Rowley View Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Short inspection of Rowley View Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 3 July 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 October 2013.

This school continues to be outstanding. The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the nursery since the last inspection. Your determination to ensure that each child is seen as an individual and gets all the support needed to be prepared for school is exemplary.

Parents and carers are delighted with all that the nursery offers and say t...hat they are made to feel very welcome and that you and your staff are always there to help. Ably supported by the deputy headteacher and the manager for two-year-olds, you have created a culture of accountability across the nursery where information from staff's detailed observations of children is checked and used to move all groups of children on in their learning. Together with the deputy headteacher, you have ensured that staff undertake regular and thorough assessments of children's learning.

Outcomes of these are discussed weekly so that all staff know the children's interests and have an in-depth knowledge of every child's progress. For example, the children's interest shown in animals and their young has resulted in you purchasing an incubator, so that children can watch chicks hatch from eggs. You have created outstanding teamwork with a hard-working and motivated team.

Staff stop at nothing in order to ensure that children make consistently outstanding progress in relation to their low starting points on entry. From the day that staff visit the children's homes, they are planning activities with parents and carers that will meet the needs and interests of children. Parents and carers are seen as true partners in learning.

In the two-year-old provision, children take home 'Giggles' and 'Chomp' (puppets), who join families in activities that are discussed the next day. This has a positive impact on children's speaking and listening skills, because children are excited to talk about the home activities that they get involved in throughout the day. The curriculum provides very exciting learning opportunities for children, both inside and outdoors.

Many children are happy to dig for minibeasts in the mud kitchen and then talk about their newly found treasures. You and your team are unequivocal in getting early help for children who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. You provide excellent levels of support by working very closely with speech and language therapists and other support agencies.

As a result, these children's needs are very well catered for, enabling them to play and learn successfully alongside other children. Governors are very supportive of the school and they know the school's strengths and areas for development. They are regular visitors to the school.

Together, you have had to make some difficult financial decisions, but none of these have compromised the very high quality of education that you provide. You have addressed the area for improvement identified at the last inspection to ensure that all staff understand, use and moderate assessments. Together with the help of the deputy headteacher, you have implemented very tight systems for monitoring the progress of different groups of children in relation to their starting points.

To ensure that staff are evaluating progress accurately, you have given them training on identifying the skills that underpin different developmental stages. Staff are now very secure in understanding how to use this information when undertaking detailed observations of individual children. You ask the schools to which children go following nursery to give you feedback on the accuracy of your assessments.

This has helped you develop very good links with the local schools in your area. You have weekly discussions on the progress of all groups with your staff and these ensure that no children 'slip through the net'. Safeguarding is effective.

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose. Leaders and staff place great importance on ensuring that the nursery is a safe environment. Risk assessments are extensive and are regularly undertaken.

A very close eye is kept on children as they enter and leave the building. Parents and carers comment that there is always a cheery smile to meet them. You know every child by name and parents and carers feel that they can share any anxieties that they might have with you and that you will always find a solution to a problem.

Off-site visits are very carefully planned so that potential risks to children's safety are assessed and minimised. This is also the case for all activities that take place both indoors and outdoors. We observed how staff develop children's own awareness of what they might do to keep themselves safe outdoors, such as sliding backwards from the climbing frame.

You and your staff teach children how to identify their emotions when they self-register at each session. This contributes to their very positive personal development and well-being, because they can make their needs known to staff. Leaders and staff are well trained and knowledgeable about their duties to safeguard children in their care.

Through strong relationships with children and families, staff are quick to detect changes in a child's circumstances or behaviour that may indicate that their welfare is at risk. Should this be the case, staff report concerns promptly, because they understand the necessity of securing extra help without delay. Governors have received safer recruitment training and undertake appropriate checks on staff.

All documentation is thorough and records are well maintained, demonstrating prompt responses from outside agencies to provide timely and bespoke support when children and families need it. Parent workshops focus on how to stay safe online, with plenty of guidance given to parents on e-safety. Inspection findings ? You carefully monitor both teachers' planning and the comments made in learning journals to ensure accuracy.

You check that targets for all groups of children match their next steps. Every term, you hold progress reviews to ensure that all groups of children are making very secure progress in relation to their starting points. Any groups falling behind get immediate help and support.

As a result, all children, including disadvantaged children and children who have SEN and/or disabilities, make substantial and sustained progress. ? We explored your provision for children to acquire early reading skills. Teaching of early phonics is consistently strong.

Children listen to sounds and rhymes attentively. They take delight in tapping out the rhythms to songs and identifying rhyming words. ? Occasionally, staff do not challenge the high prior-attaining children enough by showing them how familiar words are constructed using letters.

Furthermore, when undertaking mark-making activities and early writing, there are not enough prompts to help high prior-attaining children write their letters correctly. You have already identified this as an area for improvement for next year. ? Since the last inspection, you have received two-year-old children from a nearby nursery that closed.

You did an excellent job at amalgamating two work forces, ensuring that outstanding provision is available throughout the nursery. You achieved this through rigorous strategic planning and clear expectations of the non-negotiables in teaching. You have very clearly communicated to all staff what you expect and you monitor that your expectations are implemented.

You have worked with your staff and governors to establish the nursery's values and mission statement to instil in children a passion for life-long learning from the minute they come through the door. You are relentless in your drive to ensure that all children experience success. ? You spend early years pupil premium funding wisely.

As a result, disadvantaged children make substantial progress. This is because you ensure that these children have enriched learning experiences, individual interventions, free access to breakfast club and adult support with vocabulary acquisition. Nevertheless, you do not have a sufficiently clear overview of which interventions have the most impact on children's outcomes.

As a result, governors do not have sufficient information to inform future planning. You have already identified this as an area for improvement. Next steps for the school Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that: ? high-attaining children are consistently challenged in reading and early writing ? spending of early years pupil premium funding is more closely analysed as to the precise impact of interventions on children's outcomes.

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children's services for Walsall. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website. Yours sincerely Dr Bogusia Matusiak-Varley Ofsted Inspector Information about the inspection I held several meetings with you and your deputy to evaluate the quality of children's education, including their development and achievement over time.

I reviewed a range of documentation pertaining to safeguarding, improvement planning and assessments of children's skills and understanding. I held meetings with the governor with responsibility for safeguarding and I had a telephone conversation with the chair of governors. I spoke to your adviser from the local authority and six parents.

Together with the headteacher and deputy headteacher, I visited classrooms, to observe children as they played and learned. I spoke to children about their learning and looked at a range of assessments, observations and learning journals. I considered the 19 staff responses to the Ofsted questionnaire and 12 responses to Parent View, Ofsted's online questionnaire for parents.