Rothesay Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Rothesay Nursery School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Children play and learn together happily in this warm and fully inclusive place. Children are well cared for because adults know each one of them well. Children are very happy and safe.

Children behave extremely well. Children learn to behave well from kind and caring adults. They quickly learn the school's four rules and follow them diligently.

Effective support is provided if children need further guidance to help them meet the high behaviour expectations.

Children learn to look after their classrooms and outside areas with great care. The school environment is a very c...alm place.

Children have many opportunities to experience learning outside of their classroom, such as growing potatoes in the allotment and building dens in the forest area.

Children learn to be kind to one another. When children do fall out, adults are quick to step in.

They help children to sort out problems and help them to put things right when things have gone wrong.

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

Leaders ensure that all children's needs are extremely well met. A significant number of children have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Adults who work closely with these children are highly experienced. They are skilled at adapting activities to ensure children with SEND learn well. Leaders have designed their curriculum well.

They are clear on what children need to know and be able to do by the end of each term.

Leaders prioritise children's language development through the effective use of the language groups. Children experience rich opportunities to enjoy books during these sessions.

They are immersed in stories, rhymes and songs. Children have many opportunities to learn new vocabulary and to practise using their newly learned words in different situations. They also hear adults read one of the seven 'core books' leaders have selected.

Children explore these books in detail during their time in school. They join in with adults as they read the story, learn to retell the story and role-play events. These stories and activities help children to develop a love of books.

Adults check carefully how well children learn the curriculum. They use this information to design activities that help children build on what they know and can do, especially in mathematics. Adults model the use of mathematical language well so that children learn to explain their thinking and concentrate well during independent learning times.

As a result, children learn well.

Leaders have not fully identified the precise knowledge and vocabulary children need to learn across all areas of learning. This sometimes results in adults having different expectations of what children can achieve.

This means that, for some children, they do not learn as well as they could in these very few areas.

Children enjoy learning about the world beyond the school gate, such as visiting the local zoo and experiencing travelling on a coach. Children often develop their social skills by exploring the forest area in the school grounds, for example working together to build a tent.

Children learn about the differences between themselves and others. They celebrate the many different languages spoken in school and the different food children like to eat, and hear stories from different cultures. Children are well supported in their social and emotional development.

They are well prepared for their move to primary school.

Leaders involve parents in their children's education. Parents receive valuable information on how to support their child, such as tips on how to share stories with them at home.

Staff work effectively as a team. Leaders provide regular training and support to help staff to continue to develop and improve their practice. Leaders consider staff's workload when they introduce changes or new initiatives.

Governors have an accurate view of the strengths of the school and the areas that need further improvement. They provide effective support for leaders, but do not shy away from challenging leaders when there is a need. Governors visit the school to check for themselves how well children are learning and achieving.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Keeping children safe is at the forefront of everything adults do. Adults know that 'it could happen here' and are alert to any signs that a child might be at risk of harm.

If a child needs help, leaders do not hesitate to contact outside agencies to provide this help. Leaders follow up quickly if the help children need is not forthcoming.

Governors regularly check to make sure children are safe.

They recently used the findings from the local authority's safeguarding audit to improve procedures even further. Children are safe in school.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a very few areas of learning, the curriculum has not been designed with the same precision as the rest of the curriculum.

Some adults are not as clear in their expectations of the knowledge and vocabulary children need to learn. Leaders should ensure the curriculum design outlines precisely the knowledge and vocabulary children need to learn, so children achieve even better across all areas of learning.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2016.