East Prescot Road Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

East Prescot Road Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a fabulous nursery school.

Children are extremely happy. They develop high levels of independence and many skills that they need for their lives now and in the future. The school fulfils its values and its aim of giving children the 'Roots to grow and the wings to fly'.

I was sitting by the fireside next to a clock on the mantlepiece in an outstanding home corner. Children selected the equipment they wanted and showed great concentration on their activities. Their excited laughter was infectious as they had a go, played and explored.

Children beha...ve very well. They feel very safe. They tell adults if they feel something is wrong.

The staff deal extremely well in the rare times when children are upset, hurt or if someone may have been unkind. The overwhelming majority of parents said that there is no bullying.

All staff are extremely ambitious for the development of the children.

An example of this is the quality of vocabulary that adults use with children but also expect children to use. Children with special needs and/or disabilities (SEND) thrive. They increase their language skills very well.

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

Reading is at the heart of the curriculum and is a high priority for the school. The aim behind the whole curriculum is to give children the language and vocabulary that they need for the future. Books, word labels and stories are everywhere.

Staff use story time and book corners very well to share a wide range of books with the children. This includes stories, magazines and poems. Staff have clear reasons for selecting the books they read to the children.

The book may have a girl as the star character, for example, to inspire the girls. It may have some tricky vocabulary which the adults want children to start using. Staff's reading of books captivates the children who sit agog and listen and join in.

Disadvantaged children and those with SEND develop a very good understanding of nursery rhymes. They can repeat the rhymes with confidence and expression.

Speech and language are also high priority for the school.

Leaders are deeply knowledgeable about national research in this area. Leaders and staff use an excellent system to identify each child's language skills. They follow this up with activities that build children's knowledge and skills in a logical order.

Staff use high-quality resources that match the needs of pupils. The children with SEND achieve very well, and use words, descriptions and sentences very well.

Staff provide children with an outstanding range of activities to develop their physical skills.

For example, children wash clothes outside and peg them onto washing lines. They climb on and under features in the outdoor area. They manoeuvre jugs to catch water before watching the water slide down a pipe.

They are very lucky to have a 'creative studio' in which to learn. They use brushes, chalks and a range of instruments to create fabulous artwork, supported skilfully by staff. Disadvantaged children and those with SEND achieve very well.

Leaders have made very good use of a link with the Tate Liverpool art gallery to inspire the children. They have also made very good use of trips and visits to the farm and the zoo. This develops children's cultural understanding and knowledge of the world.

Staff and children celebrate several cultural events, including the annual visit of the dragon to highlight the start of the Chinese New Year.

Leadership of the school is exceptional. Leaders do not take children off roll to boost their results.

They look after the well-being of staff and make their workload manageable. They have improved the school since the previous inspection. The local authority uses leaders and the school as examples of excellence.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a very strong culture of safeguarding. Staff are very well trained and updated about local and national developments in protecting children from harm.

Safeguarding is extremely well planned in the curriculum each half term. For instance, children learn to take risks safely and to cycle and saw wood safely. They also learn to be safe when on trips to the zoo and to the farm.

Staff identify quickly when they think a child, or a family may need help. They make very good use of other agencies such as primary and secondary schools, transport, health professionals and staff at the children's centres.

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 school 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 East Prescot Road Nursery School to be outstanding on 5–6 November 2014.