Sunshine Montessori Babies

Inclusion: Expected standard

Leaders demonstrate a secure understanding of children's individual and developmental needs. This includes for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and for children with other barriers to their learning. Staff use regular observation and assessments to identify children's development and learning needs effectively. They respond quickly when they recognise that additional support is required and liaise with parents to ensure that swift action plans are put in place. Staff recognise the benefit of early help, and where appropriate, work with other agencies and support parents to access the required information to fully support their child. This ensures all children make the progress they are capable of.

Staff receive appropriate training to support them in their interactions with children so these can be best adapted to meet the child's needs. This enables them to respond to children's behaviours and support them in managing these in an appropriate and safe way. Strong parent partnerships ensure that parents receive the help and support they need, minimising the impact on children. Leaders make informed decisions about the use of additional funding. They ensure that funding is directed towards resources that will have the most impact in responding to children's individual development and learning needs.

Curriculum and teaching: Expected standard

The well-thought-out and ambitious curriculum meets children's needs and supports them to make progress across all areas of learning and development. Through regular observation and assessment, staff are able to plan a wide range of activities and opportunities for children to explore. Staff understand the intent behind the activities they plan and deliver. Heuristic play supports children effectively to problem-solve, use their critical thinking skills and develop independence. During this time, children explore through play with everyday objects. Children engage highly as they explore resources of their choosing. They play well alongside and with their friends, showing an early understanding of cooperation and working with others, supporting each other to problem-solve.

Overall, staff support children's communication and language well. Positive interactions promote children's language skills. Staff read and sing with children, introducing them to new words that they encourage them to repeat. This is not consistent and, at times, not all staff interact with children to the same level. During these times, children do not get the support needed to further develop their communication and language skills.

Staff introduce mathematics in an age-appropriate way that helps children understand early counting and mathematical language such as big and small. They extend learning well to challenge children. Staff promote physical development through a range of activities, indoors and outdoors. Staff place objects just out of children's reach to encourage movement. Children also benefit from rich opportunities at forest school, where they climb, balance and develop core physical skills.

Activities are accessible to all children, with appropriate adaptations made where necessary to ensure all children can take part, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with other barriers to their learning.

Achievement: Expected standard

Generally, children achieve well from their individual starting points and are reaching their developmental goals. For example, children enjoy and benefit from opportunities to problem-solve and become independent learners. Children show delight and pride when staff praise them for their achievements. Overall, children progress well in their communication skills. Children enjoy listening to staff read and sing, and repeat some of the words.

Children move between activities with growing confidence. They show that they can manage familiar routines and transitions throughout the day, such as going in the garden and to forest school. Children show growing independence as they problem-solve. They develop resilience and persevere at tasks. Children build on what they know and can already do. This is supported further by repetition of activities that support all children, including those with barriers to learning, to further develop skills.

Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines: Strong standard

Staff create an inviting and welcoming environment where children feel safe and secure. They have warm, nurturing and secure relationships with children, who they know very well. Staff are positive role models and have high expectations for children's behaviour and learning. Children clearly understand the routine and what is expected of them. Staff provide children with positive praise to help them understand behaviour expectations, and when required, offer further support for children to manage these in an appropriate way.

Children are building positive relationships with each other and are beginning to build lovely friendships. They show the early stages of sharing and cooperative play. For example, during activities, children work together to move objects from one place to another. They hold tubs so their friends can fill these with objects. The consistent and positive praise from staff supports children's developing confidence and gives them an important sense of achievement. Staff ensure that families understand the importance of punctuality and attendance to provide the children with consistency and routines to support their learning and development.

Children's welfare and wellbeing: Strong standard

The information staff gather about children when they first start enables them to accurately identify each child's starting points. The highly effective key-person system and the strong relationships with families ensure staff have updated information about children's routines at home. This provides the consistency children need to feel safe and secure and to make the progress they are capable of. For example, staff adapt sleep time to meet the changing needs of children. Regular communication with parents about food preparation provides consistency for children.

Well-structured and embedded daily routines support children, particularly at this early stage, in developing an understanding of healthy lifestyles. Staff offer children healthy food and snacks throughout the day and provide children with new and enriching experiences that further promote their health and physical development. For example, children develop new physical skills and build on existing ones as they confidently navigate their way around the forest school area. Babies new to walking are supported as staff hold their hands and guide them over logs. Children have opportunities to take appropriate risks, which helps them to understand how to keep themselves safe.

From a young age, children are supported to manage their emotions. Staff recognise when children need different strategies to help them regulate their emotions. They adapt their approach to support children further, including those with barriers to their learning.

Leadership and governance: Expected standard

Leaders and managers have a strong understanding of the needs of the children, families and staff. This enables them to put support in place when needed and to identify any additional help required for children or families, particularly in relation to children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff work effectively with other agencies to support children and their families. Regular communication ensures that children's wellbeing is supported and that families receive the help needed.

Staff are happy in their roles and work well together, regularly communicating with each other to ensure children's needs are met. Recent training they have completed is clearly reflected in the activities, as well as in staff's understanding of what they want children to learn from planned experiences. Staff have regular supervisions and appraisals with managers. This ensures that their individual wellbeing is supported, and that their learning opportunities and needs are discussed. This provides staff with ongoing professional development opportunities.

Generally, leaders and managers have good oversight of the setting and provide effective support to the staff team. Overall, they recognise areas for development in staff practice. They have not recognised that some staff need to strengthen their skills to support children's communication and language.