Great Coates Village Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Children at Great Coates Village Nursery School form very strong relationships with the adults who care for them. They come to school happy and ready to learn. Children who have recently started at the nursery settle well.

They are supported by staff who very quickly identify their individual needs.

Children behave well. This is modelled by staff, who immerse them in positive praise.

Older children are effective role models for their younger friends. They relish this opportunity to look after and help them. Adults use gentle reminders to correct children's behaviour when needed.

Children quickly learn how to manage their own feelings and behaviour in... an age-appropriate way.

Effective day-to-day routines are in place. This gives children a strong sense of security and allows them to show their growing independence.

In the morning, children take off their coats, change their own reading books and settle quickly to a chosen activity. At lunchtime, children eat socially together. They tidy away their things without being reminded.

Children enjoy the responsibility of being the daily 'weather watcher' or being chosen to take home the nursery bear.

Children at the nursery show a sense of awe and wonder through a range of carefully planned opportunities. For example, when observing chicks hatching out of eggs, children talk excitedly about what is happening and what they can see.

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

The school has developed a curriculum with clear end points. These are based upon what leaders want children to know, and be able to do, across the seven areas of learning. Leaders are ambitious that every child is ready to start school by the time they leave.

For each of these end points, the school has broken down the knowledge that children will need to achieve them. This provides leaders with a system to be able to check any gaps in children's learning. The curriculum is designed to repeat important knowledge and opportunities to take account of the fact that children attend on different days of the week and start at different times during the year.

The school has worked with the Reception class teachers from local schools to ensure that the nursery curriculum is ambitious and appropriate so that children are ready to start school.

Children engage in a good mix of adult- and child-led activities. Activities in the provision are designed to meet the needs of children and support any gaps in their learning.

For example, staff encourage children to use some of the one-handed tools and equipment when using the play dough to support their developing fine motor control. However, staff do not consistently use all opportunities to support children to develop the skills that they need to learn next and move their learning on. Staff have limited opportunities to access the necessary training to support them with this.

Recent monitoring from leaders has not addressed this in a timely way.

The school recognises the importance of developing children's communication and language. Group times are used to model and promote good listening.

Staff are aware of how to model and extend children's language. For example, staff repeat back clearly a sentence for children to copy or extend a conversation by asking further questions. Children use their words to make their needs known.

Some children confidently engage in conversations with their peers, while others show they are at the very early stages of negotiating through play. For example, children collaborate well when deciding whose turn it is to use a bicycle.

Children develop a love of reading.

Learning opportunities are built around key texts which have been chosen to engage and excite the children. There are regular opportunities for sharing stories and for children to look at books by themselves. Story times focus on the repetition of the same key texts.

Children become familiar with the language in these books and are confident to join in. They are active participants at story time. Within the provision, children use props such as puppets to retell these stories to an audience.

Opportunities for children to develop early number knowledge forms part of the daily routines. For example, children are encouraged to count and compare how many children are present and how many are part of each key worker group. Activities within the provision are designed to enhance specific number knowledge.

Children take part in counting, matching and subitising numbers to five and beyond. Songs are chosen to support this learning. For example, number rhymes are used daily to allow children to practise counting regularly.

Staff know the children well. Children who may need additional help are identified quickly. The school liaises closely with parents and carers to support them.

Children identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are supported to access more-targeted learning opportunities. The school works with external agencies to make sure they are providing what the children need.

Children learn how to keep themselves safe.

Through daily opportunities staff remind children how to take care of and look after themselves, for example when using scissors or tools. The school also provides more-structured opportunities to reinforce safety messages through planned visits from the fire service and police service.

Children are provided with opportunities to learn and work together.

They confidently explore the natural environment during their forest school sessions. They take part in cooking on an open fire, while in a safe environment. Children also take part in weekly structured physical education sessions.

This allows children to practise listening to, and following, instructions as well as developing fundamental physical skills. Children demonstrate high levels of engagement in these additional opportunities.

The school makes strong links with the wider community.

This provides children with further opportunities to become involved in, and host, local events. The school invites the community to attend events such as the pumpkin festival and Easter celebrations. Visitors from the local church provide children with the chance to be involved in community planting projects.

New members have been appointed to the governing body since the last inspection. The school has established a governing body with a wide and appropriate range of skills and knowledge. They are aware of the school's strengths and continued areas to improve.

Governors understand their role in ensuring leaders and staff are supported with workload and their well-being.

Parents are overwhelmingly positive about this village nursery school. They value not only its place at the heart of the community, but the support and care it offers to the children and families who attend.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Recent changes to leadership systems are not fully established. Leaders do not consistently identify where improvements can be made in a timely enough manner.

Sometimes, this limits how quickly children move forward with their learning. The school should further refine these systems so that outcomes from monitoring are swiftly addressed. This will ensure that the ambitious intent of the curriculum is effectively implemented.

• The school does not ensure that staff have the necessary and up to date training they need. Staff do not develop children's learning through purposeful interactions in a consistent way. The school should ensure that staff receive the necessary training to help them to use every opportunity to support children and build on their previous learning.