Bay Tree Montessori

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

When children and families arrive, staff greet them with a warm welcome and a smile. Babies and older children receive supportive settling-in sessions.

Staff offer home visits for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and those who speak English as an additional language. The rich and intriguing environment sparks children's curiosity and wonder, providing them with the motivation to learn. Staff are highly skilled when interacting with children, inspiring, guiding and informing their learning in sequence.

For example, children water plants while staff are facilitating their learning... of life cycles, using key words and exploring ideas. Children show a high level of independence when scraping their plate, rinsing and putting it in the dishwasher after lunch.Children are keen and eager to join activities that ignite an array of learning opportunities.

For example, children use their gross-motor skills to stir cake mixture and learn mathematical concepts when weighing and measuring ingredients. Babies show strong and trusting attachments with staff, who show a passion for supporting their learning. For example, staff challenge babies with their walking using the climbing steps in the bambini room.

Parents are highly involved in their children's learning and comment positively on the support and updates they receive daily regarding the care and development of their children. During the COVID-19 pandemic, staff remained in contact with families and children through providing pre-recorded stories, songs and activities using online platforms. For example, staff read stories to support children's communication and language development.

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

Managers and leaders have securely embedded an ambitious curriculum throughout the setting, and this is implemented extremely well by staff. All interactions with children are of a high quality. The staff have an excellent awareness of how children learn and provide opportunities for children that support their well-being and emotional development.

For example, weekly yoga sessions support mindfulness. Staff seek extensive information on care routines and the needs of babies, so babies feel extremely secure.Staff have exceptional knowledge of child development and what children need to learn.

Staff provide opportunities for babies to support the use of core muscles for sitting and for older children to develop gross-motor movements for pre-writing skills. Phonological awareness is also introduced in preparation for their transition to school.Children's behaviour is exemplary.

Children understand why rules are in place and show confidence in social situations. When children encounter difficulties, these are swiftly identified and action is taken to support them. Children use visual aids to help them explain what they need and to help others to understand how they may be feeling.

Staff show children high levels of respect and kindness and value their opinions and choices.Staff have high expectations for all children, including children with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language. Staff work extremely closely with outside agencies to support children's individual needs.

Staff collaborate closely with leaders to minimise any gaps in children's learning, ensuring all children make excellent progress. For example, staff recognise that following the COVID-19 pandemic, the prime areas of learning, particularly speech and language, are a priority, so they now have a teaching room where more focused and tailored activities take place. Staff speak a variety of languages, including Polish, Romanian, Turkish and Spanish, and staff share these with children daily.

For example, babies are washing their hands while staff are singing a song in English and Spanish to support the babies' home language. The older children also enjoy learning songs in other languages and can recall them.Staff provide children with rich and diverse experiences to learn about their community and the world around them.

Managers ensure children have links with the wider community and have recently enjoyed a visit from the fire department, and they will be creating links with the local care home. Children explore the natural world they live in and use their allotment in the garden to grow their own fruit and vegetables. Children learn how to keep the fruit and vegetables alive and pick them when they are ready to eat for snack.

Babies explore the fruit and vegetables through messy play to ignite their senses, and they enjoy playing in the garden daily.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Staff provide outstanding support for children to become highly independent while enabling them to manage age-appropriate risks, for example when children use the climbing wall and climbing frame in the garden.

Staff demonstrate a strong understanding of their duty to protect children and report any concerns they may have about a child's well-being. Managers have robust, effective and efficient recruitment procedures in place. This helps to ensure that any adults working with children are suitable to do so.