Speedwell Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Adults pride themselves on the strong relationships they foster with children and families at Speedwell Nursery School. This begins as soon as children start school.

Adults warmly greet children each morning. They have a deep understanding of the children and their interests. This helps children to settle quickly and feel safe.

Parents and carers appreciate this.

The school is ambitious for all children. It has started to make improvements to the quality of education.

These ambitions are not yet fully realised. As a result, the quality of education the children receive is variable and inconsistent in the way it enables them to build knowledge well in... all areas of the early years curriculum.

Adults have high expectations of children.

Children respond with enthusiasm and keenness. Songs help children to understand and follow the daily routines such as hand washing before lunchtime and circle time. There is a buzz of excitement as children transition into 'explore' time.

Children learn how to develop resilience and independence. Adults encourage children to cut up their own fruit during snack time and put on coats and wellies to go outside. Children learn about difference and acceptance.

The school celebrates diversity. This enables children, including those who speak English as an additional language, to embrace difference.

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

The school has been through a period of turbulence.

Some staff and leaders have recently taken on new responsibilities. They are dedicated and passionate. However, the impact of their work is yet to have the results they are aiming for.

The school has identified the end points they want children to achieve across all areas of the curriculum. Despite this, the school has not identified the most important knowledge so that all children successfully progress towards these endpoints. This hinders how well children learn the curriculum.

Rightly, the school has prioritised communication and language. As soon as children start school, staff check children's language skills. The school uses this information to accurately identify any additional needs or gaps and help children learn specific vocabulary.

Carefully selected stories help children to hear sounds in words and begin to recognise rhyme. Adults model the correct pronunciation of words and phrases to support children's spoken language. During 'bucket time', children with special educational needs and/or disabilities learn how to listen for initial sounds in words.

Adults use visual cues and Makaton to support children's communication and language skills. As a result, these children build knowledge well in communication and language from their starting points. Children enjoy listening to a wide range of stories.

They learn that print has meaning and use a range of props to retell different stories to each other.

Adults work closely together to discuss children's progress and plan their next steps. However, this practice is not as effective as it needs to be in all areas of learning.

This is because the school is not clear enough about what children should know and remember. This makes it difficult for adults to check that children are building their knowledge cumulatively across all areas of learning.

During adult-led sessions, staff use their expertise to ensure children learn important vocabulary and build knowledge well.

For example, in mathematics, children learn to count objects, rehearse how to say different numbers and subitise. However, during 'explore time', children have too few opportunities to practise and build on their learning. Adults do not capitalise on these opportunities to practise and build on what children have learned before.

As a result, some children do not deepen their understanding well enough across all areas of learning.

From the start, children learn how to be kind. They know that it is important to 'wait for their friends' before they begin an activity.

Children play together, take turns and help one another. They are curious about the world around them and are keen to share their ideas.

Children develop a strong sense of belonging through the school's personal, social and emotional curriculum.

They learn about themselves, their community and the wider world. Adults support children to learn vocabulary that describes their emotions. They begin to recognise that their behaviour can impact their peers.

The 'little lights' project supports children to build their confidence, take risks and learn to cooperate. Clear routines and boundaries, as well as timely reminders from adults, reinforce the important message about being safe.

Supported by governors and the local authority, the school has strengthened its capacity to improve.

It is now stabilised, focused and determined to make the necessary improvements so that all children receive the education the school aspires to offer.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The important knowledge and ambitious vocabulary children need to learn have not been fully identified.

This means that children do not build knowledge cumulatively over time. The school needs to identify the component knowledge and ambitious vocabulary across all areas of learning so that children build a rich body of knowledge and achieve well. ? The school has not ensured that all adults make the most of every opportunity to further children's learning during independent times.

As a result, some children do not deepen their knowledge and understanding of the intended curriculum. The school needs to ensure that all adults have the necessary skills and expertise in order to support children to know and remember more. Assessment is in the early stages of development.

It is not used to check how well the children learn the curriculum. This means that any gaps in children's knowledge remain. The school needs to ensure that assessment is used to check what children have learned, identify gaps and use this to shape the future curriculum design.