Lilycroft Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Lilycroft Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children's behaviour at this school is excellent.

Expectations are high. Throughout the day, adults reinforce how children should behave. For example, adults use gentle reminders to make sure children take turns.

Children learn to raise their own expectations of how everybody should behave. Children move confidently around this exciting environment, quickly becoming independent. They receive encouragement from adults to do things for themselves.

For example, the two-year-old children pour their own drinks from the jug available.

Staff focus on fostering ...strong communication and language skills. Interactions between adults and children are excellent.

Adults act as good role models. They promote key vocabulary and encourage children to use more complex language and sentences.

School leaders promote the important role that parents play in their child's early development.

They plan events and give parents information that helps them become even more involved in their child's early education. Parents speak very positively of the care and education their children receive.

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

School leaders have carefully considered what, and then how, children will learn.

Children learn in an interesting and busy environment. Every day, children's learning builds upon previous learning. Children are constantly expanding their academic and emotional knowledge.

Every adult helps plan this exciting curriculum. They know these children exceptionally well. Staff meet the needs of the two-year-old children extremely well.

When organising the curriculum, teachers take account of children's interests.

Senior leaders know that children need to become good communicators and have a rich and broad vocabulary. Older children have focused early phonics sessions where they concentrate on developing speaking and listening skills.

Children loved playing a game with pictures where they were able to identify the 'ap' sound at the end of words. Younger children are supported well. For example, adults identify words that pupils have mispronounced and model how to say them accurately and how to use words in sentences.

The environment enables all children, including two-year-olds, to learn new vocabulary. For example, when children are making things with nails, screws and hammers in the woodwork area, they learn words to help them describe what they are doing. This activity also highlights how children are allowed to take measured risks and make good choices.

The curriculum is enhanced further with the project work that some of the older children take part in. In small groups, children discuss the artists' work that they have seen in local galleries. This leads to exciting work, such as when children created their own ice fish and painted matchstick people.

Children really enjoyed speaking about their creations. School leaders promote '50 Things to do Before You're 5' curriculum in school and to parents to broaden children's learning experiences.

Adults encourage children to think about their behaviour and how it affects others.

Children make simple choices such as deciding if they want water or milk. They are also persuaded to consider other choices they may make and how it would affect other children in the room. Each child has a key person who takes a particular interest in their welfare.

Consequently, children are happy and play well together. They cooperate when sharing equipment.

To ensure children settle in quickly to the new environment, adults visit families to meet them before they start school.

Events such as 'Better Together' meetings support families in knowing what their child is doing at school and what can be done at home, as do children's record of achievements. Leaders also make sure that children with more specific needs are well supported through careful planning.

Governors are keen to continually review the quality of the care and education children receive.

They know the school well and support and challenge school leaders consistently. Reviews by the local authority confirm the considerable strengths of the executive headteacher to lead this school well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

A strong safeguarding culture is evident throughout the school. All adults have received appropriate training to ensure that they know what to look for and how to report any concerns they may have about a child. Staff know the safeguarding procedures.

Senior leaders know that safeguarding is part of everyday life, as seen during the inspection. Senior leaders have ensured that appropriate recruitment checks have been made on staff and visitors to the school.

Background

When we have judged a 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 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 outstanding in February 2013.

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