BarleyMont Fairlop Montessori Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children settle well and they enjoy their time at the nursery.

Children are emotionally secure and they form close bonds and attachments to their key person. Older children show high levels of independence as they manage small tasks, such as putting on their coat, feeding themselves and using the toilet on their own. Younger children are active and they eagerly explore the resources easily accessible to them.

They happily move between activities, handling the items purposefully and successfully. Children learn to do different movements with their body and they display good coordination. Older children develop their lit...eracy skills well.

They demonstrate a love for story time and they practise writing and recognising letters. Children learn to express their needs and interests effectively. For example, younger children confidently use body language, babble and make sounds.

They begin to use simple words. Older children confidently talk about their play with others and they retell some past events. Staff miss some opportunities to support children to become independent thinkers and to strengthen their understanding further.

Overall, staff have high expectations of children's behaviour and they highlight when children behave well. However, they do not consistently support children to know when their behaviour is unacceptable.

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

Staff plan a broad and stimulating range of opportunities that support children effectively to use their imaginations and to help motivate them to explore and experiment.

Staff work closely with other professionals to set targets and to support children with special educational needs. Children make good progress with their development in relation to their starting points. They acquire the skills required to move on to the next stages in their learning.

Older children develop their literacy skills effectively. For example, they show keen interest when listening to stories and sing along to familiar nursery rhymes. They willingly take part in mark-making activities.

Children learn to recognise and write letters well, and they proudly show staff their writing books.Older children have good opportunities to develop their mathematical skills. For instance, they learn to count and recognise the sizes of different items during their play.

They explore with shapes and learn to identify them successfully.Younger children enjoy exploring and learning from a wide range of sensory materials. They feel the texture of different materials and they copy different sounds.

Staff skilfully interact with them to help extend their learning. For example, they use single words and short sentences for younger children to hear and repeat. This help them to talk about what they are doing and to increase their vocabulary.

Staff support children to develop a healthy lifestyle. They provide regular outdoor physical activities for them to develop their balance and coordination.Staff provide healthy food for children to eat, they encourage them to wash their hands at appropriate times and they apply good hygiene practice when handling food.

Parents provide complimentary feedback about the nursery. They appreciate the ongoing support and opportunities for their children to learn and they feel their children are safe and happy. Parents receive regular feedback about their children's learning and what children need to learn next for them to extend their development at home.

The manager ensures staff benefit from regular supervision meetings and professional development opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. She works closely with the team to evaluate the provision and to address previous actions and recommendations.Although staff model positive behaviour for children to learn and they offer praise when children behave well, staff sometimes miss opportunities to help children to understand how their actions make other children feel.

At times, staff miss some opportunities to challenge and extend older children's understanding and thinking skills further. For example, they do not use open-ended questions well enough to help children to become independent thinkers.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager ensures all staff attend safeguarding training and they are familiar with the nursery's safeguarding policies and procedures. Staff have a secure understanding of the signs and symptoms of abuse, and they know how to identify children who may be at risk of being exposed to extreme views. Staff are familiar with the procedures to report any concerns and allegations to the relevant authorities.

The provider has robust procedures in place to ensure relevant checks are completed and staff are suitable to work with children. The provider has reviewed the procedures for physical intervention to ensure staff handle children appropriately if they are at risk of hurting themselves and others.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: support children consistently to manage their feelings and to develop further a sense of right from wrong make better use of opportunities that arise during children's play to strengthen further older children's understanding and thinking skills.

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