Oakengates Nursery School

Inspection of Oakengates Nursery School The Place, Limes Walk, Oakengates, Telford, Shropshire TF2 6EP

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Outstanding Previous inspection grade Requires improvement 25–26 February 2020

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What is it like to attend this school?

Oakengates Nursery is a special place for children to learn, play and grow. Children really enjoy coming to school. They are well supported to become confident. Children enter school with smiles on their faces and settle down to activities quickly. Children are very enthusiastic and keen to talk. They said, ‘I love my nursery. I love the hundreds of things to do.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are very happy with the school and say that their children thrive. Parents receive regular information about their children’s learning. They say that adults spend lots of time getting to know their children and want the very best for them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The outside area is exciting and safe. Children are keen to explore, whatever the weather. The garden area provides an opportunity for the children to plant seeds and watch them grow. Children know how to fill their watering can and water the plants.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children behave extremely well. Adults are wonderful role models for them. They show children how to be kind and to respect others. They help children to take turns and share. The nursery is a happy, harmonious and high-achieving community.

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better?

The executive headteacher and leaders have made many much-needed changes. They are leading the school extremely well. Leaders, including governors, want the very best for the children. They have high aspirations. The curriculum is well thought out and leaders have ambitious plans for the children in their care. Adults are proud to work at the school. This really shows when they work with the children. They enjoy interacting with them and seeing them develop.

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better?

Adults say the motto ‘Love, laugh, learn’ cascades through the whole school community. Leaders have ensured that adults have had highly effective training to deliver the curriculum, especially literacy and mathematics. They have also provided adults with opportunities to develop their skills in the other areas of early years learning, such as understanding the world and expressive arts and design. However, staff are still developing their subject knowledge and expertise of teaching these areas. This means that, while children make good progress across all areas of learning, their progress in understanding the world and expressive arts and design is not as strong as progress in literacy and mathematics. Adults make sure that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve well. The leader of special educational needs ensures that no child slips through the net. Children’s additional needs are identified

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better?

quickly, and they receive the right support to help them make progress. Children are well prepared to move on to primary school. 25–26 February 2020

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The learning spaces and resources inside and outside are exciting and interesting. They motivate and inspire children to explore, play and learn. Outdoors, there are lots of opportunities to develop children’s physical skills, such as balancing on the benches. Children develop skills of curiosity, exploration and language through the resources provided, such as patterned teapots and willow pattern plates.

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Leaders make sure that developing children’s early literacy skills is a key focus. Adults read daily to children. Children enjoy books, stories and rhymes. They select books independently from the book shelf, take them to the carpet and sit and enjoy them. Adults think very carefully about the stories they choose. For example, children were having fun learning about themes related to ‘The Little Red Hen’, such as baking, selling cakes in the bakery and painting pictures based on Van Gogh’s ‘Wheat fields’. Phonics sessions support children to develop their reading skills well. Adults make sure that they keep a close check on what children learn so they can plan carefully what they need to teach next. Adults help parents to support their children with reading at home.

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Adults effectively support children to develop their listening and speaking skills. They model spoken English accurately. They also encourage and challenge children to use sentences and new words when they are speaking. For example, children were guided to talk confidently about sieving, stirring and mixing flour. Children are keen to talk about what they are good at. They take it in turns to talk together when they are playing and learning. They repeat rhymes they have been taught, such as ‘pass the jigsaw on and on’. Children are confident in role play. They showed great confidence when talking about their school and their learning.

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Adults have created a setting where children feel treasured, valued and listened to. Adults work as a team and treat each other with respect and kindness. Children learn from them to be respectful and kind too. Children’s behaviour is exemplary. This ensures that they learn well.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Keeping children safe is important in this school. A safeguarding culture extends to all adults and the governing body. Adults have regular training and are aware of risks. Adults know how to report concerns.

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Safeguarding

Leaders follow up actions taken as a result of any concerns raised. They work with the local authority and other agencies to make sure that children get the help they need. Effective record-keeping and processes are in place. When recruiting new adults to the school, questions about safeguarding form part of the interview process. Children are safe and confidently explore the environment indoors and outdoors. 25–26 February 2020

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Adults receive very effective professional development to ensure that the curriculum plans are well executed. This has been particularly successful in literacy and mathematics. However, adults are still developing their teaching skills and subject knowledge in understanding the world and expressive arts and design. This means that children do not make as much progress in these areas as they do in literacy and mathematics. Leaders should continue to support adults to help them improve and develop their teaching skills and subject knowledge in understanding the world and expressive arts and design. This will enable children to make very strong progress in all areas of the early years curriculum.

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted .

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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. 25–26 February 2020

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School details

Inspection number 10122448 Type of school Nursery

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Denise Garner (executive headteacher) Jenny Gascoigne (assistant headteacher) Website www.oakengatesnurseryschool.co.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26–27 September 2017

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Information about this school

 The school offers before- and after-school care.

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Information about this inspection

We carried out this inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 We held meetings with the executive headteacher, the assistant headteacher and the daycare manager. I met with the chair of the governing body and one other governor. I also met with the school improvement adviser.  The inspection focused deeply on personal, social and emotional development, mathematics, physical development and communication and language. We visited lessons with leaders, spoke with children and looked at their work.  We also met with staff to discuss their workload and how they are supported to develop their skills, knowledge and understanding.  We spoke with children and observed their behaviour. We held discussions with leaders about children’s behaviour, safety and personal development.  We met with leaders to discuss the school’s safeguarding procedures. We 25–26 February 2020

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reviewed policies and records relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.  One inspector met with the special educational needs coordinator to discuss the provision for pupils with SEND.  We scrutinised a range of documentation, including school policies, curriculum documents and minutes of governors’ meetings.  We spoke to parents at the start of the inspection. I considered the 20 responses to Parent View and the 19 free-text responses.  I considered the 14 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Lynda Townsend, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Maneer Samad Ofsted Inspector 25–26 February 2020

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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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