Otley Street Community Nursery School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 12 November 2024

Children receive exceptional care and support in this nursery. Right from the start of the day, children are keen to come in and get started on their learning. They feel very happy and safe in their nursery environment. The nursery has high expectations for children's learning. Children repay these expectations by looking after each other and their environment. After they have drawn a picture, solved a puzzle or made play dough pancakes, they put all the equipment away themselves. Adults make sure that no moment of learning time is lost. Children walk through the nursery quietly and calmly when they need to get to another room. Music and singing are a regular part of each day. Children enjoy this immensely. They learn rhythm and important words through learning songs and rhymes. They also relish their regular story times. Children join in with completing sentences and guess what will happen next. Children are kind and respectful to each other. They learn about how to treat others fairly. They feel listened to and supported. Staff introduce learning about British fundamental values intelligently. For instance, they help children to understand individual liberty through the example of giving everyone a chance to talk on the carpet. Children talk about their feelings using teddy bears or stories which help them explain what they are feeling.

What the school should improve

• Some of the areas of learning have new curriculums in place or the school has recently refined the existing curriculum. Occasionally, staff do not cover the most important knowledge in these curriculums in their teaching. The school needs to ensure that staff know how to implement the curriculum in these areas so that they are confident to focus on the intended knowledge in their teaching.
• There is some lack of coherence and depth in how the school decides on enrichment experiences and maps these to match with the curriculum. Children do not have sufficient opportunities to gain the depth of understanding about life outside the nursery that they need. The school should follow through on their plans to diversify these experiences and ensure that they clearly match them to the curriculum.

Read the full Ofsted report (opens in a new tab)