Ilminster Avenue Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The acting headteacher has ensured that the school has stabilised after many changes in staffing. Together with his senior team, he has tackled many of the recommendations from last year's inspection successfully. However, the effectiveness of middle leaders needs more time to become fully embedded.

The Nursery is at the heart of the community and serves its children and families well. Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the staff and the school's effectiveness. Senior leaders have an accurate view of the Nursery and know what needs to be done to move the school forward.

The acting headteacher has ensured that the curricu...lum is particularly well planned to help the children develop their communication and language skills and to support their emotional, social and personal development. Leaders make effective use of additional funds to provide specialist support for those children who are disadvantaged. These children make good progress.

Staff provide a high standard of care and welfare for children. Safeguarding procedures are well known, understood and implemented consistently. Children are taught effectively how to keep themselves safe.

Children's behaviour is good. They work and play happily together and develop confidence as they learn. Relationships between practitioners and children are warm and nurturing.

Early years practitioners know well how young children learn. Consequently, children make good progress. Practitioners make effective use of observations to evaluate how well children are developing.

On occasions, assessment information to identify what children need to do next to progress in their learning, particularly in writing, is not used to best effect. The school places a high priority on developing children's early reading skills. Children listen attentively to stories, enjoy sharing books and consequently make strong progress in developing a wide vocabulary and a love of books.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) receive highly effective support. As a result, they make significant progress against their specific targets. Leaders and governors are ambitious for the Nursery and have high expectations for its future.

However, although very clear about the strengths of the Nursery, governors are less secure about the areas of the school's work that need further development.

Information about this school

The Nursery is an average-sized Nursery. There has been considerable change since the last full inspection in July 2014.

Further changes in staffing have taken place since the school's inspection in January 2018. The Nursery was linked with a children's centre on the same site, but the children's centre has now closed. The school has retained its name as a 'specialist' Nursery for pupils with SEND and currently has one specialist class supporting children with complex and profound learning and medical needs.

The Nursery offers both full-time and part-time places for three- to four-year-olds and also provision for two-year-olds. Following consultation with parents, it was decided that all children with 15 hours entitlement should attend for two-and-a-half days consecutively. The majority of pupils are of White British origin.

Approximately one sixth of the children at the start of the Nursery Year are entitled to the early years pupil premium. The number of children with English as an additional language is average. The proportion of pupils who receive support for SEND is above average.

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