Kenilworth Nursery School & Early Years Training Centre

Centre

Address: Bertie Road, Kenilworth, Warwickshire, CV8 1JP Unique reference number (URN): 125488

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children gain a deep body of knowledge and skills that prepares them very well for primary school. In particular, they develop important communication and language, social and physical skills that set them up extremely well for later life. Across all areas of learning, children establish firm foundations for future success. For example, in mathematics, children secure knowledge of small numbers. They are then able to carry out simple reasoning activities using these numbers. Children learn rhymes and songs and enjoy playing with the sounds in words. This ensures that they are ready to learn phonics in the Reception Year.

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Achievement Strong standard

Staff interact frequently and effectively with disadvantaged children, and, as a result, these children successfully close gaps in learning. Leaders ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities have barriers to learning removed, allowing their specific needs to be met well and, in some cases, overcome.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders and staff build strong partnerships with parents and carers to ensure that they prioritise attendance. They work together to identify barriers to regular attendance and provide the right level of support and challenge. This includes support from external professionals where required. When necessary, this leads to notable improvements in children's attendance. Children attend well. They learn the importance of regular attendance, which prepares them well for their next steps in education.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders have established a highly effective behaviour culture that helps children to flourish. Understanding children’s behaviour sits at the heart of the school’s work. Staff structure and adapt their approaches to ensure that children learn and understand how to behave well. They work closely with parents and external agencies to ensure that children who need it get the right support. Staff are well trained in using specific behavioural approaches. As a result, incidents of persistent unkind behaviour are rare. Children show self-discipline and enthusiasm for, and dedication to, their learning. They think about and care for one another. Children show an awareness of each other’s feelings and develop sensitivity and empathy. They are curious and genuinely interested in supporting each other and the community.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have constructed a very well-considered and sequenced curriculum that puts children at its centre. From the provision for 2-year-olds, leaders ensure that children begin to develop the firm foundations needed for future learning. They have identified suitable ‘milestones’ to enable children to be well prepared for primary school. Leaders make sure staff know exactly which essential knowledge and skills children need to focus on, and when. Adults deliver each area of learning very well. Children make many links across these areas in their play, which reinforces learning effectively.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff challenge children to develop important physical skills, such as jumping and balancing. Children develop fine motor skills, such as manipulating dough using wooden tools. This enables children to begin to mark-make in early writing. Staff skilfully concentrate on developing children’s language. For example, when threading beads, staff discuss ‘long’ and ‘short’. They then purposefully extend this language through making comparisons of longer and shorter.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff interactions with children are of a very high quality. Staff expertly question, explain and discuss ideas with children. This ensures that children securely deepen their knowledge. When working with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, staff focus on addressing their specific barriers to learning through more frequent and focused interactions.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Every child matters here. Leaders quickly identify children who may face barriers to their learning. Often, this is through effective processes before children join the nursery. For example, staff carry out home visits, ‘stay-and-play’ sessions and provide a ‘slow start’ for some children when they begin school. Staff regularly discuss children's needs. They identify children who might have special educational needs and/or disabilities. This enables leaders to make sure that specific support is put in place early for these children. Parents and carers are also involved early. Leaders work with parents through ‘thinking together’ meetings. Leaders liaise closely with specialist professionals, such as speech and language therapists. Staff consistently follow the advice given when working with children. Through rigorous monitoring, leaders make sure that children get the right support at the right time.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children who have very specific social and interaction needs have these met effectively.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders liaise closely with the virtual school to make sure that staff are well equipped to address the children's needs and support their families. For example, leaders provide training in ways to support children who have experienced trauma. Disadvantaged children are particularly well supported. Leaders make sure staff pay particular attention to these children by identifying their needs and how best to support them.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders are passionate advocates for the early years. They know that this stage of learning is vital. Leaders have a wealth of knowledge, which enables them to ensure that all aspects of provision for children are consistently high quality. They are skilled at identifying the right refinements needed to improve the school further. Leaders are knowledgeable about, and involved in, educational research. This means they are skilled at making the right decisions for children. Leaders ensure that staff are experts in the early years and use carefully considered professional learning to maintain this. As a result, staff work highly effectively as a team.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Governors carry out their responsibilities very well. They know this is a school where children thrive and develop a thirst for learning. Governors are determined for this to continue and ensure that leaders are challenged and supported effectively. They also engage with relevant educational research. Governors are committed to ensuring that staff workload and wellbeing are considered. The school engages very well with parents and carers. One parent summed up the views of many when they stated, ‘Staff have each and every child’s best interests at heart all of the time.’ Leaders are active participants in developing early years provision across the local authority. This work ensures that their highly effective knowledge of early years education is shared.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Personal, social and emotional development forms the bedrock of the school’s work. The personal development programme is rigorously planned and carefully tailored to meet the needs of all children, including the youngest 2-year-olds. Effective teaching underpins children’s personal development and helps shape their understanding of the world. It provides the platform for well-tailored pastoral support that is highly effective and inclusive, particularly for children who face barriers to their learning. The right to play is promoted well, helping children to develop confidence and independence.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn how to make good friendships and cooperate well. They are kind to one another. Children take turns, share and support each other to communicate their thoughts and recall events. They learn about and respect difference and feel they belong in today’s society. Children are polite and respectful. Adults model these behaviours by listening carefully, giving children space to reflect and share opinions so they feel valued.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children talk about feeling sad, angry or cross when they struggle, which helps them to be resilient. They are reflective, behave with integrity and cooperate consistently well with their peers and adults. Adults reinforce this during group-time and yoga sessions, helping children to understand their feelings. Creative trips and visitors widen children’s horizons. Voting for a preferred story or favourite wooden ornament helps children to begin to understand democracy.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders ensure that children who face barriers to learning do not miss out in any way. As a result, children are ready and open to learn, behave well and build positive relationships with adults and each other. These attributes provide a secure foundation from which they belong, achieve and thrive. They are very well prepared for life in school and beyond.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

This is a school that sparks children’s imagination and curiosity. From the age of 2, children hurry happily into school in eager anticipation of what each new day will bring. They settle quickly into learning because clear and effective routines, combined with warm relationships with adults, mean that children are safe, understood and nurtured. Children know how to keep themselves safe. They learn how to say ‘stop’ and ‘not appropriate’ if they have any concerns.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Each child’s needs are well understood and seen as unique. This enables adults to identify, at an early stage, children who may face barriers to their learning. Leaders ensure that adult interactions with children are highly effective in helping them to overcome these barriers. Leaders ensure that parents and carers understand the importance of children’s attendance. Children attend well and build firm foundations for learning. Leaders also ensure that children establish positive attitudes to learning and behave well. Unkind behaviour is extremely rare and never tolerated. Staff quickly resolve any issues because behaviour is seen as a form of communication. Children play, share and cooperate well with each other. They become independent, resilient and inquisitive learners because leaders ensure that developing these skills is a sharp focus. Children flourish educationally, personally and socially.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Parents are fully involved in their child’s learning. They support their child to thrive. For example, they attend regular ‘parent and child together’ days where they take part in their child’s learning. Parents have an extremely positive view of the school. One parent summed up the views of many when they stated that the school ‘really is a blueprint to their education and life'.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children and parents share their cultural experiences, including Chinese New Year and the Romanian Mărțișor festival, listening to a parent playing the dhol drum and making wooden tree decorations for a local Christmas tree festival.

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that continued improvements to the implementation of all areas of learning consistently secure and sustain exceptional outcomes for all children.

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About this inspection

The school is part of a federation called the Federation of Kenilworth Nursery School and Whitnash Nursery School.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors is Alison Paveley.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with school leaders, including the executive headteacher and assistant headteacher. The lead inspector spoke with a representative of the local authority, the chair of governors and other members of the governing board during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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Lead inspector:

Barry Yeardsley, His Majesty's Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.

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What does this mean?

Executive headteacher: Rachel Gillett The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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