Halfmoon Montessori Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children show extremely positive attitudes towards learning and are happy, safe and secure. Children of all ages show high levels of interest, independence and engagement in activities and behave extremely well.

Staff have high expectations for children. They know individual children and families extremely well, which enables them to nurture their personal development and unique potential. Younger children delight in singing phonics songs and exploring musical instruments, which supports their language development and early literacy skills effectively.

They also enjoy experimenting with play dough and junk modelling, w...hich supports their imagination and creativity. Younger children receive good levels of support to extend and develop their learning, and staff are very effective at boosting their confidence and self-esteem. This supports them to develop enthusiasm and eagerness to try new things.

Older children show excellent knowledge and their learning is challenged exceptionally well. This is evident as they talk about the solar system, planet earth and volcanoes. They enjoy participating in experiments to make a volcano erupt and use language such as 'volcanic rock', 'magma' and 'larva'.

All children have frequent opportunities to learn outdoors. For instance, some enjoy participating in tennis lessons with a trained coach. They also play with a range of bikes and ride-on toys, which provides good opportunities to develop their physical skills.

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

Staff are very positive role models and have highly respectful relationships with children. They listen well to children's ideas and suggestions, and frequently give praise and encouragement. This means that children are motivated and show a love of learning.

Staff plan and deliver an ambitious and rich curriculum that helps children to develop new knowledge and skills. Children have very good awareness of their local community and the wider world. Overall, the quality of teaching is consistently good and some is of an extremely high level.

There are effective arrangements in place to help new children settle in with ease. This is apparent when staff seek detailed information from parents and have an extremely child-led approach right from the start. This helps children to feel secure and comfortable.

Children show high levels of emotional security.Staff are knowledgeable about how children learn and develop. They regularly plan new and appropriate targets and children evidently make very good progress in their learning.

Children have frequent and meaningful opportunities to learn about what makes them unique. Staff frequently teach them about different backgrounds and cultures. For instance, children make Chinese dragons and participate in role play in a Chinese restaurant when celebrating Chinese New Year.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive excellent levels of support. For example, staff work closely with external professionals and regularly meet to discuss different strategies, targets and children's progress.The manager closely monitors the quality of teaching and the overall experiences for children.

This is apparent when she frequently meets with staff to continue to develop and enhance their teaching and personal performance even further.Staff show good commitment to their ongoing professional development. For instance, staff engage in training to support children's speech and language development and to support their behaviour in a positive and consistent way.

As a result, children benefit from a rich language environment, understand what is expected of them and behave extremely well.Children are encouraged to adopt healthy and active lifestyles. This is evident when they engage in frequent forest school sessions and have daily opportunities to play outdoors.

Staff also talk to children about the importance of eating healthy foods and having a balanced diet.Parents express high levels of appreciation and satisfaction. They state that their children enjoy attending and are making very good progress.

They also value the dedication, consistency and nurturing nature of the staff. To build on these relationships even further, the manager should consider seeking parents' views more reguarly to inform their self-evaluation and how they can strive to make future improvements, to enhance outcomes for children even further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The manager and staff complete in-depth safeguarding training to keep their knowledge of child protection issues up to date. Staff can confidently identify and discuss possible signs and symptoms that may indicate a child is at risk of harm. They are also aware of wider safeguarding concerns and who to contact to gain additional support.

Recruitment arrangements, vetting procedures and ongoing suitability checks are thorough and help to ensure that staff are suitable for their roles. The premises are secure and staff carry out daily checks to help to minimise any accidents and to ensure they are suitable.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: strengthen arrangements to gain parents' views, to inform the evaluation of the nursery and to make future improvements that enhance children's experiences further.