Little Fingers Montessori School

Little Fingers Montessori School St. Stephens School Rooms, Vansittart Road, Windsor, Berkshire, SL4 5EA

p.1

Inspection date

Previous inspection date 31 October 2017 12 May 2015

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Effectiveness of the leadership and management Outstanding 1

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding 1

p.1

This inspection: Outstanding 1

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1

p.1

This provision is outstanding

 The exceptionally dedicated and well-qualified management team has a wealth of experience and an excellent understanding of the requirements. Management expertly supervises the staff team and supports them to plan inspirational activities for children.  Children thoroughly enjoy the extremely well-resourced and stimulating environment. Staff expertly develop children's early communication and literacy skills. Children select books and puppets independently then delight as staff support them to act out a story.  Children show outstanding levels of self-help skills, such as when young children eagerly help to lay the table for snack time, pour their drinks and put on coats to play outside.  Parents report that staff help their children settle in extremely well. Children develop secure emotional attachments with their key persons and feel safe very soon after they start.  Staff have an excellent knowledge of each child's individual characteristics and learning

p.1

This provision is outstanding

styles. For example, staff use children's love of trains and dinosaurs to tailor activities to extend and develop their learning to exceptional levels. Children work as a group to create a house for their dinosaur with a variety of building materials.  Excellent partnership working with other professionals contributes to the team's highly effective support for children who have special educational needs. Gaps in children's learning and development are quickly identified and staff introduce strategies to help ensure all children develop exceptional social skills.  Management undertakes regular and meticulous self-evaluation with the team. This enables them to look at what they do extremely well and plan how they can improve.

p.1

What the setting needs to do to improve further

To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

p.2

What the setting needs to do to improve further

 continue to build on the already excellent programme of professional development to help staff maintain the highest levels of teaching and care for children.

p.2

Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's activities indoors and outdoors, including snack time.  The inspector took account of the views of parents spoken to on the day of inspection.  The inspector talked to the manager about how she evaluates her practice.  The inspector assessed staff's understanding of how to keep children safe.  The inspector carried out a joint observation with the manager.

p.2

Effectiveness of the leadership and management is outstanding

Safeguarding is effective. Meticulous risk assessments and high staff ratios help keep children and the environment safe. Staff all know whom to go to if they have any concerns about a child's welfare. Following self-evaluation, management has identified how a peer mentoring programme and further safeguarding training will help maintain staff's knowledge at the highest levels. Management has created outstanding links with many local providers and has visited other settings to share good practice and bring back new ideas which it has used to improve monitoring of children's development. Staff have excellent partnerships with parents, sharing resources to extend children's learning at home. These include bags with letters and numbers to explore and 'homework' to help children learn early writing skills before starting school.

p.3

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment is outstanding

Staff's interactions with children are outstanding. Children are highly motivated to develop their early mathematical skills. For example, children explore number cards counting dots and identifying numbers which are one more or one less. They enthusiastically extend the activity by starting to write numbers, matching them to a giant number board. Children demonstrate knowledge during these activities which exceeds levels expected for their ages and stages of development. Younger children enjoy resources which enable them to explore numbers and letters by touch, developing their understanding of how numbers and letters are formed extremely well. Staff inspire children's imaginary games and extend children's outdoor experiences. They ask probing questions and encourage children to discuss their play and the world around them.

p.3

Personal development, behaviour and welfare are outstanding

Children's enthusiasm and their ability to navigate around the nursery and the equipment is outstanding. They engross themselves in their role-play games. For example, older children re-enact group time and enthusiastically teach what they have learned about weather to the younger children. Children demonstrate exceptionally positive behaviour throughout the nursery. They are considerate to one another, such as when they take turns to use equipment and give friends a cuddle during play. Staff offer extensive opportunities for children to learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, children learn to carry scissors facing down, to cross roads safely, and how to keep safe by the lake as they feed the ducks. Children enjoy exercise and develop excellent physical skills.

p.3

Outcomes for children are outstanding

Children are exceptionally eager to learn and are skilled communicators. They are extremely well prepared for their next stage in education. Older children enjoy learning how to blend letter sounds to make words. Children explore technology and are skilled at completing simple computer programs. For example, they confidently solve the problem of where to rehouse zoo and farm animals into their correct environments. All children, including those who receive funding, make outstanding progress in relation to their starting points.

p.3

Setting details

Unique reference number 108404 Local authority Windsor & Maidenhead Inspection number 1089022 Type of provision Sessional provision Day care type Childcare - Non-Domestic Registers Early Years Register, Compulsory Childcare Register, Voluntary Childcare Register Age range of children 2 - 4 Total number of places 24 Number of children on roll 13 Name of registered person Little Fingers Ltd

p.4

reference number

Date of previous inspection 12 May 2015 Telephone number 01628 778636 or 07778838099

p.4

reference number

Little Fingers Montessori School registered in 1996. It operates from St Stephen's School Rooms, in Windsor, Berkshire. The setting follows the Montessori educational philosophy. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education to children aged two, three and four years. The setting operates term time only. Sessions run on weekdays from 9.15am to 12.15pm, with an optional lunch club until 1pm. Additional afternoon sessions run from 12.15pm to 2.50pm on a Monday and Tuesday. The provider employs four staff, all of whom hold early years qualifications. The provider and the manager both have early years professional status, one member of staff has a qualification at level 6 and two hold qualifications at level 3.

p.4

reference number

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

p.4

reference number

procedures set out in the guidance ‘Complaints procedure: raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted’, which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted. If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.4

reference number

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.5

reference number

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our website for news, information and updates at www.ofsted.gov.uk/user.

p.5

reference number

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

p.5