Prima Montessori Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at the inclusive and welcoming setting.

Children enter confidently and are keen to get to their rooms to meet their key people and friends. On arrival, children are provided with a range of stimulating and fun activities. For example, the babies explore edible paint with their hands and large paintbrushes, whereas the older children hunt to to find minibeasts, and use bricks and shaving foam to pretend to be builders.

Children enjoy using the garden to practise their physical skills. They run and climb over the assault courses, showing control over their body movements. Others enjoy... using the mark-making tools, such as chalks and crayons, to draw on the fences and floors.

The children take pride in their growing area, where they are carefully tending to strawberries ready to eat for snack. Children make butterfly feeders to hang on the fences to encourage butterflies to the garden to extend on their current learning around life cycles. Children's behaviour and attitudes are positive throughout the setting.

The younger children are learning the basic rules of sharing resources. Whereas in the older rooms, the children are learning about the personal space of others when they play.

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

Children are learning about healthy lifestyles and what foods are good for their bodies.

The food provided is healthy, balanced and nutritious. However, the organisation of mealtimes means that children are waiting for long periods of time for their food, during which some children become distracted.Leaders can identify areas that need to be improved within the provision.

However, their support is not always as swift as possible to help ensure the curriculum is implemented to the highest levels across the nursery.Children's emotional development is embedded well. After the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the setting has worked hard to improve the emotional literacy of the children.

For example, they have introduced the story 'The Colour Monster' to encourage the children to speak and verbalise their feelings and the feelings of others. This has worked particularly well with the older children and is now going to be introduced to the younger children.Parents and carers are extremely happy with the setting and the education and care that their children receive.

They feel that they are provided with lots of information about how their child is progressing and what they are working on next. Parents particularly praised the inclusiveness of the setting and how all religions, cultures and beliefs of the children in the setting are celebrated and shared with all children.Leaders and managers recognise and support the well-being of the staff.

For example, since the COVID-19 pandemic, they have created a calm-reflection space for the staff to use. Staff praise the support they receive from the manager and deputy. Staff are provided with adequate time to speak to leaders about their role and are provided with further training and support in order to improve their skill set.

Children are making good progress. This includes children with special educational needs and / or disabilities (SEND). The special educational needs coordinator ensures that she has a thorough knowledge of the children in the setting.

Children with SEND are identified quickly to ensure that the correct support is provided. She works well with parents to include them and create a two-way process of support for the children.Language is promoted well throughout the setting.

Staff working with the youngest of children model language through singing and regularly reading to the children, to encourage them to join in and develop their speech sounds. Whereas older children show their knowledge through language, by using words such as 'Exoskeletons' and 'palaeontology', when freely exploring minibeasts and dinosaurs.Children are becoming increasingly independent.

For example, the youngest children use suitable steps to access the tap and soap to wash their hands. They cooperate with nappy changes, which are enjoyable experiences as the staff sing and chat to the children. Older children successfully manage their own toileting and know that they need to wash their hands when they come in from the garden and before eating.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.Safeguarding is embedded well throughout the setting. Leaders ensure that staff have suitable training in order for them to be aware of the risks to children, and the action that needs to be taken if they have concerns or worries.

For example, staff can recognise the signs of abuse and understand the risks to children, such as the effects of domestic violence. Leaders ensure that they undertake more thorough training for their role as designated leads for the setting. They understand wider risks, such as radicalisation and female genital mutilation.

Policies and procedures are in place to ensure that everyone is following the same guidelines when it comes to protecting children. The setting is safe and secure as a result of the in-depth risk assessments that are completed at the beginning and end of each day.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: nimprove the routines of mealtimes to reduce the amount of time where children are not engaged in meaningful learning nensure leaders swiftly support staff to help them understand how to implement the curriculum more effectively across all rooms.