College Town Montessori Nursery School & Preschool

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make meaningful progress from their starting points. Since the last inspection, leaders have reviewed systems to identify children with any barriers to learning and swiftly identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, leading to robust assessment processes. Children with SEND benefit from targeted support that enables them to access learning and make progress alongside their peers. Staff adapt care routines and use strategies such as signing, visual aids, and consistent reassurance to help children understand routines and manage transitions. Staff are proactive in seeking support from other professionals and in applying for additional funding to support children's development, implementing early interventions such as regular small-group language sessions and targeted one-to-one support. Staff have also attended training focused on supporting children's communication and language development.

Babies have opportunities to develop their physical skills through climbing and crawling outdoors. However, the outdoor curriculum for babies is less well developed for promoting communication and language, meaning teaching outdoors is not always as purposeful as indoors for supporting babies’ language development. Leaders recognise that the outside curriculum for babies is heavily focused on their physical development and does not yet consistently offer babies the opportunities to develop their communication and language skills.

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make meaningful progress from their starting points, particularly in communication and language. Younger children begin to combine simple words, showing development in early communication, while older children confidently use language to express their needs and ideas across activities.