Hirst Wood Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Hirst Wood Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school? '

We are a community' is the school's motto for autumn term. The sense of community in the school is palpable. Adults treat children with compassion and care.

Each child is known and their needs understood by staff. Leaders focus intently on building positive relationships between staff and children. These relationships create an environment of emotional and physical safety for children.

This sense of team and partnership extends to relationships with parents. Leaders and staff foster positive and collaborative relationships. Children are taught to follow clear routines.

...>These routines help children to develop positive learning behaviours. For example, children understand and demonstrate how to be 'good listeners' and to participate in 'good sitting' during their group time.

Leaders have high expectations about what children can achieve.

Staff quickly identify children who may need more help with their learning. Staff are alert and identify if a child may have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children in the specially resourced provision for children with SEND are given frequent and meaningful opportunities to learn and play alongside their friends.

Children are well prepared for the next stage of their education. Staff across the school combine their passion for children's achievement with their knowledge of how to support them.

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

Leaders have prioritised children's communication and language.

Staff are alert to opportunities to develop children's understanding of language. They regularly read to children. Staff model expression and enjoyment of books.

Some of these books have been deliberately chosen to help children understand their own emotions. In classrooms, there is a focus on presenting books in a way that makes them enticing and appealing to children. Children with the most complex SEND are well supported.

What they learn is closely matched to their additional needs. Leaders have created an ambitious curriculum for children. Children are well prepared for the next stage of their education.

Children are taught to use the outdoor space to take managed risks. They are given opportunities to problem solve in groups and individually. Staff are clear about children's starting points and how to move learning forward.

They have a shared understanding of the overall aims of the curriculum. In some areas of learning, the small steps of learning that children should experience on their journey through the early years are not clearly defined.

Leaders understand the importance of providing a wide range of experiences for children.

Staff link experiences to what children have been taught. Opportunities for enrichment are carefully planned. For example, a mobile farm visits the school to provide children with the opportunity to remember what they had learned about the countryside.

Children have opportunities to meet people from different professions. This gives them an understanding of the community and society in which they live. Staff give children the chance to appreciate being outside.

Children know the importance of fresh air and being physically active. Children develop a sense of their own identity and are taught to understand what makes them unique. Children learn to understand important personal routines like handwashing.

Staff regularly give specific praise to children for taking actions that show consideration for others. Staff identify opportunities to teach children how to speak to each other with kindness and consideration. Staff work closely with parents and carers to understand what experiences children have had before arriving at nursery and what experiences they may not have had.

This informs leaders' thinking about wider opportunities for all children.

Staff feel well supported. They feel listened to and say that their voice matters.

Leaders give staff specific training to develop their skills and understanding of their role. Leaders give careful consideration to the workload and well-being of staff. Governors understand their roles.

They offer challenge and support to school leaders. Leaders at all levels have a shared vision for the school. Some recent work has been undertaken on developing further leadership capacity in school.

This is having an impact.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some parts of the curriculum, the small steps of knowledge, experiences and vocabulary children are taught are not clearly defined.

As a result, some opportunities are missed to give a highly coherent learning journey for children through some parts of the curriculum. The school should ensure that there is greater clarity on the knowledge and vocabulary children will be taught in those few areas of the curriculum where this is less clear.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

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

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2014.