Longshaw Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Longshaw Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children settle quickly and are happy at this welcoming nursery school. The school is ambitious for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Building children's confidence and self-esteem is an important aspect of the school's ambition for its children.

Nurturing staff provide children with a range of learning opportunities that help to realise this. Many children, including those with SEND, achieve well.

Children, including those in the two-year-old provision, understand the routines of the school day.

For example, they readily... brush their teeth before home time. Staff help children to learn good manners. Children say 'thank you' and 'please' when sharing out food during snack times.

Staff promote positive behaviour consistently from the moment children join the school. Children learn the importance of sharing and cooperating with one another. This helps them to learn with little disruption to their activities.

A range of visitors help children to learn about people who help us in society, for instance the fire brigade and the local dentist. The school prioritises specific activities that it wants children to take part in. For example, carving a pumpkin and making a birthday cake.

These experiences extend children's wider development.

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

The school has developed a broad and balanced curriculum. This curriculum is aspirational and well designed to meet the needs and interests of children, including those with SEND.

The school has set out what children should learn in the two-year-old provision and how this is built upon when they progress to the Nursery Year. Furthermore, the school has carefully considered how the nursery curriculum gives children the knowledge and skills that they need to be ready for the Reception Year.

Across many areas of the curriculum, staff are well trained in educating young children, including two-year-olds.

In most areas of learning, staff use assessment information well to identify any gaps in key knowledge that children have. In the main, staff design and deliver learning activities that build on what children already know. That said, in a small number of activities, staff are not clear about the important knowledge that they should teach children.

In these activities, children do not deepen their knowledge as well as they could.

The school has effective systems in place to identify and assess the additional needs of children with SEND. Carefully considered support and resources ensure that children with SEND access the same curriculum as their classmates.

This ensures that these children are well prepared for the next stage of education.

The development of children's communication and language skills flows through many areas of learning. Staff explore new words with children through different activities and books.

Children enjoy joining in with songs and nursery rhymes. Those at an early stage of developing their spoken language are supported well to communicate using gestures and simple words.

Staff help children to understand and communicate how they feel.

This helps staff to provide extra support for those children who need it. The school's clear rules and expectations help to create calm classrooms. Children are keen to help out at tidy-up time and enjoy the praise that they receive from staff for being kind to others.

Children benefit from a range of wider development opportunities. For example, they learn about the important festivals in different communities. Staff teach children to be independent.

For instance, children learning to put their coat on by themselves and to wash their hands before eating food. Children are encouraged to eat healthily. At snack time, they eat fruit and vegetables.

The governing body has a secure understanding of the quality of education provided by the school. It offers effective support and challenge. Staff are proud to work at the school.

They appreciate the training and support that they receive, which helps them give children a positive start to their education.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of activities, staff are not clear about the important knowledge that they should teach children.

In these activities, children do not learn as well as they could. The school should ensure that staff design and deliver learning activities which help children build on what they already know.

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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in February 2019.

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