Chelsea Open Air Nursery School

Inspection of an outstanding school: Chelsea Open Air Nursery School 51 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London SW3 5JE

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Outcome

Chelsea Open Air Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an exceptional school. The optimum use is made of the school’s outdoor garden spaces to feed children’s inquisitiveness and build their sense of adventure. For example, children are taught to navigate the steps of the amphitheatre safely to see what they can find in the adjoining underground cave. Children take part in educational outings regularly. This includes weekly visits to external forest school provision and visits to the local library and zoo. The school makes sure that all children can benefit from these opportunities.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents and carers appreciate how welcoming and nurturing the school is. The school teams up with parents to provide a range of wider curriculum experiences. For example, together with parents, the school provides sessions for children in yoga and dancing and provides information about different careers. This encourages children to broaden their horizons and discover their talents and interests.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders are highly ambitious for all children. The school knows exactly what they want children to know and be able to do to be well prepared for their next stage of schooling. Children meet the school’s high expectations. They behave responsibly and treat each other with care and kindness. Children are very happy here.

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

The school curriculum is ambitious and aligned securely to the requirements of the early years foundation stage statutory framework. Learning is organised logically to enable children to build secure knowledge and skills throughout their time at the school. The school checks children’s starting points and their likes and dislikes when they join the school. They use this information to determine the best teaching activities and resources to help children learn essential content and connect ideas together. For example, staff helped children to develop a secure knowledge of the number five by joining in with 17 July 2024

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children’s games and asking them to count the number of cars, dolls, sticks or other objects that the children were playing with.

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The school measures children’s learning in detail. They quickly spot any emerging gaps in children’s knowledge and make effective adjustments to address them. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) benefit from the school’s precise checks on their learning. The school swiftly identifies when children may have SEND. The school uses guidance from a range of experts, including therapists and psychologists, to provide specialist help for children who need it and training for staff. Children with SEND get effective support to learn the curriculum. Teaching staff appreciate the training they receive. Leaders and the governing body have high consideration for staff well-being and keep their workload in mind when decisions are made. The members of the governing body have appropriate knowledge to support and challenge the school effectively.

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Developing children’s language and communication is given high priority throughout the school. Teaching reinforces essential vocabulary continuously. This includes through modelling of correct spoken language and encouraging children to speak and communicate confidently. Children join in with songs and rhymes. Children are taught to hear the sounds letters make, especially at the start of words. As a result, children gain the foundations of the knowledge they need to learn to read in the future.

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The school ensures that parents know the expectations of the school. For example, the school provides information to parents about the importance of regular attendance at school.

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The school’s curriculum includes strong provision for children’s personal, social and emotional development. Children settle into the routines of school quickly. They are encouraged to be inquisitive and to focus attention for extended periods of time. Learning is not interrupted by inappropriate behaviour. Children are encouraged to dress themselves in the dress-up area. This supports children to be independent and persevere when they encounter difficulties. Children are taught to think about their own and others’ feelings. They are taught age-appropriate information about healthy-relationships.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. 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. 17 July 2024

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This is the third ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in September 2012.

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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). 17 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Headteacher Talia Robinson and Alexandra Kelly (co- headteachers) Website www.coans.rbkc.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 12 September 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 In September 2023, the deputy headteacher was appointed to co-headteacher one day per week. The headteachers lead the school together.  There is a before- and after-school childcare facility for pupils on the school roll.  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 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 held meetings with the headteachers, representatives of the governing body and other senior leaders. Inspectors also spoke with a school improvement representative of the local authority. 17 July 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: communication and language, personal, social, emotional development and mathematics. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, spoke to some children about their learning and looked at samples of children’s work.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in other subjects.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders, staff and pupils; and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors reviewed parents’ and staff’s responses to Ofsted’s online surveys.

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Inspection team

Andrea Bedeau, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Amanda Fraser His Majesty’s Inspector 17 July 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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