Streatham Montessori Nursery & Day Care

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is good

Leaders and staff greet children with a warm welcome as they arrive at the nursery. Children are content and settled. They know the routine well.

Children eagerly hang up their coats before selecting activities that capture their interest. Staff have high expectations for all children, who are keen to learn. For example, young children enjoy cutting fruits with the support of staff, who emphasise that children must keep themselves safe while using child-friendly cutting tools.

The nursery follows the Montessori approach to learning. Children enjoy a wide range of experiences that staff provide for them. Staff plan a cu...rriculum that is broad and sequential for all children, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The curriculum focuses on helping children to acquire the key skills which they need for their next steps in learning. For instance, staff encourage babies to wash their hands themselves. This enables them to develop their independence and self-care skills.

Children have high levels of confidence and self-esteem. Staff model the positive and courteous behaviour that they expect of children. Overall, children behave well.

They are kind to each other and learn how to share and take turns. However, sometimes, staff do not consistently use effective strategies when dealing with children's inappropriate behaviour.

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

Staff support children's communication and language development well.

They read books enthusiastically and encourage children to interact with the stories. For instance, staff extend children's communication skills by encouraging them to identify farm animals and the sounds they make. This supports children's growing vocabulary and their love for reading.

The special educational needs coordinator has a good oversight of the children who have gaps in their development. Staff successfully meet children's individual needs. This includes children with SEND and children who speak English as an additional language.

For example, children benefit from the speech and language therapist, who supports them to develop their communication skills further. All children make good progress from their individual starting points.Staff provide teaching that follows children's interests and builds on what they already know and can do.

Staff understand how children learn and use this knowledge to motivate children to develop their skills. For instance, toddlers identify shapes, such as 'square', 'rectangle' and 'triangle'. Staff skilfully extend the activity into other areas of learning, such as motivating children to count how many sides the shapes have and identify similar shapes in the outdoor environment.

Leaders and staff base the curriculum on the early years foundation stage and the Montessori method. There is a wide range of age-appropriate and stimulating resources available for children to choose from. However, occasionally, children cannot access all the resources in the learning environment.

For example, babies cannot access some resources in the classroom as they are on a high shelf. This impacts on children's engagement levels.Children benefit from extra-curricular events, such as through regular trips to the local and wider community.

They visit local libraries, parks and shops. In addition, children visit the museum, the theatre and the zoo. These opportunities strengthen children's understanding of the diversity and life in modern Britain.

Leaders ensure that staff access ongoing training opportunities to help enhance their practice. Staff talk about the positive influence that training has on the quality of care and learning offered to all children. However, sometimes, children play excitedly together, which leads to high noise levels in the classroom.

This affects the concentration and attention of the other children.Partnerships with parents are strong. Parents speak highly of the leaders and staff.

Parents say they are professional and provide their children with a high standard of care and education. The manager has built a positive and respectful culture and ensures that all parents receive support and information promptly. For instance, staff provide parents with verbal feedback and information via an online application.

Staff support children's health and well-being well. The nursery chef provides children with freshly cooked and nutritious meals and snacks. Children use a variety of play equipment in the nursery garden, which helps to develop their spatial awareness and coordination.

Leaders follow robust recruitment procedures to ensure that all staff are suitable to work with children. Staff complete daily risk assessments to identify and remove any hazards. The premises are safe and secure.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

What does the setting need to do to improve?

To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should: review the organisation of resources in the learning environment so that children can access them independently support staff to consistently help children to understand the type of behaviour that is expected from them.

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