New Mills Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: New Mills Nursery School Sett Close, New Mills, High Peak, Derbyshire SK22 4AQ

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Outcome

New Mills Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children get off to a good start at this happy little school. Staff are very kind and caring. They show children daily routines, such as lining up sensibly or sitting at a table to write, paint or make models. This means that children feel secure and safe from when they begin. We saw children attending their very first day at New Mills Nursery. They settled immediately and were very keen to join in.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The headteacher leads the school well. She expects all staff to work together so that every child receives the best possible education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff plan interesting and challenging things for children to do. For example, they show children how to dig for worms in the garden. They share exciting books with the children. As a result, children focus on what they are doing and are keen to join in to show what they can do.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are also very well behaved. They cooperate, take turns and share resources. They are kind. They listen to staff and follow instructions. Everyone stays calm and learning runs smoothly.

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

Leaders ensure that staff design the curriculum well. By the time they leave, children have the knowledge and skills they need and are eager to learn more.

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

Staff consider the needs of every child. They welcome those with special educational needs and/or disabilities into the school. They adapt their approach and support these children well so that they can join in and achieve well too.

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

Staff help children to catch up with skills they need, such as language and 17 September 2019

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communication. They are very good role models. They speak clearly and listen respectfully. As a result, children understand and feel valued. Staff plan a range of activities that develop children’s language. They use new words and phrases many times, such as ‘stumble’, counting out loud and repeating the days of the week. This helps children remember and begin to use them too. Teachers are also skilled at checking that children understand things. This means that children make fewer mistakes as they learn.

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Visits to museums and farms bring learning to life. Staff also introduce children to many exciting stories, songs and poems. They enjoy learning about Little Red Riding Hood and they share classic books such as ‘Owl Babies’. Staff plan lessons in order. As they grow, children learn new words such as ‘author’. They label their pictures by writing words such as ‘shark’ and ‘cloud’.

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Staff help children to develop good relationships and to understand how people feel. Consequently, children are kind to each other. They show children how to paint, make models and imagine they are ‘snacking in space’ with aliens. Children behave well at the school. They try their best. They listen, pay attention, answer questions well and are keen to show what they know. They do not disrupt activities or switch off.

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Staff teach children good manners, such as saying ‘excuse me’ as they walk past someone. They show children how to learn to zip up their own coat or pour their own milk at snack time.

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However, the quality of education is not exceptional. For children who stay all day, staff sometimes do not adjust activities enough in the afternoon so that children learn lots more.

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Staff say they are proud to work at the school. They work closely together and confirm that leaders do a good job. They say that leaders consider their work-life balance. They do not expect them to write excessive records of what children can do. Leaders keep close checks to make sure that staff are teaching children well.

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Parents and carers strongly agree that the school is a good one and would recommend it to others.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained in safeguarding. They are vigilant in noting the often-small signs that a child could be being harmed. They discuss children’s well-being each day so that any important information is shared. Staff fully understand their responsibilities to report any concerns they have.

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Safeguarding

Leaders keep detailed records. They make good judgements about what action to take. They do not hesitate to contact external agencies, such as social care, if needed.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Staff do not ensure that the afternoon curriculum, for those children who attend the school for longer than 15 hours, consistently builds sufficiently well on what they have learned in the morning. This means that, on occasion, these children do not make as much progress as they could do. Leaders need to help staff plan precisely for these children so that staff take every opportunity to extend children’s knowledge and skills.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged New Mills Nursery School to be good on 5 December 2012.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use Ofsted Parent View information when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 17 September 2019

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School details

Inspection number 10110119 Type of school Nursery

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 25 February 2016

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Information about this school

 The nursery school does not have provision for two-year-old children. Children begin at the school at the start of the term after their third birthday.  Most children stay at the school for three terms, going on to their Reception Year at one of a number of other schools.  An increasing proportion of children, currently around half, are now attending for more than the standard offer of 15 hours of provision a week.

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Information about this inspection

 In order to judge whether the quality of education continues to be good, inspectors focused the inspection on specific aspects of the curriculum. These were: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; and expressive arts and design.  Inspectors met with senior leaders, teachers, teaching assistants and members of the governing body. They read leaders’ plans for further improvement and reports about the school written by the local authority, along with curriculum plans and staff’s records of the things that children were learning. They spent much time observing children’s learning taking place in both the indoor and outdoor areas, as well as at lunchtime. 17 September 2019

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This helped inspectors to consider children’s behaviour and attitudes, and personal development, as well as their education.  Inspectors also took note of responses to Ofsted’s Parent View questionnaire, met with parents at the start of the school day and considered the results of the Ofsted staff questionnaire.  In order to judge the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors read the school’s relevant policies, scrutinised the single central record, checked the school’s procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and interviewed the designated lead for safeguarding. Inspectors also spoke with staff to check details of their safeguarding knowledge and training, that they understood the importance of their responsibility to report any safeguarding concerns without delay and that they knew the procedure to do this. Inspectors also checked samples of safeguarding records, spoke with parents about their child’s safety at the school and read responses from Parent View. In addition, they

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observed children at work and play during the day.

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Inspection team

Roary Pownall, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Janis Warren Ofsted Inspector 17 September 2019

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regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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