The Denning Montessori School

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Staff are nurturing, kind and friendly. They warmly welcome children as they arrive and help them settle in quickly. Staff develop caring bonds from the start, which begins from their home visits. The provider has created a bespoke curriculum in consultation with staff, parents and children. It encompasses the themes of 'nurture, nature, network'. Children participate in a wide range of opportunities and experiences which build trusted relationships, explore their natural surroundings and make connections with the local community. They regularly visit the nearby forest and familiarise themselves with people and local landmarks on their walks. To further enhance children's knowledge of the wider world, staff encourage them to count in the different home languages spoken by children who attend. This helps to positively value children's unique backgrounds.

The vibrant learning environment provided by staff is highly appealing to children. For example, when outdoors children love to climb, balance and jump with great control and coordination. Children squeal with excitement as they notice the visiting dance teacher enters. They show impressive imaginations, moving in a variety of ways to music. Children artistically turn into magical creatures when 'magic dust' is sprinkled on them. They persevere with more challenging movements, such as leaping and hopping over objects. In this way, children become resilient learners.

Staff consistently promote children's positive behaviour. They model how to treat others with respect and help children to understand the consequences of their actions on others. Children show kindness towards friends, inviting them into their play. They exhibit immense pride when sharing their accomplishments with staff, who celebrate their achievements with them.

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

• Leaders are ambitious and highly focused on driving improvement. They have an accurate view of the strengths and areas for improvement. For instance, the provider has invested in an early years mentor who offers advice and support to help raise standards of education further. Staff feel well supported by the leadership team. They benefit from numerous opportunities to further their skills, such as widening their knowledge of different interventions to successfully address any gaps in children's learning.
• There is a strong focus on developing children's early literacy skills. Staff model language by considering suitable words to support children's vocabulary growth. Children engage in meaningful two-way discussions with staff throughout the day. They practise strengthening their small hand muscles when manipulating play dough. This helps to prepare children for holding writing tools to make controlled marks.
• Overall, teaching is good. This is evident when staff captivate children's interests through reading stories in small groups. They build suspense in stories by changing their tone and children gasp, anticipating the outcome. In this way, children's love for books is greatly enhanced. However, on occasions, some staff do not recognise when to adapt activities and their teaching in response to children's existing knowledge and skills. This does not support each child to benefit fully from the learning experience.
• Staff give high priority to promote children's independence and prepare them well for their future learning. Children proficiently carry out various tasks by themselves, such as using spray bottles of water and cloths to clean tables. They display exceptional abilities when managing their self-care needs, such as washing their hands by themselves after coming in from the garden. Staff are always available to offer generous praise which helps children to develop a keen sense of responsibility and commitment.
• Routines of the day are well-established. There are times when all children come together in a large group where staff promote discussions on a variety of topics. In general, children listen attentively to the person speaking and keenly respond with their thoughts and ideas. That said, sometimes staff do not encourage the quieter or less confident children to be more responsive and forthcoming. Consequently, quieter children have fewer opportunities to think and express their ideas, and improve their communication skills further.
• Partnerships with parents are intensely strong and effective. Staff regularly discuss children's progress with parents and inform them of their children's next steps in learning. Parents value all the fun and exciting activities the staff and leaders organise, such as when they build things with natural objects in the local forest. They feel involved in their children's learning and appreciate the suggestions staff make about how best to support them at home. This helps to create a consistent approach to children's learning.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen staff's skills in recognising when and how to adapt activities to further build on individual children's learning and development
• provide further support for quieter children to participate actively in group activities and discussions.