Batford Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Batford Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children in Batford Nursery benefit from a highly ambitious curriculum.

This includes a wide range of opportunities to apply the knowledge and skills they learn. They work with adults who know them extremely well. This means that children are supported to achieve as well as they possibly can.

Children follow carefully structured daily routines. This helps them to make the most of the wide range of learning activities available. It also supports them to demonstrate impressive levels of independence.

Children feel a strong sense of belonging. This is seen in the conf...ident way they interact with each other and with their trusted adults.

Adult guidance helps children to manage themselves very effectively.

This includes establishing a secure understanding of how to make safe behaviour choices. Children have a maturity beyond their stage of development. As a result, the learning environment is focused and safe.

Children instinctively seek support from adults, and they are assured that adults can solve any problem.

Parents describe the school as a 'magical' place for children to learn. This is reflected in the way children arrive at school happily and get immediately absorbed in their learning.

Children have an exceptional start to their school life.

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

The school is a beacon for outstanding practice. Leaders and staff have designed an ambitious and relevant curriculum.

This builds on key 'aspirations' that children need to meet over time. These underpin the meaningful learning that takes place each day. Leaders have high expectations for what children can achieve.

Curriculum plans set out the appropriate order for new knowledge to be taught. This supports children to make the right next steps. Staff are experts at leading learning for children in this age group.

During child-initiated learning, interactions instigated by adults are highly effective. This means every opportunity is used to extend and embed the new knowledge that children learn.

Staff use their secure knowledge of each child to adapt learning to their needs.

This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Adults use observations of children's play to check what they know and can do. Where more practice with a skill or activity might help, adults respond immediately.

This ensures that children build new knowledge on secure foundations. Children who need additional support are accurately identified. Their progress is tracked carefully.

Detailed plans help children with SEND access the same learning as their peers.

Children's language development is supported very effectively. Adults in the setting model the correct use of language and new vocabulary.

This inspires children to do the same. The strong oral language focus helps children to express their ideas, opinions and feelings well. Children use their language skills to socialise and negotiate as they play.

This helps them to manage any worries they have. Leaders' systematic approach to using visual communications is effective. This helps children for whom spoken English might otherwise be a barrier.

Children are exposed to the sounds, rhymes and rhythms that prepare them well to start reading.

Clear routines and consistently high expectations mean that children behave well. They know right from wrong and show sensitivity to each other's feelings.

Children form very positive attachments to the adults in school. They are cooperative and follow instructions they are given.

Leaders are committed to the wider development of children, including their sense of identity.

As such, children are exposed to a wide range of enriching experiences. These include yoga and meeting visitors who talk about the jobs they do, such as a dentist and a police officer. Children also access regular specialist forest school learning in their woodland area.

Tuition in these sessions is ambitious and precise. Children are highly absorbed in this learning. They are motivated to excel as they put their new knowledge into action.

Staff make purposeful and caring connections with parents. They ensure that parents receive clear communications about their children's learning. Parents value this information, which helps them to build on their child's learning at home.

Governors reflect the highest ambitions for children in the setting. They are knowledgeable and have robust systems in place to fulfil their responsibilities. Governors oversee curriculum developments and check routinely on the effectiveness of leaders' improvement actions taken.

Leaders are reflective and seek to further enhance the provision wherever they can.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have established a shared and well-understood culture of safeguarding.

All staff have effective training to fulfil their responsibilities. Any concerns arising are shared swiftly. Leaders maintain a robust oversight of safeguarding records.

They seek additional support, professional services and intervene early in the interests of children's safety.

Leaders ensure that all mandatory vetting checks are completed for staff working in the setting.

Children are taught to stay safe and to share any worries they might have.

They learn about keeping their bodies safe and healthy. They are empowered to say 'stop' using a hand signal if they are uncomfortable about the actions of others.

Background

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

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 outstanding in January 2013.

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