Warwick Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: Warwick Nursery School Coventry Road, Warwick, Warwickshire CV34 4LJ

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Outcome

Warwick Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff greet children and their parents with a cheery welcome. The school has high expectations of children and makes sure that they achieve well overall. Activities inside the classrooms and in the outdoor area are engaging and purposeful. Children enjoy talking about different stories. They also take delight in cooking, growing vegetables and looking after the school guinea pigs.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The nursery environment is calm. Children of all ages behave exceptionally well and show respect. They follow instructions and learn to share and use equipment with care. Staff use a range of communication strategies to resolve any issues of unkindness.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are happy and feel safe from the moment they enter the nursery. Staff quickly spot any children who need help or some quiet time. They provide the children with the care and support needed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between leaders and staff, and with individual families, are strong. Parents and carers can contribute to and access a toy library, a food bank and a clothes bank. They appreciate the care staff show their children. One parent, typical of many, commented, ‘Staff have helped my child to grow and develop.’

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

Staff work together to determine what children should know in readiness for the Reception Year. In many areas of learning, this information is used well to plan suitable activities and enjoyable experiences during the children’s time in Nursery. In a few areas of learning, the knowledge children need to acquire at different ages and stages of development has not been broken down into distinct, small steps of learning. As a result, there are occasions when the adult-led activities do not move children’s learning on enough. 10 October 2023

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Children of all ages and abilities learn to speak with confidence. They talk about their learning and start conversations with adults and each other. This is because the promotion of children’s communication and language skills underpins all aspects of the nursery’s work. Two-year-olds, for example, were observed tending to a bedding area. One child confidently explained why seeds need water to grow and said they had grown their own sunflowers.

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Early reading is promoted in all areas of the nursery. Children enjoy sitting in the outdoor ‘book nook’. In this nook, they can look at books or listen to an adult read to them. In the construction area, children look at books for ideas. Through fun activities, the songs they sing and the stories and rhymes they hear children broaden their vocabulary well.

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Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly. Leaders and staff work well with external agencies to ensure children with SEND receive tailored support. This support helps children with SEND to access all nursery activities.

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The school has shared expectations of children’s behaviour. Children follow school rules and behave well. Children are considerate and polite when they learn and play with others.

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The school has ensured that children become confident and curious individuals. Children learn to express their feelings and learn how to stay safe. In the forest school area, children learn about the environment. They also learn key vocabulary and meanings of words such as ‘deciduous’ and ‘evergreen’.

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The school engages well with the community and other professionals. Parents and carers take part in nursery events and enjoy celebrating their children’s achievement. However, staff’s knowledge about the changing nature of the school community is mixed. This means a few aspects of the nursery provision are not as well developed as they could be.

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Governors are ambitious for the nursery. They keep themselves up to date with the work of the school through their regular visits. They are understanding of staff’s well-being and workload. Staff report that they feel appreciated and valued.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some areas of learning, the activities that staff provide do not focus enough on the important knowledge that children should learn. This prevents staff in the different phases from making sure that children learn all they could. The school should ensure that the curriculum identifies the precise knowledge and skills for the different development ages in the nursery. 10 October 2023

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 Leaders’ and staff’s understanding of the changing nature of the local community is variable. This limits the extent to which adults personalise aspects of the curriculum. It also results in training for staff that is not precise enough. The school should work to gain an even better knowledge of the Warwick Nursery community so that the curriculum and training on offer can be tailored further.

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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 an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in October 2014.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View 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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 10 October 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 9 May 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school does not make use of alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, teachers, a range of other staff and members of the governing body, and held a telephone conversation with a local authority adviser.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; and understanding the world.  For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of indoor and outdoor activities, spoke to teachers, spoke to some children about their learning and looked at samples of children’s work. 10 October 2023

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and children; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children’s interests first.  Inspectors examined a range of documents provided by the school, including the school improvement plan, local authority visit records and records of governors’ meetings.

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Inspection team

Usha Devi, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Carli Mccallin Ofsted Inspector 10 October 2023

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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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