St Werburghs Park Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: St Werburgh’s Park Nursery School Glenfrome Road, St Werburgh’s, Bristol BS2 9UX

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Outcome

St Werburgh’s Park Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

St Werburgh’s Park is a friendly and inclusive school. Children benefit from the care staff provide. Parents agree. One parent said, ‘St Werburgh’s is incredibly nurturing. Staff are respectful towards the children. They have high expectations of the children, no matter their starting point in life.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is ambitious for all. Adults know children well. Key-worker focus groups provide children with the opportunity to have a voice. Staff encourage children to be confident and enthusiastic ‘explorers’. As a result, children develop positive attitudes to their learning. They are curious about the world around them, Children relish the opportunity to explore and investigate both inside and outside of the classroom.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is a calm and happy place to learn. Children socialise well and enjoy playing with their friends. Staff have high expectations of how children should behave. They skilfully support children to understand their emotions and resolve conflict for themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school places importance on children understanding their local community. Visitors, such as the police, help children to understand how people can help them keep safe. Children learn to appreciate diversity through special focus days about food and festivals.

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

Over the past year, the school has joined the Central Bristol Nursery Schools Federation. This change has been managed effectively. Staff are ambitious for what children can achieve. The school has designed a curriculum, across most areas of learning, in which children develop their understanding in a logical order. However, in some areas of learning, the curriculum is still embedding and developing. Not all staff have the necessary expertise to deepen children’s understanding of important knowledge. 26 March 2024

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The school places communication and language at the heart of its work. Children join in with stories, songs and rhymes with confidence and enjoyment. Investment in staff training is having a positive impact on children’s language development. Staff use talk to build children’s vocabulary well. Staff ask relevant questions to extend children’s understanding well. Children experience a wide range of carefully selected books. These grab children’s interests and develop their confidence to retell their favourite stories. Staff provide parents with clear guidance on how they can support their child’s early reading development.

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Children engage well with the broad range of learning opportunities provided. They are independent, learn to take turns and share. Children happily join in conversation with each other. They are confident in approaching adults when they need help. Children are keen to share their ideas and thoughts. For example, they spoke excitedly about objects on the Easter table. Some adults use this enthusiasm effectively, for example to model conversations around chicks and hatching to develop children’s understanding of new life. Staff use their knowledge and skills to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to interact, make choices about their learning and express their opinions. Consequently, children with SEND are well supported to progress well through the curriculum.

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In mathematics, the focus on numbers gives children a secure foundation for future learning. Some staff use effective questioning to help children draw on what they already know and can do. For example, adults encourage children to use their prior knowledge of more or less when comparing amounts of water in two different sized jugs. However, some staff do not capitalise on opportunities to deepen children’s understanding through carefully considered conversation.

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Children learn and play alongside each other in a calm and friendly way. Adults form positive relationships with them. As a result, children feel safe. Children understand right from wrong. The school provides rich experiences to help children understand the wider world. This includes external visits and trips as well as learning how to be independent, resilient and confident when facing challenges. Staff use a range of books to develop children’s understanding of difference. This helps children learn the importance of fairness and respect.

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Governors share the same high aspirations in ensuring that children receive an effective and inclusive curriculum. They have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and priorities for development. Despite many recent changes to the school, leaders work successfully alongside governors and other schools across the federation to continue to enhance the school’s offer. Governors are active in supporting staff with their professional development. Staff appreciate the impact this is having on their practice.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 26 March 2024

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school does not maximise opportunities for children to develop a deep body of knowledge across all areas of the curriculum. This means that children do not build their knowledge of key content securely enough. The school needs to ensure that all staff have the subject knowledge and understanding of the curriculum to deepen children’s knowledge across all areas of learning.

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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 January 2015.

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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 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). 26 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Chairs of governing body Aderyn Zajicova and Mike Akers

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School details

Website www.centralbristolnurseryschool.com

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School details

Date of previous inspection 20 November 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 St Werburgh’s Park Nursery School became federated with Rosemary Nursery School and The Limes Nursery School in June 2023. It forms part of the Central Bristol Nursery Schools Federation. All of the nursery settings are led by the same headteacher and deputy headteacher and share a governing body.  The school has provision for two-year-olds.  The school does not use 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.

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection of the school since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school. 26 March 2024

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 Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator, and members of the governing body. The lead inspector held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in the following areas of learning: communication and language, personal, social and emotional development and mathematics. For each deep dive, inspectors discussed the curriculum with leaders and visited sessions in the Nursery. They also considered other areas of learning. Inspectors spoke to groups of staff as well as talking with some children.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders and staff; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts the needs of the children first.

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 Inspectors considered responses to the staff survey and free-text responses to Ofsted’s online surveys. An inspector also spoke with parents during the morning of the inspection.

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Inspection team

Heather Barraclough, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Hester Millsop Ofsted Inspector 26 March 2024

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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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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