Hadfield Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Hadfield Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 6 March 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be outstanding in March 2014. This school continues to be outstanding.

The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Your inspirational leadership makes Hadfield Nursery a unique place for children to learn. The leadership team is highly committed and passionate about early years education.

They have an exceptional knowledge of children'...s early development. The approach of all staff is reflected in the school's mission statement: 'a welcome for all, learning for all, enjoyment for all and success for all'. As a result, children make outstanding progress and leave Hadfield Nursery School extremely well prepared for primary school.

Children enjoy a highly stimulating environment. The outdoor area enables children to make excellent progress in their skills of exploring, investigating and learning about the natural world, as well as encouraging them to experiment with managed risk. The allotment provides excellent opportunities for children to grow seeds, water plants as they grow and then harvest the fruit and vegetables for their own use.

The innovative and extensive curriculum promotes all aspects of literacy and numeracy extremely well. Children's enjoyment of learning is obvious. They show high levels of curiosity, imagination and enthusiasm.

Children settle quickly and sustain their concentration for significant periods of time. Consequently, children flourish and make significant gains in their learning. Children are immersed in a language-rich environment.

They enjoy countless opportunities to share their thoughts and their learning. A 'sea of talk' permeates their environment. Adults constantly encourage children to talk and explain what they are doing.

They are highly skilled in providing a narrative for children's play and never miss an opportunity to introduce new vocabulary. Signing is also used skilfully by adults to reinforce language. Consequently, children make outstanding progress in their communication and language skills.

School records and children's learning journals confirm that teaching over time is outstanding. The very high levels of attention staff pay to observing children's learning mean that all adults have a detailed knowledge of the children's interests, skills and progress. As a result, staff plan learning that is always precisely matched to each child's needs.

You have successfully tackled the area for improvement from the last inspection. You know your school extremely well and are committed wholeheartedly to developing and improving it further. For example, you have accurately identified the barriers to learning for disadvantaged children.

A wide range of initiatives are in place to tackle these. As a result, the difference between the attainment of disadvantaged children and non-disadvantaged children is diminishing. Despite this, you are not complacent and have clear plans to fully close any remaining gaps.

Parents and carers cannot praise your leadership and the quality of provision highly enough. They say that staff consistently go above and beyond the call of duty to meet the individual needs of their children. One parent said, 'I feel so lucky that both my children have been able to have such a great start with a brilliant place like Hadfield Nursery.'

The school enjoys an excellent reputation within the local community. The school is continually at the cutting edge of early years practice. This is confirmed by its outstanding status for a fourth consecutive inspection.

Safeguarding is effective. All of the statutory welfare and safeguarding requirements for the early years are met. Leaders have ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose.

You ensure that the safeguarding of children is a high priority. Staff are vetted carefully prior to appointment. All of the statutory checks are made to ensure their suitability to work with children.

Rigorous induction processes ensure that all staff have an excellent understanding of your expectations and the requirement of their responsibilities. Staff are trained to the right level to fulfil their duties, including the lead professional for safeguarding and child protection. Staff receive regular updates.

They are trained in the 'Prevent' duty and know the signs of radicalisation or extremism. As a result, all staff understand the importance of safeguarding children. They make sure that children are able to play in a safe and secure environment, without fear or prejudice.

Children are confident and emotionally secure because of the highly effective relationships they have with all adults. The key worker system is exemplary. Staff give consistently high levels of priority to the safety of children.

They effectively support children's growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Parents are confident that their children are kept safe. Inspection findings ? You have moulded a highly talented and committed team who pursue excellence every day and in every way.

The school is a beacon of early years excellence. As a result, children receive the very best possible start to their education. ? The governing body is an enthusiastic and highly committed team.

Governors use their wide range of skills effectively to support and challenge senior leaders. They share your ambition to improve the school continuously. They monitor the school's performance effectively and ensure that statutory requirements are met.

Since the previous inspection, governors have increased their range of visits to the school. They plan regular formal visits, support a wide range of school events and act as volunteers. Consequently, they have an excellent understanding of what is happening 'on the ground'.

Regular governor updates in the school newsletter keep parents informed about the work that governors do and the impact this has on helping the school to improve continuously. ? Learning is fun. Every day brings new surprises, possibilities and challenges for children.

For example, the children were spellbound by the visit of a farmer with two chickens. They showed extremely high levels of inquisitiveness as the farmer explained she was leaving some eggs that would hatch chicks over the next few days. Later in the day, the excitement was palpable as children kept a close eye on the eggs and noticed a tiny crack appearing in one of them.

• The extra funding for disadvantaged children is being used very effectively to provide additional support and a wide range of enrichment experiences. It is used mainly to increase staffing levels, but also to provide children with additional resources. For example, children enjoy taking home rhyme bags, story bags, maths bags and chatterboxes.

This well-considered spending is making a difference to the achievement of disadvantaged children. For example, last school year, disadvantaged children's achievement was better than that of non-disadvantaged children in mathematics. ? Children's emotional development is superbly supported by the highly skilled and caring staff.

Children feel very safe because of the strong bonds they quickly form with their key workers. This helps children to settle happily, promotes their emotional well-being and raises their self-esteem. ? The behaviour of children is outstanding.

Children learn how to share toys, make decisions, join in activities, make friends and respect each other. Children are extremely polite and well mannered. The school actively encourages children to understand each other's differences.

As a result, children learn to value themselves and others. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? the school's work to remove early barriers to learning for disadvantaged children continues and develops, in order to enable them to be highly successful across all areas of the curriculum. I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Derbyshire.

This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Dorothy Bathgate Her Majesty's Inspector Information about the inspection I met with you, the senior teacher and three members of the governing body. I held a telephone conversation with a representative of the local authority.

We conducted a tour of the school together and visited all areas to see children and staff at work. I observed children's behaviour around the school throughout the day and at lunchtime. I met a number of parents informally at the beginning of the school day.

I considered the views of 18 parents posted on Ofsted's online survey, Parent View, as well as the 18 responses made using the free-text service. I also considered the eight responses to the survey of staff. I evaluated a range of documents, including safeguarding records and documents.