North Islington Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

North Islington Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

It is clear for all to see how much children love coming to this school. They arrive with smiles on their faces and an eagerness to get inside to see what is in store for them.

Children build strong and positive relationships with staff. They get to know everyone well. New children settle in brilliantly.

They soon become familiar with the routines.

Children are safe and very well cared for. They behave well.

Even though bullying is extremely rare, staff sort out any minor disputes well. Children are supported to make good friends.

Leaders are ambi...tious for all children to achieve highly.

Everything that happens in the school is designed to support children's learning and development. Children are empowered to make choices about what they do and when. They enjoy spending time in the extremely well-equipped outdoor area.

Here, they have great fun riding the bikes and making potions in the mud kitchen. The large climbing equipment, tunnels and planting areas are particularly popular.

Children learn about the world around them, including by celebrating different festivals and going on visits to the local area.

They especially enjoyed going to the shops to buy the ingredients for cooking. All staff help children to become confident and independent. When the time comes, children are well prepared for the move to primary school.

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

Right from the start, staff work with parents to understand each child's strengths. Staff get to know all children very well.

Leaders keep a close check on children's development.

Staff use their expertise to identify children's needs at an early stage. They use 'focus weeks' to look even closer at specific children and meet regularly to talk about how each child is doing. These routines help staff and parents to work out the most important things for a child's next stage in their development.

Staff adapt what happens in the classrooms to meet the needs and interests of individuals and groups of children. Children enjoy visual prompts to help them to manage changes in routines. Some attend group sessions to help with their speech and language.

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, receive the help they need to do well in each area of the curriculum.

Leaders are clear about how staff should interact and support children's learning. Overall, this is working well.

Often, staff know exactly how and when to step in and enhance children's play and learning. For example, staff extended children's language as they made potions in the mud kitchen. Children used new words such as cinnamon and lavender.

At the workbench, staff asked questions which helped children to think about the aeroplanes they were making. Children were highly motivated as they created dough. They counted carefully the plops of oil and coloured paint which went into the bowl.

Staff encouraged children to use words such as 'flour' and 'mixture' accurately. However, sometimes staff do not make the most of opportunities to maximise children's learning. These inconsistencies mean that occasions are missed to promote children's communication and language.

Staff promote children's early reading, writing and number skills well. For instance, children enjoyed counting the number of swings they had made in the hammock. Others recorded the number of candles on the birthday cake.

Children show a love of stories. For example, they enthusiastically remembered the key events of 'The Gingerbread Man'. They particularly enjoyed retelling their own versions of the story.

Staff help children to manage different situations, including when things get a bit tricky. For example, the patient's bed in the role-play area can be very popular, and many children like to get involved. Staff respond to these instances effectively, for example by modelling how to take turns.

Children quickly learn to understand that their turn will come. Staff teach children the importance of healthy lifestyles. For example, children knew to wash their hands before cutting the fruit for snack time.

Staff use resources, including books and toys, which promote children's awareness of diversity.

Positive relationships exist all around the school. This makes the school a calm and purposeful place to learn.

Lunchtime is an example of how well children look after each other. Children showed such pride as they served themselves from the salad bowl.

Staff work together in a happy and cohesive team.

Staff appreciate leaders' support in relation to their workload and personal well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Children are taught how to keep themselves safe.

For example, in circle time, staff share books which help children to understand that their bodies are private. Outside, in the workshop, staff allow children to take risks using real tools such as hammers and nails. Children learn how to use resources safely and sensibly.

Staff are well trained to identify any concerns about children's welfare. Leaders ensure that any issues are dealt with promptly and well. Leaders work with the local authority to ensure that families have the help they need, particularly in order to keep children safe.

Leaders ensure that all the required suitability checks are undertaken before staff start working at the school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, staff do not make the most of opportunities to extend children's learning. Occasionally, their interactions do not promote children's language and communication development well enough.

These inconsistencies hinder children's learning. Leaders should ensure that all staff know when and how to maximise children's learning, particularly to support their communication and language development.

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 2012.

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