Castleway Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Leasowe Nursery School is a happy place for children to learn. Parents, carers and children are welcomed with a kind, warm and friendly smile as they arrive at school each day.

Children feel safe.

They trust staff to care for them when they need comfort or reassurance. Children benefit from the positive relationships that they have with staff. Adults help children to settle quickly into a supportive learning environment.

Leaders expect all children to do well. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children are eager to learn and they enjoy the range of experiences and activities that they are offered.

Howev...er, in many areas of learning, leaders have not organised the curriculum effectively enough. This hinders children from achieving well and from learning all that they should.

Children behave well in school.

Bullying is not an issue. Children know that adults will step in quickly if they need help to sort out any difficulties.

The nursery is well organised and children know the school routines well.

Children develop independence, for example they are confident to hang their coats up as they arrive at school. They can quickly find their name card for the register.

Children enjoy the outside environment.

It is full of varied, interesting and fun activities which contribute to their wider development. For example, in the woodland area children love to learn new skills, practise what they know and explore ways to solve problems.

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

The new school leadership team has wasted no time in trying to get this school back on its feet.

They have ensured that a curriculum that covers all of the overarching areas of learning in the 'Statutory framework for the early years foundation stage' is in place. However, in most areas of learning, leaders' curriculum thinking is still in development. They have not thought in enough detail about exactly what children should learn.

Leaders have not provided staff with enough information about the most important knowledge that children need to know and be able to do. Consequently, some children are not as well prepared as they should be for the next steps in their education.

Staff's enthusiasm for learning engages children and encourages them to join in the activities on offer.

However, the activities that some teachers prepare are not always well matched to the content that staff want children to learn. This holds a few children back in their learning and development.

In aspects of learning such as communication and language, staff are confident about spotting and checking what children know and understand.

However, in some other areas of learning, staff do not have enough detailed knowledge of the curriculum to gather the same quality of information about how well children are learning. This means that staff do not know precisely what gaps children have in their learning, nor exactly how well children are learning across the curriculum.

The provision for two-year-old children caters well for this age group.

Staff build strong and trusting relationships with children. This, along with well-thought-out activities, enable these children to get off to a good start. Staff successfully encourage the youngest children to count, play, explore their environment and enjoy the stories that they hear.

Leaders have begun to invest in staff training and they have appropriate plans in place to develop this further. For example, leaders have appropriately focused training on the quality of interactions that staff have with children. This training has helped staff to foster children's development in communication and language.

A love of books and stories are an important feature of school life. Children huddle around any adult that has a story to tell. At the time of the inspection, children were often seen initiating storytelling by taking a book to an adult to share with them.

Older children enjoy being involved in small-group sessions to develop their listening skills and to prepare them to learn letters and sounds. However, children do not get enough chances to practise the sounds and skills that they are learning at other times in the school day. This means that opportunities are missed for children to consolidate their learning in relation to early reading.

Leaders identify the additional needs of children with SEND early and accurately. They work well with parents and professionals to make sure that these children receive the support that they need. Leaders ensure that these children have the same opportunities to access the curriculum as their peers.

Children play well together in a calm environment. Staff model important learning behaviours such as listening, concentrating and not giving up.

Staff make sure that children learn about keeping themselves healthy.

They talk to children about healthy snacks and food, as well as encouraging them to enjoy physical activity. Children learn how to recognise their feelings and how to manage them appropriately.

Governors are holding leaders increasingly to account for their work to improve the curriculum.

Together with school leaders, they know what is working well and what needs further work. Staff are well supported with their workload. Most are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that staff and governors are well trained and knowledgeable about keeping children safe. The procedures in place to identify and report safeguarding concerns are well understood by all staff.

Leaders are strong advocates for vulnerable children and their families. Where safeguarding needs are identified, support is timely. Leaders engage well with external agencies when needed.

The curriculum provides opportunities for children to learn about their personal safety. For example, children learn about staying safe in the woodland area attached to the school and they learn how to use equipment correctly, such as scissors.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In several areas of learning, leaders have not given sufficient thought to the most important knowledge that children must learn.

This makes it difficult for staff to ensure that children are learning everything that they need to know to be ready for primary school. Leaders should identify the exact curriculum content in these areas of learning so that staff know exactly what knowledge children must learn. ? In some instances, the activities that staff design to support children's learning are not matched closely enough to the content that staff want children to know.

This prevents children from learning all that they could. Leaders must ensure that the activities staff choose for children match exactly to what they want children to know and be able to do. ? Some staff do not use assessment systems consistently well to check what children know and understand across all areas of learning.

This is partly because leaders have not identified the exact content of the curriculum that staff should be assessing. This makes it difficult for staff to know precisely what gaps children have in their knowledge and understanding. Leaders need to identify the knowledge that children must learn across the curriculum and ensure that staff are confident in how to check what children know and understand across all areas of learning.

• Children do not get enough chances to practise the sounds and skills that they are learning across the curriculum. This means that opportunities are missed for children to consolidate new learning. Leaders should ensure that staff provide opportunities for children to practice and reinforce their early reading and growing early phonetic knowledge across the curriculum.

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