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St Stephen's Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.
What is it like to attend this school?
Children have a superb start to their education at this vibrant and inclusive nursery.
All staff are aspirational for what children can and do achieve. The curriculum and an abundance of meaningful activities are planned and delivered with precision.
Every aspect of the provision is designed to provide children with rich learning opportunities. The school's decisions about the curriculum are deliberate and well considered, and this enables children to blossom during their time here.
Children are very well looked after.
Staff are kind and caring. They ...know children and their families exceptionally well. The close partnership between school and home, centred on trusting relationships, is highly valued by parents and carers.
The school makes sure that families are fully included in their children's education. This means that children feel safe, are happy and ready to learn.
Children benefit from well-structured and familiar routines.
Staff use every opportunity to expertly model the positive behaviours they want to see from children. They skilfully guide children to make the right choices. Children rise to staff's high expectations.
They show respect towards each other and the equipment that they use. They learn to be kind and considerate of one another. Children develop positive attitudes to learning.
They are highly engaged in their play and activities. For example, they squealed with delight when digging for worms in the allotment area, counting how many they have found and learning how to take care of nature.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
The school's curriculum is extremely ambitious and designed to ensure school readiness for all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
Learning is focused sharply on ensuring that children secure the basic skills needed to be ready for their next stage of education. Leaders and staff are reflective about how well children learn. They make sure that the curriculum is responsive to the needs of the community the school serves.
For example, 'Physical Fridays' were introduced following the pandemic to promote a healthy lifestyle. Leaders promote and closely monitor children's attendance. The exciting curriculum means that children want to attend every day and they begin to form good habits for primary school.
Meticulous curriculum thinking has mapped out the core knowledge and skills that children need to learn and remember, from aged two upwards. For example, leaders have identified the building blocks required for children to master important physical skills, such as mark making and using scissors. Children experience relevant and focused activities that enable them to become proficient in these skills by the time they leave the nursery.
Children's progress is closely monitored so that gaps in learning are quickly identified and addressed. Through the school's 'quad p' initiative, any child that is at risk of falling behind receives additional support, which is targeted to their specific needs. Children with SEND are very well identified and supported.
They are fully included in all aspects of nursery life. Activities are adapted for them so that they learn alongside their peers and experience the same curriculum.
The development of children's communication and language is an absolute priority.
Leaders have created a 'core book' approach that threads through all aspects of the provision. Children experience and enjoy high-quality texts. They are immersed in stories and language, and the school selects books and rhymes intentionally to promote understanding.
Staff are highly skilled. They understand how young children learn and how their language develops. Every activity is used by staff to model the use of language, with staff skilfully developing back and forth conversations with children over time.
This makes a very strong contribution to children's speaking skills. Throughout the day, children are also surrounded by stories and books. Staff expertly model and engage children in role play.
Other areas of the curriculum, such as mathematics, also use stories as a purposeful stimulus for learning. Children visit the local library and borrow books from the nursery to read at home.
The school adopts a holistic approach to children's wider development.
This work focuses on supporting children to live within and make sense of the world around them. Close working relationships with the on-site children's centre mean that the whole family are supported and given opportunities which broaden children's interests and experiences. Educational visits are family events where children experience local places such as the park, as well as places further away, such as Mudchute farm.
Children learn about and celebrate a variety of different festivals. They enjoy joining the primary pupils to perform to families at Christmas and take part in other events such as sports day.
Staff are incredibly proud to be part of the 'St Stephen's family' and they feel well supported.
The governing body knows the school well and is an effective critical friend.
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
Background
When we have judged outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.
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 outstanding in May 2014.
