Croyland Nursery School & Day Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Croyland Nursery School & Day Nursery continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming place for children to learn and play. There are strong relationships between staff, children and parents and carers. Staff nurture and keep children safe.

Each child has a key member of staff to turn to if they feel worried. Staff continually check on children's progress and well-being. They work with parents to meet children's needs extremely well.

Children are happy. Their time in nursery is fun and filled with thought-provoking activities and experiences.

Staff plan children's learning carefully.

They are sensitive and... patient in their work with children. They model and explain to children how to do things. They make sure that children understand the language they use and can use it themselves.

They encourage children to be resilient and experience new things. Children often go on trips outside of the nursery with staff, to broaden their experiences. They explore the local area as part of their weekly 'wellie walks'.

Children's behaviour is excellent. Staff help children who need support to manage their behaviour. They do this calmly and with warmth.

Children settle quickly into routines. Staff encourage them to be curious learners. The school provides a secure foundation for children to build their future learning.

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

This inclusive nursery school is exceptionally well led. Leaders, including governors, work together as a strong team. They are aspirational for children.

They lead with the belief that all children can thrive at the nursery. Staff share leaders' desire for children to become independent, inquisitive learners. Children are very well prepared to start primary schools.

Leaders have a continual drive for further improvement. They are reflective and insightful. They take part in national and international research.

They support staff to use innovative approaches in their teaching of the curriculum. Staff appreciate the opportunities leaders provide for them to improve their practice. They are dedicated to providing high-quality care for children.

They have high expectations of all children. This includes those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Staff support them to progress and also develop their self-esteem.

Curriculum plans are coherent and progressive. Staff identify what children need to learn. They identify any gaps in children's learning.

They plan to meet each child's specific needs. Children build on what they know. Staff frequently discuss the progress and development of each child.

They make the most of every opportunity to help children in their learning. The development of children's mathematical knowledge is woven through different activities. For example, children use scales to weigh ingredients to make cakes.

Staff encourage children to measure carefully. They ensure that children understand the term 'grams' and support them to read numbers. Throughout the nursery, the joy of story reading is evident.

Staff share fairy tales such as 'Little Red Riding Hood'. Children act out stories in their role play and when playing with puppets in the puppet theatre. They do so with enthusiasm and delight.

Staff constantly develop children's language and communication skills. For example, children love the music group, where they communicate through playing different instruments. They use instruments such as African drums.

They often join staff in singing songs and nursery rhymes. These help to develop children's vocabulary and appreciation of rhythm. Children quickly become keen communicators.

They are eager to take part in the wide variety of exciting activities.

Children develop independence and ability to assess risk. For example, we saw children building a 'wolf trap' based on their knowledge of 'The Three Little Pigs'.

Children wanted to climb on top of a small barrel. Staff helped children to assess whether the barrel was stable enough to stand on. Children thoughtfully considered possible alternatives.

Children's confidence to try things out radiates throughout the nursery.

The nursery environment is rich with activities to promote children's learning and development. Parents typically describe their children as 'blossoming' and 'becoming increasingly resilient' as a result of the high standards of care and education the nursery provides.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding throughout the school. Staff receive appropriate training on how to keep children safe.

They understand the procedure to pass on any safeguarding concerns. Leaders establish positive relationships with families. They work effectively with agencies to provide families with the support they need.

Leaders are tenacious in following up safeguarding concerns. They keep secure and comprehensive records. They make sure that staff understand the potential risks children may face.

These include online grooming and drugs and alcohol misuse. Staff teach children how to keep themselves safe in situations such as using the internet and crossing the road.

Background

When we have judged a maintained nursery 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 a section 8 inspection of a good or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding on 29–30 January 2015.

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