Wyndham Park Nursery School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs Laura Cook Headteacher Wyndham Park Nursery School Hill Avenue Grantham Lincolnshire NG31 9BB

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 16 December 2015, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be outstanding in September 2012.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

This school continues to be outstanding.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You are an inspirational early years leader. Your vision for excellence for early years children is clear for all to see in the quality of provision at Wyndham Park Nursery School. The senior teacher ably supports you and together you continue to drive improvement and inspire the staff team. The team demonstrates the same high expectations of what very young children can achieve given the best possible teaching and resources. Outcomes for all groups of children are high across all seven early learning goals.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

You have created a stimulating, accessible and secure learning environment for young children both indoors and outside. Children have the same positive experience of learning wherever they are in school. Children feel safe to learn because the adults support them very well emotionally. High aspirations permeate the setting and children come to school every day excited about what they are going to learn. You have a deep understanding of the skills and attributes young children need to develop in order for them to be well prepared for the next stage in their education. Parents agree, and their appreciation of their children’s progress was expressed both in Ofsted’s Parent View responses and in conversations with parents during the inspection.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Planning for learning closely reflects the characteristics of effective early years teaching. Adults question children in a way that ensures children have to think deeply about their learning. The tasks children undertake are designed to help them explore, and investigate problems and solve them. For example, during the preparations for the Christmas party, children were expected to prepare the food. One young child found opening a bag of fruit very challenging. She focused on her task for a long time but was unsuccessful. The teacher did not reach out to open the bag. Instead, she asked the child to solve the problem by finding another means to complete the task. The child thought carefully for a moment and went off to get herself a pair of scissors. She then successfully opened the bag and was very proud of herself! This high expectation was also seen, for example, in the way children managed their own coats and bags, and in how they took responsibility for

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

recording when they had eaten their snack.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

You and your team know each individual child very well. You carefully track progress in learning across all the early goals. As a result, all children receive precise teaching matched to their needs. Different groups of children, including the most able and those in the ‘special need resource base’, make good and often outstanding progress. This is because adults know the small steps each child needs to take in order to reach their learning goals. Children’s social skills are well developed. During the inspection, many children spoke at length with me and proudly shared their learning. Children play well together and create games that fascinate and engage them. Adults are vigilant and capitalise on children’s interest to plan further learning opportunities.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

The governing body is fully committed to checking the quality of education at the school regularly and thoroughly. However, its work is not closely linked to actions in the school improvement plan and, as a result, it is not as effective as it needs to be in challenging senior leaders to improve their work.

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Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

You place the highest priority on keeping children safe. You carefully plan to make sure that safeguarding training for adults covers a wide variety of issues, such as preventing extremism and radicalisation, and wider issues faced by society, such as female genital mutilation and forced marriage. You track the absence of children carefully to ensure that they are safe. You also track those children who have left school to make sure they go to safe destinations. You work closely with external agencies to ensure that families receive the help they need should problems arise. The safeguarding and behaviour policies take account of the age of your children and, as a result, are fit for purpose. Parents expressed confidence in the school’s ability to follow up any concerns they have.

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Inspection findings

 Leaders have a precise understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for further development. The school’s self-evaluation is accurate and, consequently, actions for improvement are appropriate and focus on the correct actions to raise standards for children.  In 2015, well over half of the children gained skills and understanding above those typical for their age across all seven early learning goals. There were no significant differences in the standards reached by boys or girls, children who speak English as an additional language or those supported by the early years pupil premium (this is additional funding used to support children eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after).  The headteacher is innovative and forward thinking. Plans to provide high- quality school-based early years teacher training are in place. The headteacher also supports a number of local primary schools to develop their

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Inspection findings

provision for early years education.  The staff team is passionate about early years education. Staff follow the headteacher’s lead and plan innovative and exciting opportunities for learning both in school and in the wider environment. There are many opportunities for very young children to experience the awe and wonder of their world, such as playing rugby, visiting a local place of worship or seeing the fire engine arrive at their school.  The learning environment fully supports high-quality teaching. Both the indoor and outdoor areas provide children with challenging activities that support them to develop their muscle strength so that they are able to sit well, hold pencils and paintbrushes appropriately, and coordinate their movements well. Activities also challenge their thinking skills and allow them to develop their imaginations and creativity. Small, cosy areas allow children the space to learn and socialise at their own pace so that they feel confident

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Inspection findings

to explore the world around them.  Adults know the children very well. Careful tracking of each child’s development, good-quality questioning and well-developed resources support children’s excellent progress in learning.  Many parents are clearly delighted by how the school shares their children’s development through an online communication system. Parents keep a close track of their children, share their own views of their children’s progress and, as a result, work in close partnership with the school. The school offers parents support for further learning at home with specially designed leaflets offering advice on creative activities as well as activities for developing number, reading and writing skills.  Strong links with external agencies mean that children’s needs are quickly identified and additional support is found. The ‘special needs leader’s’ work with six special schools in Grantham and the surrounding area means that

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Inspection findings

the children in the resource base have access to a wide variety of support and expertise. The school uses this very well to ensure that children’s needs are met.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 governing body systems for checking the quality of leaders’ work are refined so that they link more closely with the school improvement plan. I am copying this letter to the Chair of the Governing Body, the Regional Schools Commissioner and the Director of Children’s Services for Lincolnshire County Council. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

During the inspection, I met with you, your senior teacher and your special needs leader. I met with the Chair of the Governing Body and two other governors. We toured the school and observed teaching in both classrooms. I observed children’s behaviour both indoors and outside. I met a number of parents informally at the end of the morning session. I considered the 42 responses posted on Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. I considered a range of school documentation including assessment information, the school improvement plan, and the school self- evaluation document. I took into account the 16 replies to the staff questionnaire. I checked the single central register and other safeguarding documentation.

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