Bethnal Green Montessori School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children of all ages play together happily. They choose resources and most are quick to settle and become engaged in their favourite activities.

Younger children explore and find resources of interest. Children persevere with tasks and show resilience and independence. They discuss what they are trying to do with staff and other children.

Staff arrange the areas where children play so that they are accessible and safe. This means that children can take appropriate risks and complete tasks safely. For example, they use child-sized wheelbarrows to transport leaves and clear the garden.

Children turn to their pee...rs or adults to get help. They wait their turn to play with resources and leave areas tidy for the next child. The children learn how to care for living things as they feed the nursery chickens.

However, staff do not consistently ask toddlers about their likes and dislikes, to further help them learn about their emotions. Children confidently identify their names as they start their early reading journey. They respond to words displayed around the setting.

Children look at words and images on printed menus and use these to help choose and select a snack. They are developing independence. Children pour their drinks.

They use butter knives to cut their bread. Older children support and praise toddlers' efforts. Children develop strength and coordination in their small muscles as they thread laces and use paintbrushes to make marks.

Children develop the skills they need to write. They proudly show their reading, writing and counting to the adults around them.

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

Parents report that communication with the setting is good.

The leadership team and staff support parents with help and advice. The skilled staff identify any early developmental delays and discuss these with parents. Staff access help from outside agencies and work with parents to help children catch up.

Parents report that children feel safe at the nursery. They share information about their children with staff through formal meetings and informal chats at the start and end of the day. Communication with families is swift and effective.

For example, staff call parents within the hour if children are feeling unwell. Children take their work home to give parents immediate daily feedback. They can save work to show their parents at parent-teacher meetings.

Skilled staff are adept at directing children to re-engage with learning. However, some staff are not always aware of all the children in their immediate area. This means that children are sometimes left to flit unhappily between activities.

Staff tell children that they are expected to help each other. Children learn to share resources. Older children support their younger peers.

They tidy up areas ready for the next child. Older children discuss the rights and wrongs of behaviour. For example, they discussed whether they should allow toddlers to cut bread into eight pieces rather than four.

However, staff do not take opportunities to talk to children about their emotions at times.Staff have worked hard to overcome the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, new children now start at the setting at any time.

They have the time and space to settle at their own pace. The manager recognises that the national lockdowns affected some children's social development. Staff are working with families to redress this before children begin school.

Children develop an understanding of amount as they count the number of flowers in a vase. Staff ask them to fetch 'one' or 'five' objects. Staff teach children about shape and size through everyday activities.

Children practise matching amounts to numerals as they build on their early mathematics skills. However, independent mathematical activities can sometimes confuse children. Staff are not always on hand to help children with immediate feedback and support.

Staff know the children and lovingly support them throughout the day. They have a clear idea of the service they want to provide and are working towards this. Staff teach children how to respect and use resources.

Hygiene is good. Children use the toilet and wash their hands independently. They choose nutritious snacks such as fruit, eggs and bread.

Leaders have a clear idea of where they want a child to be as they leave the setting to enter school. The setting has recently employed another office manager. She has time to learn the setting's practice and procedures.

The leadership team assesses staff performance and ensures that training is up to date. However, there is scope to develop a stronger approach to ensuring staff are consistently clear about children's development and the next steps in their learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The leadership team accesses staff safeguarding training through the local borough. As a result, staff know the signs that might mean a child is at risk of harm. They know the procedures to follow if they suspect that a child may be harmed.

The setting recruits staff through the local Montessori College and other universities and colleges and works with these to follow safer recruitment procedures. Staff are aware of children's allergies and take steps to protect children from allergens.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: broaden opportunities to talk to children about how they are feeling so they learn the language of emotions support the staff further so they are consistently familiar with the areas of learning, children's next steps and how these link with Montessori methods of teaching.

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