Walbrook Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Walbrook Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

A warm, welcoming smile greets children as they arrive at Walbrook.

It is a place where everyone works in harmony to help every child get the best possible start to early education. Individuality and uniqueness are celebrated. Parents and carers overwhelmingly agree that it is a great place for their child to learn and develop.

Children play well together. They chat excitedly about special times they have celebrated. When they find it tricky to communicate or explain their ideas, adults seamlessly model the words in the child's home language and in English.

Childr...en who have been at nursery longest support their peers to play and work together. They help them to live out the nursery's 'Fab 5' rules. When minor disagreements happen, adults help children to empathise, talk about emotions and develop strategies for next time.

Celebrations, including for His Majesty The King's coronation and theatre visits, are shared with older siblings. These are held at the school that many of these children will attend in the future. This prepares them well for transition into school.

Children learn about different communities that exist in modern society. They learn about different viewpoints, including ones that dispel stereotypes.

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

Leaders have rightly ensured that communication and language are at the heart of their curriculum.

They are ambitious for all children, regardless of starting points. They have ensured that the order of how things are learned meets children's level of development. Leaders want all children to be well prepared for their next stage in education.

Adults carefully consider how the environment will help children to rehearse and overlearn key knowledge. They ensure that all activities focus on developing children's vocabulary and social and physical development. Adults have carefully considered how children will develop increasing independence and expertise over time when using tools such as peelers, hammers and joining materials.

In one such instance, children worked together to evaluate how different adhesives would help them to stop the wheels on the bus from blowing away.

Children's love of reading is given high priority. Many of them gather wherever books are being shared.

When they notice two copies of the same book, adults encourage them to retell the story as they turn pages in unison. Children enjoy the quiet library space, where they relish selecting books to share with adults and friends. They even enjoy sharing books with the nursery pets.

On one occasion, as the children displayed the pages of the book to the rabbits, they told them about different 'fierce animals' they had found out about. Leaders have carefully considered how different books will be used to help children to extend and develop their vocabulary.

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do well because adults are quick to identify needs.

They consider the specific needs of the child. Adults skilfully target children and support learning through play. Leaders work hard to ensure that they 'bridge any gaps before they become barriers' for all children.

Leaders work well with parents. They ensure that they have the right knowledge to understand and support the diverse range of communities they serve. They invite parents to workshops, events and trips.

This empowers families to support their child at home.

Leaders ensure that children learn about what makes them different and importantly, what makes them the same. For example, children recalled how during a local Vaisakhi parade an Indian 'dhol', which is a kind of drum, was played.

During this conversation, adults helped children to make links with other communities that also use a dhol to mark different celebrations.

The governing body is in a period of transition. This will further enhance governors' ability to support and challenge leaders.

Staff enjoy working at this nursery school. They appreciate leaders' actions to adapt and streamline communication with parents. This has had a positive impact on reducing staff workload.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that routines, procedures and policies for safeguarding are understood by all. They ensure that all staff receive regular, up-to-date training in all aspects of safeguarding.

This includes additional training when any concerns arise. It enables staff to further understand their roles and responsibilities. All adults are alert to signs that may indicate that a child is at risk of harm.

They understand the local risks that children and families may face. Where appropriate, leaders seek the right support from other agencies to meet the needs of the individual and school community.

Background

When we have judged a school to be 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 March 2014.