South Normanton Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Children love to learn at South Normanton Nursery School.

They get started on their 'learning adventure' as soon as they arrive. They learn how to play alongside each other. Adults teach children to consider how their friends might be feeling.

Children learn to 'use their words' to sort out small disagreements by themselves.

The two simple rules, 'good learning' and 'be safe', are understood by all. Children recognise that these help them to live well together.

Adults teach children to look after the space around them, inside and out. For example, children choose to clear up sand which has fallen out of the sandpit. They join in tidy-up time with rea...l purpose to keep the nursery safe.

The school wants all children to be well prepared for Reception. Staff share high expectations of what children will be able to do independently. Much work has gone on recently to improve the curriculum.

This work is not yet complete.

Parents and carers have high praise for the nursery. They say that children's special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are spotted straight away.

Communication is a strength. Parents say that any anxious feelings soon disappear and describe the setting as 'the perfect start' to their child's education.

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

The school wants all children to be able to communicate clearly.

Children learn how to listen to adults and to each other. Story and song times are popular. For example, children enjoy repeating Mr Bear's groans and the sounds that he could hear.

Adults carefully select the vocabulary that they want children to remember. Often, signing is used to help children focus on the important word. Adults support children as they begin to express themselves in longer sentences.

Explanations are used well. Some questions that adults use extend children's thinking, for example through enabling them to wonder why the soil is wet. However, sometimes children do not get the chance to explain their ideas fully, or to practise the rich vocabulary that they have been learning.

Children with SEND get the right support. Adults quickly spot if they need help to catch up with their peers. Activities in the 'rainbow room' help children to use their senses to understand the world around them.

This learning seamlessly carries on as children with SEND play alongside their peers. They make strong progress from their starting points.

In mathematics, children practise important knowledge as they play.

They identify the number of spots on a page without having to count them. Children begin to create, tell and record their own stories. They know that they need characters, a setting, a problem to solve and an ending.

Where the small steps of learning are not as clearly defined in the curriculum, the activities and support that children get are not matched with the same degree of precision.

Children experience moments of wonder in the nursery setting. Spellbound, they watch the patterns that water droplets make as they travel down an umbrella.

They know how to challenge themselves to ride quickly on their bikes and how to slow themselves to avoid accidents. Children visit local shops and the allotments to find out more about the world that they live in. They learn about the different jobs that they may choose to do when they grow up.

The school values its partnership with parents. Increasing numbers of parents join in workshops that the school provides and learn alongside their child. There are continued efforts to help all parents understand how attending nursery regularly helps their child be ready for school.

Some of these approaches have been introduced recently and are beginning to make a difference.

Governors and school leaders work together to make sure that staff feel well supported. Staff feel that their workload is appropriate and changes to assessment have meant that they get more time to work with the children.

They describe a strong team ethos where precise actions make things better for children.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Children do not always get the chance to recall and use the words or signs that they are learning when they are talking with adults.

Therefore, opportunities for children to express themselves are occasionally lost. The school should make sure that adults' expectations of children's expressive language are consistently high and that all children are given the chance to practise using rich vocabulary and important signs. ? The work on the new curriculum sequence is not yet complete.

In a few areas of learning, the component elements are not yet as clearly identified as they are in others. The school should complete these refinements to ensure that all adults know precisely what children should learn next. It should ensure that all staff have the expertise to make checks on how well the children are gaining this knowledge.

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