Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Ellergreen Nursery School and Childcare Centre continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

There are many notable strengths at Ellergreen. One is the exceptional way in which the staff cater for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

The staff have the same high expectations of this group of children as they do for all children who attend the school. They go the extra mile to make sure that these children make progress in their learning and are ready for their primary school.

Children are very happy and settled.

They feel very safe and comfortable with staff. Some children were only on their third day ...of school when this inspection took place. It was impressive to see how well staff made them feel welcome.

They took the time to get to know the children's personalities and their likes and dislikes.

Staff are experts at managing children who show some challenging behaviour. There is no disruption to other children or learning.

Parents, carers and children confirmed that there is no bullying. Staff listen to children's concerns and worries. A typical parental comment in the Ofsted survey was that they are happy their children have 'had the opportunity to learn in such a loving and enabling environment.

The teachers are all very caring, attentive and approachable'.

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

Teachers teach the skills of early reading from the first day of the term. It is a very high priority for the school.

Every child reads every day. High-quality books and texts are everywhere. Through the characters and the stories, children learn right from wrong.

They learn about different people and how to be fair and respectful to others. Children take pride and significant care when handling the books. In story time and adult-led times, children develop a love of books.

They love learning new words. They learn about the structure of stories. They also enjoy rhymes and some complex features, such as alliteration.

Staff are ambitious that every child should be ready to learn to read by the time they start school.

Teachers immerse the children who speak English as an additional language in language. Speaking, understanding and listening are at the core of the daily routines.

Children with SEND make ground every day in their speaking and listening skills. The activities in the curriculum develop children's vocabulary well. Teachers have high expectations.

The outdoors area and the indoor classrooms are set out very well. The staff set up paired and group-talk sessions to develop children's speaking. There are small-group sessions to build up children's memory of words and of songs and rhymes.

For all children, there are some excellent chances to develop an understanding of language. Teachers make sure that children have the words to describe their ideas. For example, children put their hands inside a pumpkin and confidently described what they felt.

In personal, social and health education, there is a strong focus on children developing a respect for differences between people. Children learn about different countries and people. They taste different foods and learn about different languages from around the world.

There is an excellent long-term plan which builds children's knowledge and skills over the term and year. Teachers teach children how to manage their behaviour and emotions. Children behave well.

Those children who have emotional and behavioural needs learn very well. The staff are skilled at modelling how to behave.

The aim of the curriculum is to broaden children's horizons.

The curriculum is well planned and full of exciting opportunities to learn. I looked through photographs of children holding animals such as snakes when the zoo staff came to visit. It was clear from their faces how much the children enjoyed this experience.

It also showed me how much it had helped them to build their understanding of the world around them. The curriculum helps children to learn well across all areas of learning. Children are more than ready for their move into primary schools.

Leaders take the workload of staff seriously. Leaders are flexible. They make sure that staff have the training and the support that they need.

The headteacher is not content to rest on an outstanding judgement. She is determined to continually improve what the school does.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding is a high priority for all staff. They are vigilant in identifying any family or child that may need early help. They are well trained and knowledgeable.

To help staff, there is a suite of policies and procedures to follow. These meet the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Leaders are quick to respond when there is any concern that is linked to health and safety or to safeguarding.

They work very well with other agencies, such as the local authority, health professionals and staff at the primary schools. The school's documentation is thorough and of a high quality.

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 the school to be outstanding on 2–3 December 2015.

Also at this postcode