Townsend Montessori Nursery Faversham

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Children come into the nursery happily.

They are confident and feel safe and secure in this caring setting. Relationships are warm and trusting. Children frequently go to their key person for reassurance or a hug.

Carefully planned activities by staff, help learn to share, take turns and play collaboratively with their friends. Younger children take turns to choose an animal for the song, while older children hold cylinders together for a friend to pour sand into. Staff have high expectations of children's behaviour, and children respond well.

Where there are disagreements, staff talk to children about how the...ir behaviour makes others feel.Children show care for others. For instance, children carefully wrap a baby doll in a blanket and then say, 'Shhhh' because the baby is sleeping.

Children have positive attitudes to their learning. They follow the example set by staff, demonstrating good manners and saying 'please' and 'thank you'. Children are supported by staff and this helps them learn to be independent in managing their personal care.

The youngest children are shown how to feed themselves and can soon successfully copy the action to perform this task independently. They learn to pour their own drinks and to serve themselves at mealtimes. Children can use simple tools, such as safety knives, to cut up their fruit for snack.

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

Overall, parents are happy with the nursery. They say staff know their children well and are knowledgeable. Parents are pleased with new transition arrangements.

They are consulted about their child's interests and preferences and are pleased that home routines are followed in the nursery. However, some parents are unclear about their child's next steps in learning and how to support their children's learning at home.Staff support children's communication and language skills effectively.

In all rooms, staff speak clearly to help to support correct pronunciation. Toddlers are encouraged to name the fruits in a familiar story. Staff extend their vocabulary, using colours to describe the fruit.

Older children recognise rhymes and supply missing phrases in stories. They can predict what might happen next in a story and speak clearly, using full sentences.Staff plan interesting and engaging activities based on children's interests.

They observe children and identify their next steps in learning. Occasionally, staff do not plan the activity carefully enough for children to be able to achieve the identified next step.Children build their physical skills well as they move through the nursery.

The youngest children are supported in learning to walk independently. Outside, children play with a range of different balls, learning how to throw and catch accurately. Older children practise the skills of more formalised games, such as rugby.

They pass the ball, run and score a 'try'. Others enjoy the ride-on toys, appropriate to their age, negotiating corners and avoiding obstacles.Staff help to support children to be ready for the next stage of their education, including school.

Children develop strength in their fingers to help support early writing skills. For example, a young child was delighted to observe a picture emerge as he did a rubbing. Older children developed finger strength as they squeezed pipettes to precisely place small blobs of paint on damp paper.

They smiled with pleasure as they observed the colours merging together, making new colours.Leaders are ambitious. They have a comprehensive improvement plan in place, which has helped to support them in improving the skills and knowledge of staff, thus making children's learning more effective.

Staff benefit from regular meetings with the manager to discuss their practice and training needs, as well as their well-being.Children learn that other cultures have different customs. They celebrate a variety of festivals, read books that show a range of different families and access resources to support their understanding of similarities and differences.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are effectively supported. The special educational needs coordinator is appropriately trained. She liaises with external professionals to ensure that children have the support they need and, that advice is followed in planning activities that help to support good progress.

Additional funding is spent appropriately to meet the needs of these children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All staff can talk knowledgeably about safeguarding issues, including those that are most common to their area.

Staff benefit from regular training and quizzes which the manager completes to test their knowledge. They know how to recognise a child that may be at risk and who they should contact about any concerns they may have. Staff know the procedures they should follow if they see signs that a child's safety may be compromised.

They complete regular fire evacuations and checks of fire-fighting equipment. They check the premises daily to ensure they are safe for children to use.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: provide staff with support to help them understand how to more effectively focus curriculum planning on what they want children to learn strengthen lines of communications with parents and help them to understand what their children need to learn next and how to support their learning at home.