Rickmansworth Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

The provision is outstanding

Children clearly feel safe, happy and secure in this high-quality, child-oriented nursery school. They confidently leave their parents at the door and excitedly enter the nursery in anticipation of their day.

Children keenly explore the purposefully organised learning opportunities. They use paint and pencils to create highly detailed pictures. Children describe their masterpieces using extensive vocabulary and show their wonderful imaginations.

Children have a mature understanding of how to offer peer support. They are quick to give advice and support to their friends when they see them struggling with a task. ...Children offer suggestions and show others how they succeeded.

They joyfully celebrate each other's efforts and successes.Top priority is given to children's health and well-being. All children spend considerable amounts of the day outdoors.

Staff encourage children to use their arms in big movements. Children expertly use large blocks for building and make marks in large trays of sand. The highly knowledgeable staff know that developing strong arm muscles leads to more effective skills in using pencils for writing in future education.

Children work together exceptionally well. For example, they play at being a team of builders, assigning themselves roles and responsibilities. They talk about the importance of having a person in charge to help them to work as a team.

Children's play is meaningful and they become deeply engrossed in it. Their behaviour is exemplary.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

The passionate and ambitious manager and her dedicated team have a strong and clear vision for the nursery.

The curriculum is tailored to provide what each group of children needs most to catch up on any learning lost due to restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning opportunities are meticulously planned around children's needs and interests. Consequently, children are prepared extremely well for their next stage in learning and, when the time comes, for school.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, dedicated staff supported children and their families exceptionally well. They visited children's homes to distribute learning resources and gave parents ideas of how children's learning could be extended. Recordings of stories were shared with children and regular messages were sent to parents to check on the well-being of families.

This supportive contact helped to maintain children's secure attachments with staff. Consequently, children quickly adjusted to being back at the nursery and their excellent progress is achieved.Children's highly motivated key persons have a deep knowledge and understanding of their individual needs.

They use precise and accurate assessments of children's learning to encourage rapid progress. Any delays in children's development are identified very early and parents are involved right from the start. As a result of staff's deep understanding of how children learn, all children, including those who speak English as an additional language, make excellent progress.

Children's speaking and listening skills are extensive. They hold mature, in-depth conversations with adults and each other. Staff create a culture where children know that they can freely express their thoughts and ideas, which many readily do.

Children have a high understanding of values and easily recognise characters in stories who are not kind. They explain clearly why certain behaviours are not acceptable and offer well-reasoned explanations as to why kindness and respect are important.Partnerships with parents are very well established and are valued by all.

Parents report how exceptionally well informed they are about their children's learning and provide very positive comments about their children's experiences at the nursery. Staff listen to parents, value their input and see them as partners. They give parents constant support and ideas of how to complement their children's learning at home.

Members of the well-established staff team benefit from regular constructive feedback about their practice and receive encouragement and coaching that further inspire them. Staff say that they feel highly valued and supported in their roles by the provider and other colleagues. The provider has effective, robust recruitment and selection procedures in place.

They identify staff who are suitable and share their vision for high-quality care and education.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.All those involved in the setting demonstrate extensive knowledge of how to safeguard children.

They are very clear that the safety of children is of paramount importance. Safeguarding policies and procedures are very well understood. As a result, staff are highly confident in what they must do should they have any concerns about children's well-being or the conduct of their colleagues.

Staff demonstrate a clear understanding of when children may be influenced by radical or extremist views. They receive thorough training and support to ensure they understand all child protection procedures. The open communication between staff and the provider promotes effective information sharing as staff feel listened to and respected.

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