Plym Bridge Nursery School and Day Care

Inspection of a good school: Plym Bridge Nursery School and Day Care Miller Way, Estover, Plymouth, Devon PL6 8UN

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Outcome

Plym Bridge Nursery School and Day Care continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Plym Bridge Nursery School is an engaging and inclusive place to learn. There is a constant buzz of excitement across the setting. Adults know children and their families well. Pastoral support is strong. Many parents agree. One commented, ‘My child has developed great relationships with staff and children. They have a great sense of belonging and are always excited when talking about their day.’

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children behave well and enjoy playing together. They know right from wrong. Children understand and follow the routines and expectations set out by the nursery. They are considerate and kind to one another. All of this enables a productive and orderly learning environment where children succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children take part in learning experiences with confidence. Staff have high expectations of what all children can achieve. As a result, children have positive attitudes to their learning. They feel safe to take risks.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Planned experiences include opportunities beyond the nursery environment. Regular visits within the local community develop children’s sense of place. The school encourages visitors, including parents, into the nursery to talk about the jobs they do. This supports children’s understanding of the wider world beyond their doorstep.

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

The school has created a meaningful curriculum for all children. A clear focus on children’s communication and language sits at the heart of the school’s curriculum. This includes for those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The school closely checks on children’s development. Children enthusiastically join in with stories, songs and rhymes. Staff reinforce key language through a range of activities and use repetition to consolidate understanding. Visual cues and clearly modelled talk support children’s language development well. Staff understand the importance of listening to children and use this skilfully to build on what they know and can do. They ensure their 16 July 2024

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interactions with children enable all to make progress. Secure relationships and quality conversations have a positive impact on children’s readiness for school.

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Children enjoy learning. They relish going outside and exploring as ‘nature explorers’. Staff support children’s knowledge and understanding of the world around them. Children listen well to instructions. Adults develop children’s understanding of words such as ‘antennae’ and ‘spiral’. However, the key knowledge, vocabulary and concepts the school want children to know are not clearly or precisely set out in some areas of learning. This means that not all children build on what they already know and can do.

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The school has a deep and accurate understanding of children with complex needs. Children with SEND receive effective support to succeed across all areas of learning. Staff use their expertise to identify children’s needs at an early stage. The school works in partnership with parents and external agencies where relevant. Adaptations to learning meet the individual needs of these children. As a result, they access the intended curriculum well. Staff help children who need extra support with their speech and language effectively.

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Staff ably support children in managing their feelings with confidence. Where children may fall out, staff enable them to find their own solutions to a problem with sensitivity and understanding. Children are positive with one another. They understand how to take turns, work together and cooperate.

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This highly inclusive school teaches children about and celebrates diversity. It prides itself on developing children as individuals and building resilience. A wide range of resources, including books and toys, support children’s growing understanding of acceptance and difference. Staff encourage children to think critically and express and explain their feelings in a safe environment.

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Governors share the same ambition as school staff. They want the best for each child. Governors actively support and challenge staff in the school’s development. Staff appreciate the wealth of opportunities provided to develop their knowledge and understanding. This is having a positive impact on children’s development.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some of the specific areas of learning, the knowledge the school wants children to learn is not precise enough. As a result, children do not always learn the most important knowledge to build their knowledge over time. The school needs to ensure it explicitly identifies the key knowledge, vocabulary and concepts it wants all children to know and remember across all areas of learning and teach this effectively. 16 July 2024

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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 March 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 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). 16 July 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 7 February 2019, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Plym Bridge Nursery School is part of the Plymouth Nursery Schools Federation.

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Information about this school

 The school hosts the Plymouth Early Years Speech and Language Support Team. This specialist support team works to support early years foundation stage children who present with features of developmental language disorder.

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Information about this school

 The school runs before and after school wrap around provision.

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Information about this school

 The school does not use any alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s educational 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 this into account in their evaluation of the school. 16 July 2024

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 Inspectors held discussions with the headteacher, other senior leaders, the special educational needs coordinator, the designated safeguarding leads, a representative from the local authority and members of the local governing board.

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives into the following areas of learning: 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 learning sessions, spoke to staff and talked to some children about their learning.

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 To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, 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 pupils’ interests first.

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 Inspectors considered the 13 responses to the online survey, Ofsted Parent View, including 10 free-text responses and nine responses to the staff survey. An inspector also spoke with some parents at the start of the school day.

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Inspection team

Heather Barraclough, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Wendy D'Arcy His Majesty's Inspector 16 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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