Aspiring Foundations Federated Nursery Schools - Ditton Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Aspiring Foundations Federated Nursery Schools - Ditton Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are happy and feel safe at this school.

They learn quickly that their feelings, ideas and comments matter to leaders and staff. Teachers and teaching assistants use their expert knowledge to respond well to the individual needs, development and interests of children.

Children achieve well.

This is because the school has high expectations for their education. The school focuses successfully on helping children to become confident, skilful lear...ners who are keen to talk and investigate. Children talk with relish about superheroes, zoo animals, pets and the lives of fictional characters in the traditional tales that they learn.

They enjoy learning and they want to know even more. Children learn new knowledge, including important words, in different areas of the curriculum.

Children behave very well and are deeply absorbed in their play and activities.

They learn from the staff to be kind and to play calmly. Children also learn how to cooperate and be thoughtful. Beginning in the class for two-year-olds, staff help children to become independent.

For example, children learn to have a go at putting on their own coat.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

During a period of much change at the school, leaders at all levels have demonstrated resilience, tenacity and a clear, shared vision to provide high-quality nursery education. They have used their expert understanding of educational research, child development and the areas of learning to inform the continued development of the school.

The school make certain that staff are not drawn away into unnecessary tasks and paperwork. This means that staff have enough time to teach the children.

For the most part, the school's curriculum is well thought out.

This means that staff mostly understand the essential knowledge that children need to know, as well as when and how to teach it. Children, including those with SEND, achieve well in the different areas of learning. However, the school has not thought well enough about how to connect what children learn in the class for two-year-olds, with what they learn in the class for three- and four-year-olds.

This means that staff build some of children's learning less securely than they could.

Staff engage children in many opportunities to talk. In addition, the celebration of books and reading is everywhere at this school.

Staff and children can often be found engrossed in sharing fiction and non-fiction books together in small huddles. At other times, staff read and even act out well-chosen stories and rhymes with the children in larger groups. Children keenly select books to explore for themselves.

They gain important knowledge about books and how to communicate their own ideas through talk. Children understand the joy that words and the sharing of books can bring.

The school ensures that staff make effective use of assessment strategies to check children's grasp of curriculum content.

Staff use assessment information well to improve their teaching, including when deciding what children need to learn next. Staff organise learning activities so that children know and remember key information.

The school collaborates with parents, carers and wider professionals effectively to identify the needs of children with SEND.

This approach helps the school to provide children with the support they need at the right time. Children with SEND progress well through the curriculum and in their wider development.

The school acts quickly to find out why some children may be absent from school.

The school and governors check information about children's attendance over time carefully. The school explains to parents about the benefits of children's full attendance. Children's attendance is improving well.

Children's behaviour is very positive. Starting in the class for two-year-olds, staff gently and supportively help children to manage their feelings, as well as their responses towards others. Children learn to express their intentions with kind words.

The school provides children with a range of meaningful activities to extend their wider development. For example, it introduces children to the celebrations of different families and communities. Children learn to respect other people.

The governing body supports and challenges the work of the school effectively, such as on finance, SEND, safeguarding and the curriculum.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some of the school's curriculum does not link children's learning in the class for two-year-olds with that in the class for three- and four-year-olds.

This means that the school does not build children's learning of some key knowledge as securely as it could. The school should ensure that all its curriculum builds in a logical order so that children learn well.

Background

When we have judged good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2014.