Canterbury Nursery School and Centre for Children and Families

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Canterbury Nursery School and Centre for Children and Families continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children get off to an exceptional start at this outstanding school.

They settle quickly because they are well supported by caring staff, who have high expectations of the children.

Children love coming to school and taking part in the exciting range of activities on offer. They can sell real vegetables in the role-play farm shop, play in the exciting and challenging outdoor area or become engrossed in a story while experiencing the gentle sensation of a feather.

There is a calm and productive feel to the school. Children fol...low routines carefully and are helped to become independent and confident. They can share, make friends and tidy away well.

Adults use positive praise, and this helps children to follow the high expectations of behaviour. Parents have no concerns about bullying.

The support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is a strength of the school.

These children are included in all aspects of school life. The school is an inclusion centre of excellence and its expertise shines through.

Parents have nothing but praise for the school.

They feel that their children are supported incredibly well. As one parent said, 'They go above and beyond for every individual child and family.' Parents value the many ways the school supports home learning.

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

Leaders have an ambitious vision for the curriculum and are aiming for children to become successful life-long learners. The curriculum is adapted to meet the needs of all children, including those with SEND. Adults understand how young children learn best, and they plan activities to help them remember important information.

For instance, some chicks had been hatched several months ago, and the children could still tell me about what had happened. They remembered how to handle the chicks carefully. The children were learning the names of animals and the sounds they make ready for a visit from a farm, so that they could get the most from the experience.

Early reading is effective and helps children to develop a real love of books. There are high-quality texts throughout the provision and story times are exciting and stimulating. Leaders have identified a set of books for each age group.

These have been carefully chosen for the reading skills they help children to develop.

Teaching of phonics starts right from the beginning, even with the youngest children. It is taught hand-in-hand with developing essential communication and language skills.

There is a daily lending library at the school. Parents are offered 'stay and play' sessions to support reading at home. A governor runs the 'imagination library', where all children receive free books through the post for them to keep at home.

Mathematics is taught in a practical and fun way. Children love recognising numbers and counting by clapping their hands, jumping and spinning around. Adults encourage children to count the number of steps outside and to say which vegetable is the biggest.

Leaders have ensured that staff have the correct training, so that this area of learning is taught effectively, and children's knowledge and skills are well developed.

Children have lots of opportunities to learn about the world around them. They have an impressive outdoor area.

Staff use this area well to teach children how things grow and change. Children use the school's forest area to explore and challenge themselves, as well as 'Canterbury Henge', where they can climb on large rocks and wooden bridges. The children love riding in the school's mini-bus to visit the city's museum, library and city hall.

Leaders and governors know their school and community extremely well. Staff plan activities for the children to celebrate the diversity in the local community. Everyone is welcome to the many events throughout the year, and they are very well attended.

Children behave extremely well. Adults teach children how to cooperate, share and take turns.

Leaders work hard to make sure all staff feel part of a team.

Staff say that they feel valued by the school and that their workloads are managed well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school and everyone works hard to make sure children are kept safe.

Staff receive a wide range of training, and this is on-going throughout the year. Staff are vigilant and raise concerns quickly.

The relevant policies and procedures are in place and checks are done on new members of staff.

Leaders work closely with external agencies to ensure that children and families get the support they need. Children's attendance is monitored carefully, and unexplained absences are followed up quickly.

Background

When we have judged a maintained nursery 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 a section 8 inspection of a good or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding on 18–19 May 2016.