Boundstone Nursery School Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Strengthen the role played by the governing body even further by making sure that all governors have a clear and precise view of the school’s performance and of school improvement priorities.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher is extremely knowledgeable about children’s learning and development, and is passionate about the importance of early years education. His commitment and expertise underpin the nursery’s positive atmosphere and its success.
• The headteacher has developed a highly effective leadership team. He and his team lead by example. Together, they have developed a deeply embedded culture of high expectations, respect for individuals and enthusiasm for learning.
• Leaders combine the highest expectations of children’s learning with a deep understanding of their individual needs. They have worked extremely well with the staff team since the previous inspection, so that the school has gone from strength to strength. High-quality teaching ensures that children learn exceptionally well and are very well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• The teacher in charge of the special support centre leads her team with skill and creativity. Extremely effective teaching and close attention to individual children’s needs ensure that those children who attend the centre make the same substantial progress as other children in the nursery.
• Leaders make every penny of pupil premium funding count. They make good use of the wealth of expertise within the nursery staff, as well as consulting other professionals and agencies. As a result, disadvantaged children are very well supported and make strong progress.
• The inclusion leader works closely and very effectively with parents, schools and other agencies. This ensures that children settle quickly when they join the nursery at the start of the year. She makes sure that all children are equally well prepared for the move to the next stage of their education when they leave the nursery. Leaders use extra funding for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities very effectively.
• Reports about children’s progress and development, including those completed for children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, reflect the wealth of experience and wisdom in the nursery team. They are exceptionally high quality and give teachers and parents specific, practical targets to support children’s learning.
• Parents are very pleased with the way their children settle into the nursery. They are impressed by the progress their children have already made this year.
• Leaders and teachers constantly review the nursery’s work and make adjustments according to children’s needs. The school’s involvement in projects locally and nationally enables leaders to share strong practice and to reflect on and refine the quality of the school’s work.
• Leaders and teaching staff ensure that children learn extremely well across all areas of the early years curriculum. They provide a wide range of stimulating experiences which help children to develop personally and academically.
• The curriculum makes a strong contribution to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. For example, teachers regularly plan activities which feed children’s curiosity about the world, providing many opportunities for children to discover, explore and appreciate their environment.
• The school is a welcoming and inclusive community. The teaching staff promote British values effectively throughout the nursery. For example, they help children make friends and encourage them to be kind to each other.

Governance of the school

• Governors share the headteacher’s commitment to providing the best quality education for children. They provide strong support and challenge for the nursery’s leaders.
• Governors make good use of a wide range of information, including the headteacher’s reports, to check that improvements in the nursery are on track. Their visits to the nursery give them a first-hand view of how developments are making a difference to children’s learning.
• Governors recognise the significant developments made to the nursery’s work since the previous inspection. They are understandably proud of the impact these improvements have had on children’s learning. However, they are not always clear about how well different groups of children are learning, or about priorities for improvement in the nursery. This means that the support and challenge they provide for the leadership team are not always as precise as they could be.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• The nursery’s strong community atmosphere ensures that adults know the children very well and are alert to their needs. All members of staff play their part in the smooth, orderly running of the nursery. Well-established routines and caring relationships ensure that children feel secure.
• Leaders take children’s safety very seriously. They make sure that staff and governors know what to do if they have any concerns about a child’s welfare and do not hesitate to follow up any queries about children’s safety. Leaders work closely and constructively with parents, as well as with agencies such as local authority children’s services, to make sure that children are safe.
• The teaching staff weave safety messages into their everyday practice so that children learn how to behave safely and sensibly. For example, adults show children how to use scissors safely during craft activities and give them regular, gentle reminders about the importance of washing their hands before eating snacks.
• Leaders have established robust safeguarding procedures. For example, they and the site manager complete regular and rigorous safety checks and ensure that the nursery is well maintained, carefully supervised and safe.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• The teaching staff are experts in early years teaching. They work exceptionally well together to support children’s learning and development. Regular discussions about children’s progress ensure that all members of the teaching staff have a thorough understanding of individual children’s needs and know precisely how to support them in their learning.
• The teaching staff make sure that learning is stimulating, fun and challenging. They make full use of every opportunity to develop children’s learning, planning activities in direct response to children’s interests and needs. For example, they encourage children to join in with the countdown at the end of each session, showing them how to use their fingers to help them to count backwards from five to zero.
• Adults establish clear routines and expectations which contribute to children’s excellent behaviour. For example, adults use the same ‘traffic light’ signals throughout the nursery to indicate that the end of a session is approaching so that children know that they need to finish their games and help tidy up.
• Teaching staff weave opportunities for children to talk and to develop language skills throughout the wide range of activities provided in the nursery. For example, a teacher’s discussion with children who were playing with sand during the inspection enabled them to use and compare terms such as ‘light’ and ‘heavy’ in a meaningful way.
• Adults teach early reading and writing skills, including phonics (letters and the sounds they represent), very effectively. They make excellent use of a wide range of good-quality books and writing materials to capture and develop children’s interest in reading and writing.
• The extensive outdoor area provides children with lots of space to be creative and active. For example, during the inspection several children in the outdoor area enjoyed kicking a football to each other with increasing accuracy. They cooperated very well together, discussing where each of them should stand and spontaneously devising their own challenges to make their game even more interesting.
• Teachers in the special support centre are an integral part of the teaching team and, like their children, participate fully in all aspects of the nursery. They happily share their expertise with colleagues so that all children benefit from their specialist knowledge.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding.
• Children are happy, busy and active learners. They are eager to get started when they arrive at the start of each session and promptly join in with the wide range of appealing activities. The teaching staff provide lots of warm reassurance for those children who are a little unsure, so that any anxieties are soon forgotten.
• Children rapidly grow in confidence because they feel secure and valued. They proudly show teaching staff their work, knowing that adults will praise and encourage their achievements.
• Children are comfortable about speaking to adults about their ideas, experiences and feelings, and listen carefully to what their teachers say. Adults respond sensitively when children are upset. Parents are understandably confident that their children are in safe hands.
• Children who attend the breakfast club enjoy playing and eating breakfast with their friends. Adults effectively encourage good table manners and children respond enthusiastically.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.
• All teaching staff know the children and their needs extremely well. They share responsibility for children’s behaviour and learning and follow the school’s behaviour policy consistently. As a result, children are clear about how they are expected to behave and are very keen to do well.
• Strong relationships and a wide range of appealing activities ensure that children quickly settle at the start of each session. Adults are quick to praise children for behaving well and for being kind to each other. They give children gentle reminders about how to behave in the very few cases of misbehaviour.
• Children are exceptionally well prepared with the personal and social skills needed to achieve well in the next stage of their education.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Children learn extremely well during their time in the nursery. The nursery’s positive, upbeat atmosphere, combined with highly effective teaching, ensures that all groups of children make substantial progress in all areas of learning, including those who attend the special support centre.
• The children are inquisitive and curious about the world and participate eagerly in learning. Adults nurture children’s interests, helping children to develop the skills needed to explore the world around them safely. For example, the children love to clamber among the branches of ‘the climbing tree’, while an adult keeps a watchful eye on proceedings and gives the occasional reminder about keeping safe. Activities such as these help children to develop the coordination skills and self-assurance which support their progress in all areas of learning.
• Adults routinely use questioning to encourage all children to share ideas and to think creatively. High-quality questioning regularly challenges and extends children’s understanding of the world, including for the most able, so that they make excellent progress. An example of this was seen during the inspection, when skilful teaching helped a group of children to work together. Children made good use of their knowledge of balance and materials to solve the tricky problem of a wobbly bridge.
• Adults’ high expectations, combined with sensitive support, ensure that children develop personal and social skills very quickly. For example, at this early stage in the school year, children are already confident about pouring their own drinks. They happily spread butter on their toast at the snack table, knowing that adults will help them to sort out any mistakes quietly and without fuss.
• Highly effective teaching and careful use of pupil premium funding ensures that disadvantaged children achieve extremely well. Adults continuously adjust teaching and activities so that learning builds strongly on children’s starting points. Consistently high expectations, thought-provoking activities and the skilful use of questioning ensure that the most able disadvantaged children also make outstanding progress.
• Adults give the development of language and speech skills a high priority. The sound of children talking about their ideas and experiences fills the nursery. Children learn how to use a rapidly increasing range of vocabulary as they play, explore and learn. Observations during the inspection give a good flavour of the nursery’s day-to-day work to develop children’s vocabulary. For example, one group of children used all their senses to describe the look, feel and smell of modelling clay; a second group excitedly described to an adult how fast they were going on their tricycles; and a third group used words such as ‘small’, ‘smallest’ and ‘smaller’ to compare toy bears.
• Children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make excellent progress. Strong teamwork between teaching staff and speech and language therapists ensure that those children who attend the special support centre make the same substantial progress as their classmates.
• Children of all abilities make strong progress in the development of reading and writing skills. They love books and their recent letters to a fairy looking for a home are full of character and enthusiasm for the task. The nursery’s records of children’s progress indicate that teaching over time nurtures and builds on these positive attitudes and starting points very effectively.

School details

Unique reference number 125810 Local authority West Sussex Inspection number 10012606 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Nursery School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3 to 5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 141 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sandie Piper Headteacher Jim Brannan Telephone number 01903 276860 Website www.boundstone-lancingcfc.co.uk Email address office@boundstonenursery.co.uk Date of previous inspection 18–19 July 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• The school is larger than the average-sized nursery school. It provides 78 places for children attending the morning session and a further 78 places in the afternoon. Children move freely within the nursery areas.
• The nursery school also provides 29 childcare places for zero- to three-year-olds. This provision is managed by the governing body. This part of the nursery was inspected separately in January 2017.
• The school has a special support centre for 16 children who have speech and language needs. Currently, 14 children attend the centre. Children participate fully in activities throughout the nursery, returning to the centre at times for group work and for specialist teaching.
• Almost all children are White British.
• The school runs a breakfast club before the start of the school day.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed learning throughout the nursery. Most observations were completed jointly with the headteacher and deputy headteacher.
• The inspector held discussions with the headteacher, senior leaders and a local authority representative. She also met with four governors, including the chair of the governing body.
• The inspector considered the views expressed by parents informally during the school day and took account of five staff responses to the online questionnaire.
• The inspector observed the school’s work and reviewed a range of documents, including safeguarding policies and the school’s improvement plan.
• The inspector considered information about children’s progress and looked at a sample of their work.

Inspection team

Julie Sackett, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector