Wyndham Park Nursery School

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

p.1

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

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 16 May 2019, 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 second short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be outstanding in September 2012.

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

This school continues to be outstanding.

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

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

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Since the last inspection, leadership has taken a decision to change the way it manages its staff. Teaching assistants are now the key workers who are well supported by students and trainees. Teachers now deliver bespoke learning opportunities to specific groups of children and support the development of teaching assistants. Teachers also lead in the development of the learning activities to ensure that they continue to meet the children’s needs.

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

At the previous inspection, the school was asked to review the work of the governing body to ensure that checks are better matched to the school improvement plan. Governors’ checking is now tightly matched to the school improvement plan. In addition, governors have taken this improvement focus as an opportunity to develop a handbook. The handbook details very clearly the expectations for each governor at the school. It includes a checking timetable and example activities and questions that help to support understanding. This helps to ensure rigorous checking and robust challenge of the work of the school.

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Information shared by the school shows that, over time, children make outstanding progress from their different starting points. A significant proportion of children make more than typical progress across all areas of learning. This results in children that are exceptionally well prepared for their next stage of education. The school benefits from a vast range of exciting learning opportunities which are very well focused on children’s interests. Children showed awe and wonder as they drew pictures of the chicks that had recently hatched in the setting. The adult skilfully designed the activity so the chicks wandered safely around the group as the children drew. Children learned to respect and care for animals while developing key vocabulary and understanding.

p.1

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Opportunities for children to problem solve and follow their interests also support their development very well. Following a story about space, some children decided to create a jetpack. They independently went to the ‘create-area’ and selected a range of equipment to use. Children showed perseverance as they cut rods to the correct length and then used tape to create their jetpacks. A passing-by child then helped a child stick the jet pack to his back without any adult prompting; he simply wanted to help. This is typical of the strong relationships that children benefit from.

p.2

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Every child in the school is engaged in their own unique learning journey. Children are very happy working on their own, for example when exploring books and practising their mark making, developing their own skills at their own level. Similarly, they work together very well, cooperating with one another. This was seen as they were making pathways from large wooden blocks for their friends to travel along.

p.2

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) continue to make outstanding progress. This is a result of well-focused target setting which involves parents, carers and external agencies working together to identify each child’s next step. Clearly identified actions are then shared with staff to ensure that they are clear on what they need to do to support the child during their learning. Actions are regularly reviewed to ensure that they have been successful.

p.2

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

As a result of excellent relationships, engaging and skilfully designed learning activities and a strong focus on all areas of learning, children’s behaviour and attitudes are outstanding. Children show kindness and consideration for one another. They work together very well. They are confident, self-assured learners who are keen to learn and engage in the activities that are on offer.

p.2

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. The safety and well-being of the children at the school are a high priority. Weekly meetings encourage staff to consider children’s well-being and pastoral needs alongside their academic development. A well-understood process for raising concerns ensures that children are safe. All adults that come into the school have the appropriate checks. Paperwork shared shows that the school is tenacious in following up areas of concern to ensure that children are safe. The school’s work in keeping children safe is supported through strong relationships with the parents and carers.

p.2

Short inspection of Wyndham Park Nursery School

Adults are well trained in safeguarding procedures, with a comprehensive induction process, annual training, frequent school updates and termly online learning modules.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Staffing in the school is well considered and effectively managed. Teaching assistants are responsible for their ‘families’ of children. Well-established routines ensure that the children happily leave their parents in the morning to meet their ‘family’ friends. The patient and caring adults ensure that all children in their ‘family’ are ready for learning. Kindness, support and teamwork permeate the entire setting and contribute significantly to its success for both children and adults.  The newly implemented weekly staff meetings provide diagnostic opportunities to share children’s learning across the team. The meetings ensure that all staff are aware of the skills they need to develop in their ‘family’ of children to ensure that they continue to make progress. The meetings also provide staff with opportunities to share good practice and ensure that they are confident in meeting the agreed expectations. This contributes to the highly personalised

p.3

Inspection findings

learning in which the children flourish.  The termly meetings about children’s progress across all areas of learning enable staff to consider the learning needs of every child in the setting. Teamwork ensures that ideas are shared. Agreed actions are then reviewed at a later meeting to ensure that they have made the difference.  Parents are exceptionally positive about the work of the school. They describe the school as a ‘wonderful’ and ‘excellent’ place that their children really enjoy coming to each day. A typical comment was: ‘He has started learning letter sounds and numbers, baking, meeting tadpoles and chicks and growing seeds – so many memorable experiences.’ Parents value the images shared on the school’s online recording and reporting system which gives them an insight into their child’s learning. Alongside these images, parents value the well-considered challenges that staff provide. They say these challenges help them to support the

p.3

Inspection findings

development of their child at home through relevant and meaningful conversations.  Children move freely around the setting, choosing to engage in activities that capture their interest or imagination. Some adults are very skilful at taking the learning to the children and weaving in problem-solving activities. This was exemplified when it was discovered that the outside manual water pump was broken. Rather than abandon the activity, children were asked what they should do. They agreed to take the pump apart to see if they could fix it. Children found screwdrivers and were encouraged to investigate the problem. However, this spontaneity and learning link is not consistently effective across the setting.  At times, some adults missed learning opportunities as they were not as clear as they might be on what learning should be expected from a given activity. This limited the quality of the interactions at times.

p.3

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 during free-flow learning, all adults are clear about the learning potential from the activities on offer and skilfully craft questions and challenges to support children’s next steps.

p.4

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 Lincolnshire. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

I met with you, teachers, parents, children and teaching assistants. I shared a telephone conversation with the chair of governors. We shared a learning visit to see both inside and outside activities. We observed children’s learning, both in small groups and during ‘free-flow’. I looked at a range of documents, including the school improvement document, documents regarding safeguarding, records related to the development of learning and teaching, and minutes from governor meetings. I took account of the 35 responses from parents who completed the online survey and the views of five families that I spoke to at the beginning of the day.

p.4