Madeley Nursery School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Louise Lowings Headteacher Madeley Nursery School Bridle Road Madeley Telford Shropshire TF7 5ET

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 13 February 2018, 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 December 2012.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

This school continues to be outstanding.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

Children thrive and do extremely well, as a result of your highly effective leadership. Learning at your school is a magical and fun experience, which children relish. You and your staff are uncompromising in your efforts to ensure that every child achieves their very best. Staff communicate their high expectations exceptionally well to parents and carers, and everyone works as a team.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

You are an inspiring leader who puts the school community at the heart of what you do. You know your school extremely well. Your knowledge, enthusiasm and passion ensure that the school continues to improve in all it does. You have unwavering support from the staff, who appreciate your willingness to build their expertise. This has helped you improve still further the already strong teaching so that children make substantial progress across all areas of learning.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

Staff are reflective. They take time every day to review the impact of their work with children and to plan the next steps needed to meet children’s needs. There is a strong ethos of team working, and staff are eager to receive and act on feedback from you and from their colleagues. Staff feel supported and encouraged to improve; morale is high.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

Leaders’ work to engage with families is a strength of the school. You recognise the value of a mutually supportive partnership between home and school. Parents are tremendously positive about the school and 100% of those who responded to the online inspection questionnaire would recommend it to others. The comment of one parent exemplifies that of others: ‘I couldn’t be happier with this Nursery; my child is excited to go every morning. My child feels safe and loved here. The staff build great relationships with you and the children and keep you informed and involved. The learning that takes place is second to none: the way numeracy and literacy are creatively interwoven into the children’s learning and they are allowed to investigate their environment without the restraints of being told they can’t do something. We wouldn’t send our children anywhere else’.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

The areas for improvement from the previous inspection report have been tackled successfully. Activities are well planned and designed to ensure the children have many opportunities to deepen their thinking and develop their problem-solving skills. Staff take every opportunity to interact with pupils to develop their language and vocabulary. Professional development for staff has had a good impact on the use of higher-order questioning skills. Staff intervene at appropriate times (but not in an intrusive way) to ask children questions and deepen their thinking. Children are encouraged to pose their own problems, and staff then challenge them to find the answers. Children’s ‘Celebration’ books capture the strong progress they make in all areas of learning and especially in number, writing and drawing. Robust systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating children’s progress. Research work has enabled staff to identify smaller steps in teaching

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

writing. Staff share stages in developing writing skills and next steps with parents.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

You have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Key policies meet statutory requirements and are understood by members of staff. All staff receive training and frequent updates, with a recent focus on the ‘Prevent’ duty, female genital mutilation and child sexual exploitation. Staff are well trained and skilled in supporting children’s emotional well-being, which means that children learn to find ways to express their wishes and feelings.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

You know your children and their families very well and you are especially vigilant with families that are potentially vulnerable. All staff are quick to share concerns with those responsible for safeguarding. You are relentless in securing the services that vulnerable children and families may need. Parents are confident that that you do everything possible to ensure that their children are safe, happy and healthy.

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Short inspection of Madeley Nursery School

Governors are very aware of their role in promoting safeguarding. They make the necessary checks on leaders’ work to ensure that children are kept safe. Appropriate checks are made on employees and visitors. There is a code of conduct in place for staff. The school gives good attention to a range of risk assessments to keep pupils and staff safe.

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Inspection findings

 The school’s values and ethos have been carefully identified. They include: being part of a strong community, constantly seeking ways to improve, high levels of well-being and high achievement. These values and the belief that all children have the potential and capacity to learn and develop with others and in the world is at the heart of the curriculum.  The learning environment is wonderful. High-quality resources are organised so that children learn to be independent. They calmly reach for any equipment they need because they know exactly where it is. Broad smiles appear on children’s faces whenever they experience success. Children grow in confidence and self-esteem. They appreciate differences in each other and develop their feelings about the world. Indoors and outside is a wonderland of activities waiting to entice children to use their curiosity to learn.  Well-planned activities invite children to have a go, so that learning is fun and exciting.

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Inspection findings

For example, during this inspection children invented their own theatre performance and story narrative based on ‘the lady who swallowed a fly’. Through this they developed skills of listening, speaking, taking turns and acknowledging each other as a performer or audience. A group outdoors in the ‘wild area’ made ladders for the woodlice to climb up the trees. This activity led to the children posing questions and coming up with their own solutions to help the insects. A group of children in the ‘studio’ used media and materials to retell the story of the Chinese New Year and made videos of each other. Such activities allow children to develop their creativity, learn from trial and error, and delightedly make gains in their social, personal and physical skills.  From their different starting points, all groups of children make outstanding progress in their learning and are very well prepared for their transition into Reception. A

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Inspection findings

proportion of children have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities and a few speak English as an additional language. They too make rapid gains. However, the needs of an increasing number of children who have multi-sensory and communication needs are not always fully met.  Governors choose to make regular visits to the school and are closely involved in all developments. Their incisive evaluation of the work of the school has led to a celebration of success and well-chosen priorities to make provision even better. Governors show a high level of commitment to their roles and to maintaining the school’s happy ethos. They keep a careful watch over the progress children make. They take particular interest in checking on the use of funding to ensure that disadvantaged children achieve well and on the quality of support staff provide for children who have SEN and/or disabilities. Governors also keep a close check on finances.

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Inspection findings

 You have forged excellent international partnerships with nursery schools across Europe. You also work with local schools through a teaching alliance. Staff and governors work jointly on research projects. These arrangements have led to constant improvement in practice. Lines of research stem from regular evaluation of the impact of the provision and the needs of the children. This has led to exciting developments, for example the stimulating learning environment, the resources in use and the ways in which the children lead their learning.  All children learn to behave exceptionally well, work independently, share resources and play fairly. Staff act as excellent role models for the children in how to behave and get along with one another. They become as excited in teaching as children do in learning because they all love what they do.

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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

 the needs are fully met of the increasing number of children who have sensory and communication needs.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Telford and Wrekin. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

The focus of the inspection was to check whether the outstanding standards identified at the previous inspection had been maintained and to find out how well children were progressing. I observed adult-supported learning jointly with you. I observed children’s behaviour around the school throughout the day.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, five governors, eight parents and the school improvement adviser. I considered the views of 94 parents posted on Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. I also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire. I considered a range of evidence, including the school improvement plan and leaders’ self-evaluation.

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