The Orchards Nursery School

What Ofsted said

From the inspection on 21 March 2024

Children make a positive start to their education at this welcoming school. The school is ambitious for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Building independence is an important aspect of the school's ambition for its children. Skilled staff help children learn the knowledge and skills to realise this. Many children, including those with SEND, achieve well. Children work hard to meet the school's high expectations for their behaviour. Staff promote positive behaviour from the moment children join the two-year-old provision. Children learn the importance of sharing and cooperating with one another. Staff provide effective support for those children who need extra help with their behaviour. Older children learn how to care for others, such as checking on a friend when they are upset. Children are happy and enjoy coming to school. They readily engage with the exciting learning activities. Children learn to be responsible through activities such as caring for chicks and tidying up. They also learn about people who help others in a community, gaining particular delight in visits from firefighters and police officers.

What the school should improve

• In some areas of learning, the school has not identified the important knowledge that children should learn in enough detail. This hinders staff in knowing what learning they should prioritise when designing activities and slows some children's learning. This contributes to some children not deepening their knowledge as well as they could. The school should finalise their curriculum thinking in these areas of learning.
• In a small number of areas, at times, staff do not check on children's understanding of the key knowledge in the curriculum. As a result, in these areas, some children are not as well prepared for the next stage of education as they could be. The school should ensure that staff identify and address any gaps in key knowledge that children may have.

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