Stepping Stones Montessori Childcare Limited

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children are welcomed into the nursery by friendly staff. They are happy to see familiar faces and have developed strong attachments. Staff are very responsive to children's emotional needs. For example, babies crawl to staff for cuddles and reassurance and older children eagerly invite staff into their play. These warm and nurturing interactions from staff help support children in feeling safe and secure.

The staff team have worked together to plan and deliver an ambitious curriculum to help support children's confidence, independence and social skills. They help children acquire life-long skills. For example, in the baby room, children independently explore with sensory baskets and use soft play equipment to climb on and crawl through. Staff in the toddler room help extend children's imagination and support their ideas of what they need. Children make telescopes from tubes and confidently approach the inspector and explain they are going outside to search for sharks. Staff sit with children in pre-school and look at pictures. They test out their understanding of what has happened in the story. Children are engaged, contribute to storytelling and show a great love of stories and books.

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

• The manager continually reviews and evaluates what is working well and identifies future developments. She observes staff practice and supervision meetings take place. Staff attend meetings, share ideas and access regular training. This helps staff develop their knowledge further and contributes to children making good progress in their learning.
• Staff have a good understanding of what they want children to learn. They follow children's interests and plan exciting activities that children are eager to be involved in. However, occasionally, staff do not successfully carry out what they have identified they want children to learn next. This means some children do not always benefit from being able to learn as much as possible.
• Staff set out clear expectations and provide consistent instructions to children. Children are kind to their friends and respectful of others. Staff remind children of being polite and using their manners. This helps them to gain a greater awareness of positive behaviour.
• Overall, staff support children's communication and language well. They take interest in what older children have to say and ask them questions that prompt children to expand on their thoughts. However, the curriculum is not consistently implemented as well with younger children. Staff do not always support children in their growing vocabulary. Furthermore, on occasion, staff do not successfully capture children's attention to help them listen attentively and respond to what they hear.
• Staff give children the time to explore and try things out for themselves. For example, children practise using scissors to cut paper. Staff encourage them to keep trying and offer support. Children proudly shout 'I did it' when they succeed in their attempts. This helps support children to have a 'can-do' attitude, increases their determination and perseverance.
• Staff ensure that parents are continually updated about things that their children do and learn at the nursery. They share development reports and include parents in decisions about their children's learning. Parents praise the staff for the wonderful learning opportunities that children have. They display appreciation for being so involved in their children's learning.
• Staff support children's understanding of their local community. This includes regular visits to the nearby farm, where they speak to farmers and gain a greater understanding of their job role. Furthermore, children plant, grow and pick their own vegetables. They are involved with decisions of the meals that they eat at the nursery. The cook asks children for their feedback on how they think the food tastes. This further promotes children's understanding of growing produce and leading a healthy lifestyle.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• support staff to strengthen the implementation of the curriculum, to reflect the identified learning intention for the children taking part and to further support their next steps in learning
• strengthen the implementation of the curriculum for communication and language that promotes consistent quality across all age groups of children.