Bradley Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Children are happy and content at this friendly nursery school. Leaders have effective systems in place to make sure that staff get to know the children and their families very well.

This helps children to feel safe and well looked after.

Leaders and staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and achievement. Children are eager to learn.

Staff have designed all areas of the nursery to inspire and encourage children to play and discover. For example, two-year-old children were keen to develop their large-muscle and coordination skills while balancing along beams outdoors. Overall, children learn well.

Children behave in a polite and well-ma...nnered way. They learn the difference between right and wrong, and know that their actions can have an impact on other people. Leaders and staff are quick to resolve any incidents of unkindness or bullying.

Children enjoy some exciting activities and events. They have benefited from a recent visit from a farm to the nursery, and have had opportunities to watch chicks hatching from eggs, which excited them.

Children learn about their local community and their cultural heritage.

For example, they have learned about Eid and have also visited the local mosque. Children learn to make a positive contribution to society by fundraising for charities and by litter picking in the local community.

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

Leaders have placed a strong emphasis on developing the early years curriculum, following the previous Ofsted inspection.

They have made sure that the design of the curriculum is broad, knowledge-rich and presented in a logical order. In the main, the curriculum successfully enables children to build on their prior learning and, as a result, they achieve well overall.

Leaders have equipped staff with the knowledge that they need to understand how young children learn and develop.

For example, staff work in small teams, closely guided in each classroom by a lead teacher. This support enables adults to select appropriate activities to deliver the curriculum. Staff carefully identify children's interests and their next steps in learning.

However, in a small number of areas of learning, leaders have not fully embedded their recent changes to the curriculum. As a result, some staff do not deliver new knowledge and skills in these areas of learning consistently well. Therefore, some children do not learn all that they could.

Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to learn and develop well. They are careful in how they identify any additional needs that children may have. Staff do not label children as having SEND without secure and compelling evidence.

Leaders work in close partnership with external professionals, and parents and carers, to support children with SEND to access all aspects of their learning. Typically, children with SEND achieve well.

Communication and language, and early reading, are central to all that staff do.

The day is sprinkled with opportunities for children to listen to and join in with stories, songs and rhymes. Staff read in ways that capture children's interest and they encourage children to talk about a wide range of books. Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, successfully build their vocabulary.

Staff encourage children to write their names and to listen to the sounds within spoken words.

Leaders have created a warm and welcoming atmosphere which helps children to settle quickly. During small-group activities, children try their best to listen and to join in.

They play well alongside their friends and learn to share and take turns. Children from the earliest age, including in the classroom for two-year-olds, gradually increase their confidence in embarking on new situations and in meeting new people.

Staff gently encourage children to develop their independence and self-care skills, for example when putting on their own coats and boots.

Leaders are also considering ways that they can further enhance children's personal development. For example, they have established classroom rules with the children. Leaders are also making links with a school from a different area.

Leaders have identified the wider talents and skills that they want children to develop. They are providing children with greater opportunities to demonstrate these skills through well-planned and age-appropriate enrichment activities. Children enjoy participating in these sessions.

Governors are dedicated to their roles and understand their statutory duties. They are supportive of leaders and of staff, including of their well-being. Governors have a secure understanding of the strengths and areas for further development in relation to the quality of education that the school provides to children.

Leaders have taken effective steps to reduce staff workload. This helps staff to have high levels of morale. Staff commented positively about the support that they receive from leaders and from their colleagues.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure that staff access up-to-date training in child protection and that they know how to keep children safe. Staff understand the signs which may indicate that children are at risk of potential harm.

They understand the steps to follow should they have any concerns about children's welfare or a colleague's conduct.Leaders have robust links with external agencies to ensure that timely support is provided to children and their families when it is needed.

Children learn how to keep themselves healthy and safe.

For example, they develop an awareness of the dangers that strangers may present and they learn how to use cutlery and other tools safely.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In one or two areas of learning, leaders have not made sure that their recent changes to the curriculum are fully embedded. Leaders have not ensured that staff implement the revised curriculum in these areas consistently well.

This means that children do not learn all that they could across the breadth of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that staff implement the curriculum as intended. This is so that children achieve consistently well across all areas of learning.