Maytree Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of outstanding as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school's next inspection will be a graded inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy coming to this nursery school. Staff warmly welcome everyone at the beginning of each day. The school provides a safe and purposeful learning environment.

Children explore the exciting learning opportunities with eagerness. They enjoy investigating in the garden area, where they hunt for minibeasts and ca...refully study them with a computer microscope. Children of all ages work and play alongside each other in a supportive and cooperative way.

The school sets high expectations. Children rise to meet these expectations; they learn self-control and grow in independence. For example, at lunchtime, children sit together calmly.

They help to collect place name cards and serve themselves water.

Children enjoy a story-rich environment. Each day, staff read and discuss a range of books with children.

Frequent repetition of stories, familiar rhymes and songs develops children's language and imaginative play well. Staff encourage children to extend their learning by acting out these stories. For example, children got involved in building castles and retelling stories involving dragons when learning about St George.

Parents and carers are included well in the educational journey of their child. The school provides them with lots of information and resources, such as story packs, to use at home. Parents are happy with the strong start to education that their children receive.

Children achieve well. They are prepared for the next stages of learning when they move to primary school.

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

The school has created an ambitious curriculum.

It supports children to develop their learning over the time they spend here. Overall, the curriculum provides staff with a clear framework for developing children's knowledge and understanding progressively. Staff's knowledge of how children learn enables them to support children effectively.

Nevertheless, some parts of the school's curriculum thinking lack clarity. Sometimes, the small steps needed to support children's learning are not identified or understood with sufficient precision. This reduces how successfully some teaching activities and resources promote children's understanding.

Communication and language development are high priorities in the school. Staff recognise that children join the school with a wealth of different experiences. They work well with families to support children to develop their spoken and written language.

Staff model new vocabulary clearly for children, giving them many opportunities to practise and use these words themselves. The school identifies children who may not be keeping up with their learning. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

They receive the support that they need. As a result, children with SEND progress well through the curriculum.

Children are eager to take part in activities.

Staff make sure that there are opportunities for children to share and to take the lead at different times of the day. For example, children call their friends in from outdoor play for fruit and milk time and tidy up the environment afterwards. Children cooperate and share during activities extremely well.

For example, they take turns on the trampoline and carry blocks for each other in the wheelbarrows. Children sustain good levels of concentration overall. However, there are times when children lose focus, and adults do not step in quickly to reignite children's motivation and interest in their learning.

Children have a wide range of opportunities to experience the wider world. To support this, staff make sure that there is a variety of well-chosen resources in the classroom and the garden area. For example, as part of children's learning about minibeasts and the lifecycle of frogs, children use magnifying glasses to carefully look at the tiny creatures, such as frog spawn.

Staff make good use of books and other resources to broaden children's understanding and vocabulary. Children build a sense of wonder at the natural world through their interactions with it.

The school considers carefully how to teach children about a wide range of cultural events.

Children learn about festivals, such as Christmas and Eid, and are taught about key events such as Black History Month. Children also learn about their local community and visit nearby places, such as the local fruit and vegetable market.

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

They recognise the school's hard work to be flexible and meet their children's needs. The school works closely with parents, offering workshops and coffee mornings, where they can talk together and learn about ways that they can support their children.

Staff feel supported with their workload and well-being.

They know that should they have any concerns, the school listens to them and appropriate actions are put in place.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, a lack of precision in curriculum thinking means that teaching activities and resources are not as helpful as they could be in supporting children's learning.

This can affect how well children build on their existing knowledge and deepen their understanding. The school should make refinements to its curriculum thinking to support staff to select learning activities and resources that support children to develop knowledge consistently well. ? In a few instances, the teaching and wider support provided do not respond fully to children who are struggling to engage with the planned activities and resources.

This can lead to children losing focus and disengaging from learning. The school should ensure that staff are alert to these situations and are well equipped with purposeful approaches to ensure that children make the most of the learning opportunities provided.

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 January 2015.