Little Steps Montessori Nursery

School

Unique reference number (URN): EY458183 Address: The Ken Hogan Pavilion, Berrydown Sports Ground, London Road, Overton, BASINGSTOKE, Hampshire, RG25 3BT Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 14/01/2013 Registers: EYR, CCR Registered person: Sampson, Brenda Anne

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children benefit from high-quality interactions and make excellent progress across all areas of the early years foundation stage. They focus and engage in purposeful play, where they are absorbed in a rich and engaging environment.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children develop friendships and are quick to engage and invite others into their play. They build and develop their personal, social and emotional development as they join and celebrate their friends' achievements. They show great pride in their learning and enjoy sharing new learning with those caring for them.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children learn independence and self-care skills as they prepare and serve snacks, ensuring that they wash their hands and clean the table where they will eat. Children are resilient and supported well to keep trying to successfully complete a task. For example, they learn about shape and size as they use seeds and pulses pouring through funnels. They estimate when discovering how full the container will need to be to fill the funnel.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff set clear expectations and boundaries on children's behaviour and attitudes to learning. Staff positively role model relationships and consideration for the environment and each other. This helps children to develop a strong sense of self and respect for each other and the adults who care for them. Children know and understand the routines of the day and their time at nursery.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff promote establishing healthy routines with parents and carers. They emphasise the positive impact that regular attendance has on children's overall development. They work with parents to establish consistent routines for attendance and recognise any barriers. They adapt and develop routines to meet the needs of children and their families to ensure that they can access their educational entitlement. Children behave incredibly well. They are kind and considerate of each other and staff. There are very strong bonds between key persons and children. This builds on and supports children's personal, social and emotional development.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff ensure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, have the same opportunities to engage and participate in their learning and development. They ensure that they approach the needs of each child individually to ensure that they have the support and encouragement to engage and focus on their learning and development.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders and staff pride themselves on the relationships they foster with children and their parents and carers and families. They learn about the children attending and their wider family context. This supports children's welfare and wellbeing. The strong relationships that staff model with parents show children they are safe and cared for. Parents are assured their children receive the care and education to support them to make excellent progress.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders and staff promote the importance of routines and attendance to highlight the positive impact on children's wellbeing as they establish routines and develop a strong sense of belonging. Staff support children and parents to meet their needs and recognise any challenges children face in accessing the provision. They adapt and arrange the activities and resources to support all children to access and engage in their learning and development.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children develop their skills and understanding of their bodies and what they can do, and they explore and develop their skills through many activities. They learn to take manageable risks and how to keep themselves safe in play.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children know and understand the routines of the day, and this supports a healthy lifestyle around mealtimes, exercise and rest. Children enjoy a quiet time to rest after physical activity or mealtimes before they engage again in other activities. Staff model positive interactions with each other and children. They help children to identify and name emotions. They provide support and encouragement for children to learn to express and manage their emotions.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders and staff have developed an ambitious curriculum that supports all children to make sustained progress. They have an inclusive approach that recognises the needs and interests of each child. Staff tailor their approach to ensure that children have access to the wide range of learning experiences and activities available. Children engage and focus on their learning and play. This supports children to secure and master their current skills and work towards their next steps in learning. Children develop their gross and fine motor skills. They develop their hand muscles as they use one-handed tools and equipment while creating art work.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff observe and assess children's learning frequently to monitor their progress and prepare children for their next stage in education. Children are confident and independent in their play and learning. They build positive relationships with their peers and the staff caring for them.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff consistently provide high-quality teaching and engagement that supports children to focus and participate in their learning and development. Leaders are skilled and knowledgeable in their curriculum approach. They provide support and coaching to empower staff to know what it is they want children to learn and how to provide the teaching children need to make progress. Children have many opportunities to explore and develop their mathematical skills. They particularly enjoy following and continuing patterns. Children predict successfully the next step in the pattern. Additionally, they explore size as they create and play with a nativity scene, placing the people in size order.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders and staff have a consistent approach in developing children's communication and language skills. They model language, offering new vocabulary to support children's interests and skills. Children enjoy a range of activities that promote communication and language. They particularly enjoy songs and sharing favourite stories.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff build positive relationships with parents and carers and children. This enables them to assess and evaluate children's learning and development to identify early and gaps in learning. They use this information to create targeted support plans alongside parents and external agencies. This ensures that children receive the support and teaching they need to make consistent progress.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Partnerships with professionals are proven to be very effective in ensuring continuity of care for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders use funding to provide adaptations or training of staff to meet children's specific needs.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff have effective processes in place for observation and assessment that are reviewed and shared with parents, other agencies and staff. This helps them to identify any gaps in learning, particularly for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. They plan provision to meet the individual needs of children. This ensures that staff's teaching approach is effective and positively impacts on children. They prioritise inclusion to develop and provide an environment that celebrates and recognises children's individual needs and abilities.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff know the children well. They work with external agencies to ensure that children receive appropriate support at the earliest opportunity. They use funding effectively to adapt provision to remove barriers and enable children to access their educational entitlement.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders have a clear focus on and understanding of their strengths and priorities for improvement. Regular team meetings to evaluate and assess the provision, teaching and children's progress help identify areas for improvement. Leaders support staff with training and coaching through the modelling of practice. They hold discussions and meet with staff to discuss children's progress, next steps and any areas of professional development staff feel they need further support in. Leaders source any learning required by staff to support their practice development, knowledge and skills. Staff feel valued and appreciated and that they can request any additional training or information they have a particular interest in developing or learning. This benefits their professional development and has an excellent impact on their teaching and children's learning. For example, staff have a particular interest in extending their knowledge of

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

autism, so leaders have sought this training for staff. They have provided opportunities for staff and leaders to share their knowledge and learning with the team. This makes a positive impact on how staff develop their provision to support children's learning and development.

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Compulsory Childcare Register requirements

This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.

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Register

When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children arrive happy and ready to learn at the nursery. They develop a strong sense of belonging as they self-register their attendance and look to see who their friends are at nursery. Children are warmly welcomed by staff, who greet them with happy smiles and ask about their morning. Children are confident and show they feel safe and settled as they promptly engage in play with their friends. They talk about how they are feeling and what they are looking forward to doing today. Staff listen attentively to children and support them in engaging and making choices in their play.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Staff know children well. They use observation and assessment to recognise effectively what children already know and can do. Staff provide the teaching and learning experiences to support these next steps in children's learning. This particularly supports those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities as this approach ensures that staff identify early any gaps in learning. Staff adapt teaching and the provision to support all children to have access to a wide range of interesting activities and learning experiences. Children make consistent progress in their learning and development. Staff encourage and support children to develop their independence skills and ability to lead their learning and play.

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Inspector:

Lisa Robinson Positive relationships are nurtured between staff and children. These support a sense of security and belonging. This helps children to be confident to explore and develop their curiosity as they engage independently in their chosen activities. Staff create an inclusive environment where every child's needs are recognised and teaching meets these needs.

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care, and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and parents and carers during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection 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.

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Address:

The Ken Hogan Pavilion, Berrydown Sports Ground London Road, Overton BASINGSTOKE Hampshire RG25 3BT

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:00 - 15:00

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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 .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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