Westfield Nursery School

Inspection of Westfield Nursery School Westfield Road, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU6 1DL

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Overall effectiveness Requires improvement

The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Outstanding 10–11 June 2021

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What is it like to attend this school?

The children who come to Westfield Nursery are lively and confident, and come to school keen to learn. Staff are passionate about helping children to do their best. They provide strong and nurturing support for the most vulnerable children.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children listen carefully to instructions. They enjoy story time and engage enthusiastically with the adults reading to them. When deciding on activities, children often choose to look at books in the reading corner or use pencils to draw. There is a variety of engaging resources available for children to play with.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children play happily together and learn to be kind to each other. Adults manage any low-level disruption calmly. They help children to understand how to manage their feelings. This helps children engage with their learning positively.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers are happy with what the school provides for their children, particularly for children with special educational needs/and or disabilities (SEND).

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What is it like to attend this school?

All staff have extremely positive relationships with children. They model calmness and patience. Adults encourage children to understand how their actions can affect the feelings of others. Children know they are valued and are safe.

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better?

Adults plan learning to meet children’s interests. In the different classes, adults set up a wide range of activities to support children in the seven areas of learning. This is not always planned well enough and so that all children make the best progress they can. Not all adults are skilled enough at moving children’s learning on. Too often it is unclear how activities will build over time to help children know and remember more.

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better?

Although there is a plan for the teaching of early reading, this is not implemented well. Staff do not follow leaders’ plans well enough so that children revisit sounds in order for them to build on what they have learned.

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better?

In mathematics, children learn about different mathematical ideas, including how to identify different shapes. This learning is not structured or linked to children’s prior learning. Adults do not extend these activities well enough so that children gain a deeper understanding about what they are learning.

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better?

Leaders have identified speaking and listening as an area where many children struggle when they first join the school. However, the curriculum does not show that this is given a high priority. Leaders have started to identify the vocabulary, skills and knowledge that they want children to learn and when. This part of the curriculum is in the early stages of development. 10–11 June 2021

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Work with families begins before children start Nursery. This helps to set expectations and establish strong relationships. Strong community links help families who speak English as an additional language to settle in well.

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Throughout the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, the special educational needs coordinator has worked closely with parents. A high number of education, health and care plans were completed, and support plans reviewed. This ensures that children with additional needs receive the support they need.

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Leaders do all they can to ensure that attendance is as high as it can be, although it was negatively affected by the pandemic. Attendance is improving.

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School improvement plans lack clarity and do not identify what the school needs to do to improve. There is no detail about training for staff and how it connects to areas for improvement.

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The governing body is passionate about what the nursery provides for the community. They ensure that staff and children’s well-being is a priority. However, leaders’ monitoring activities do not accurately identify how well children achieve. Therefore, leaders, including governors, also do not have an accurate view of children’s progress.

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The local authority has an over-inflated view of the school. They have not accurately checked how leaders assess children’s learning. They have not supported leaders, including the governing body, well enough.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Children are very well looked after. The most vulnerable children get the support and nurturing they need to feel safe and confident. Leaders carry out all the necessary employment checks and record them in the single central register.

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Safeguarding

Staff are well trained in safeguarding. Leaders ensure that staff have a strong knowledge of risks in the local area. Regular discussions help to reinforce staff members’ knowledge of concerns. Safeguarding systems are strong. Leaders are rigorous in pursuing support for children when it is needed.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders have not designed a structured curriculum that identifies precisely what they want children to learn in each area of learning. The curriculum is not well sequenced and therefore does not ensure that children build on their prior learning to help them develop a deeper understanding of what they are being 10–11 June 2021

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taught. Leaders should now ensure that they design a curriculum that builds progressively on children’s learning.  The curriculum for early reading does not identify precisely what leaders want children to be able to do and by when. It does not identify key components, such as vocabulary that children need to learn and build on so that they can be successful learners. Leaders need to ensure that plans detail the crucial knowledge needed for early reading and phonics and ensure that plans are consistently implemented across the school.  School improvement plans do not focus on the right priorities. Objectives are not well defined, and appropriate milestones and success criteria are not detailed. Leaders must ensure that they identify the right priorities for school improvement and ensure that leaders, including governors, can check what difference their actions make. This will give them a better understanding of where the school is.

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 Some staff do not know how to question children to probe ideas to move children’s learning on. Leaders need to ensure that all staff are supported to develop their questioning skills and to have a thorough knowledge of how children learn. In addition, staff training needs to be linked precisely to school improvement and its impact evaluated routinely.  Governors do not know enough about how well children achieve. Further training is required to ensure that governors know how to gain a thorough understanding of the impact of leaders’ actions on improving the quality of education within the school.

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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 here .

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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. 10–11 June 2021

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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Date of previous inspection

28 June 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 This inspection was initially carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. At the end of the first day, inspectors had concerns about the quality of education. The inspection continued on day 2 under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.  Since the previous inspection, there has been a change in leadership. The headteacher took up post in October 2017.  There have been some challenges with school finances since the previous inspection. This has had a significant impact on staff recruitment.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors met with the headteacher and other senior leaders to discuss safeguarding, behaviour, attendance, SEND and personal development. One inspector met with two members of the local governing body, including the chair of governors, and also spoke with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors scrutinised a wide range of documentation relating to the school’s work to safeguard children. These included behaviour and attendance records. 10–11 June 2021

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Inspectors also spoke with staff about their role in keeping children safe, their own and pupils’ well-being and staff workload. They reviewed the school’s record of checks made on staff to ensure that they are safe to work with children.  Inspectors took account of the views of parents who responded to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. They also spoke to parents at the start of the school day.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: early reading, communication and language, mathematics, and personal, social and emotional development. They visited lessons throughout the two days to see how children learn. Inspectors spoke with children and looked at their work.

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Inspection team

Cindy Impey, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Steve Mellors Her Majesty’s Inspector 10–11 June 2021

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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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