Harewood Centre Nursery School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 6 July 2022

Every child is seen as unique at this nursery. Staff know the children well and give them the support that they need to develop in all of the areas of learning. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do particularly well as staff work hard to find ways to support their specific needs. Due to this support, children quickly learn important knowledge and skills like taking turns or counting to five. Staff establish effective routines. Children move sensibly from one activity to another. For example, in the two-year-old provision, staff count to 10 on their fingers for children to know when to move from sitting on the carpet to choosing their own independent learning. Children enjoy playing and chatting with staff and with each other. They learn how to be independent and look after resources in their environment. Children behave well and care for each other. Staff support all children to improve their behaviour through warm and nurturing support. When children do something that is not in line with staff's high expectations, staff talk to them about what they should do. They calmly explain what was wrong so that children understand how they should act in future. Parents and carers are highly appreciative of what staff do to help their children develop. As one parent said, 'The extremely caring staff create special bonds with my child and I have regular updates from their key worker'.

What the school should improve

• Leaders have not broken down some of what children need to do in the curriculum into sufficiently small steps. Staff are sometimes not as clear or precise in what they need to do next with children. Leaders should ensure that they map out the curriculum with the small steps of progress that staff need to know. Staff should use this curriculum to plan activities and then assess against how well children have met these planned out small steps.
• Governors do not know enough about the substance of the curriculum nor how well it is being implemented. Leaders do not pass governors enough information about this. The curriculum is not given sufficient evaluation by governors and so some of its deficiencies are missed. Governors should ensure that they evaluate the quality of education in the school. Leaders should pass on information to governors that helps them to do this.

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