Westfield Nursery School

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

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Requires Improvement 3 and 4 October 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Westfield Nursery School is a happy place to be. Children arrive excited to see staff and friends. Clear routines and expectations help to create a positive learning environment. This helps children to make a confident start to their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are kind to each other. On the rare occasions that children are not, adults remind them about having ‘kind hands, kind feet and kind voices’. Children respond to these requests. The kindness extends to when they spend time with the school’s guinea pigs. They treat the animals with gentleness.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children access a wide range of high-quality learning opportunities. Those who need extra help, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are well supported by staff. Children are calm and focused during formal classroom-based learning and when playing outside. Activities such as a visit by farm staff, and from the police and paramedics, help children develop their interests beyond the curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Staff know the children and their families well. Children are safe and well cared for. This helps them settle in and feel safe. They develop their confidence and independence quickly, for example waiting their turn to wash their hands after outdoor play.

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better?

There has been a strong emphasis on curriculum development following the previous inspection. The broad curriculum outlines what children need to know at different stages of development. Staff have a secure understanding of the curriculum. They use the resources for each theme of learning to provide children with engaging learning activities that match their needs. This helps all children to achieve well.

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better?

The school prioritises children’s early language development. Children enjoy story time and singing. Each day, one child acts as the ‘special helper’. This role helps to develop language, for example at snack times when they to ask other children what they would like to drink. The school focuses on developing children’s listening skills to help prepare them for more formal phonics lessons.

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better?

Effective training supports staff to teach lessons well. Staff chose activities carefully to foster children’s curiosity and reinforce key vocabulary. However, sometimes staff do not make the most of opportunities to deepen and extend children’s learning. This means that children do not always develop their knowledge across the seven areas of learning as quickly as they could. Staff use checks on children’s learning to improve the curriculum and to identify and support children who need extra help to keep up. 3 and 4 October 2023

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The school prioritises reading. Children choose to look at books and listen to adults reading during informal learning times. Bilingual books support those families who speak English as an additional language. Parents come into school to read with their children each week. This supports families to develop a love of reading together.

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Children with SEND have their needs identified accurately and early. The school communicates effectively with parents and external organisations to ensure that children receive the support that they need to do well. As a result, children with SEND achieve well.

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Children behave well. Strong relationships between children and the staff mean children are confident to take safe risks as part of their outdoor learning. This helps them to develop their resilience.

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Staff teach children about the importance of healthy lifestyles. The range of books used helps children develop their understanding of diversity and culture. Children learn about different religious festivals throughout the year.

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Staff feel valued and appreciate support for their workload. The school has used external support and training to improve the quality of education and effectiveness of leadership and governance. While effective systems and improved expertise are in place, leaders acknowledge that these are at an early stage of development. The school’s checks on the quality of the curriculum are new and not fully established. Some leaders are still developing their expertise. As a result, some of the school’s ambition for pupils is not yet realised.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Not all teaching is adapted to challenge children to develop and extend their understanding across all seven areas of learning. This means that some children do not develop in all areas of the curriculum as quickly as they could. The school should continue to develop staff’s approaches to teaching to help them consistently adapt and extend activities to develop children’s learning.  Systems that governors use to monitor the school’s work are not yet embedded. This means that leaders’ and governors’ ambitions for the school are not yet fully realised. The school needs to ensure leaders at all levels, including governors, have the expertise to further advance and evaluate the impact of leaders’ actions to improve provision. 3 and 4 October 2023

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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). 3 and 4 October 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 10 and 11 June 2021, under section 5 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 At the time of the inspection, in the headteacher’s absence, a temporary leadership team was leading the school. This was made up of three members of staff in the school, along with support from the local authority.  The number of children on roll has reduced since the last inspection.  The school does not use any alternative providers.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in four areas of learning: early reading, communication and language, mathematics development and personal, social and 3 and 4 October 2023

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emotional development. For each deep dive, inspectors met with curriculum leaders, looked at curriculum documentation, visited lessons throughout the two days to see how children learn, spoke with teachers and staff, spoke with children about their learning and looked at examples of their work.  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 met with senior leaders to discuss safeguarding, behaviour, attendance, SEND and personal development.  Inspectors scrutinised documentation linked to attendance and behaviour, governance and the school’s development plan.  The lead inspector held meetings with the early career teacher to discuss the

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training that was in place to support them. He also met with the early career teachers’ mentor to discuss the training that had been received to support teachers new to the profession.  The lead inspector met with one representative of the governing body and spoke to three members of the local authority, including the school improvement partner, who are currently supporting the school.  Inspectors spoke informally to children throughout the day.  Inspectors spoke to parents at the start of the school day.  The lead inspector considered the 14 responses and 10 free-text responses received during the inspection to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View. He also considered the 11 responses to Ofsted’s staff survey. There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.

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Inspection team

Wayne Jarvis, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector

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Inspection team

Lesley Stevens Ofsted Inspector 3 and 4 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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