navigate space as they run and ride bicycles in the garden. Children strengthen the muscles in their hands by using scissors, tweezers and spoons to pick up small objects, as well as small jugs to transfer water and rice.
• Staff embed and weave mathematics well throughout children's activities. Children learn to identify numbers and problem solve as they match picture cards together. They make good use of the Montessori resources in the play environment. For example, children enjoy using number rods to understand the length of each rod and how it corresponds to the numbers.
• Children gain good communication, language and literacy skills. Staff read stories to children in animated tones and encourage them to join in with repetitive phrases. They teach them new words from stories and sing action songs and rhymes to support their language skills further.
• Staff value all children's home languages and what makes them unique. They teach children about various religious festivals and celebrations, including Diwali, Black History Month and Chinese New Year. These opportunities help to develop children's understanding of diversity.
• There is strong support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff work well with specialist professionals to provide activities that develop the communication and language skills of children with SEND. This has helped these children to make good progress.
• Partnership working with parents is successful. Parents are complimentary about the nursery and feel that the staff are friendly and caring. They value feedback about their child's day and find the photos and information on the nursery app very useful. Staff update this information regularly to help parents extend their children's learning at home.
• Staff attend supervision sessions and team meetings. They access a variety of training programmes and share best practice with each other. Staff report that they enjoy working at the nursery and that their morale is high. They say their well-being is supported. Staff are supported to continually improve their practice.
• The manager and staff understand the importance of keeping accurate records for the safe and efficient management of the setting such as detailed safeguarding concerns and accident and injury reports. This ensures children's safety is always paramount.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• review the organisation of the daily routine, particularly lunchtime, to reduce waiting times for children and ensure that they remain consistently engaged in meaningful learning.