Start Right Montessori Nursery School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive at this welcoming nursery with big smiles, happy to begin their day. They greet staff warmly and quickly settle down to play. There is strong support for children's emotional well-being. For instance, children receive a home visit from staff before they join the nursery. This helps them to develop secure attachments right from the start. Children demonstrate that they feel safe and secure in the calm and well-ordered environment. Children understand the high expectations of staff and demonstrate this throughout the day. For example, children know that they must follow good hygiene routines. They wash their hands before eating and after messy activities.

Children are keen learners and show high levels of independence. For instance, they choose their own activities and carefully carry the resources to their work mats. They concentrate well to complete tasks and tidy up the resources when they have finished. Children are enthusiastic and assertive as they play. They show high levels of imagination and confidently practise what they have learned. Older children cooperate to create their own games, such as an Easter egg hunt. They display excitement and enthusiasm as they search the garden for coloured eggs. They count the eggs accurately and use number cards to represent how many they have found.

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

• Managers work hard to review and develop the quality of the provision. They support staff well to improve their professional skills and knowledge. This includes regular coaching, supervision and training. Staff speak enthusiastically about how their teaching has improved. For example, they say they are more responsive to children's individual interests and use these to plan exciting learning experiences.
• Children benefit from a broad and interesting curriculum. Their learning is carefully sequenced to ensure that they consistently build on what they know and can do. For example, children gradually develop strength and coordination in their hands through taking part in activities such as completing jigsaw puzzles. They explore enjoyable ways to make marks as they play with different materials. Older children confidently demonstrate the skills that they have learned. They show great enthusiasm as they incorporate writing into their play.
• Staff work closely with parents and, where needed, other professionals, to ensure that all children get appropriate support for their needs. This includes children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, children who receive additional funding and children who speak English as an additional language. Staff spend time with children on a one-to-one basis, to deliver focused learning plans. They use resources such as a pictorial timetable, to help children understand routines and make choices about their play.
• Parents give very positive feedback about the nursery and staff. They say that they get a lot of information on their children's learning. Parents have regular meetings with staff to review their children's progress and enjoy receiving photos of activities via an online app. They say that this helps them to continue children's learning at home.
• Children become deeply engaged in their play and remain at chosen activities for long periods. They are excited to discover something new. For instance, they explore different textures and comment enthusiastically that spaghetti is no longer slippery when they add salt. Children persevere as they learn new skills, such as how to operate tongs to pick up small items, and show pride when they complete tasks.
• Staff generally support children's language skills effectively. For instance, they have conversations and comment on children's play. However, staff sometimes miss opportunities to introduce children to a wider range of words, to help broaden their vocabularies further.
• Children behave well and develop good friendships with their peers. Staff use positive praise and consistent reminders to help children understand what is expected of them. However, they are less consistent at times in supporting children to understand their feelings and the impact of their actions on others.
• Staff encourage children to keep their bodies healthy, such as by brushing their teeth each day and eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. Children benefit from a lot of active play in the nursery garden. They confidently run, balance and pedal tricycles. This helps them to develop good physical strength and coordination.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to further extend the vocabulary that they use with children, to help children learn and use a wide variety of words
• strengthen teaching to ensure that staff consistently support children's understanding of feelings and emotions, and help them to recognise the impact of their actions on others.