St Johns Roman Catholic Primary School (After School Club and Nursery)

What is it like to attend this early years setting?

Children arrive excited to start their day at this welcoming nursery. Staff chat with parents and greet children warmly. This helps children to feel safe and secure. Children display strong bonds with staff and go to them for guidance or reassurance when they need it. Children are eager to share ideas and invite their friends to join in their play. As children roll cars down the wooden planks, staff seize the opportunity to extend their learning. They ask children to identify how fast or slow their cars are travelling. Furthermore, children learn to be critical thinkers as they excitedly engage in an experiment to see which objects will roll or not. Staff ask the children 'how' they can adapt the equipment and 'why' they think this is a good idea. Children are eager to share their predictions. They are highly motivated learners.

Children are confident and happy as they interact with trusted staff and friends. Staff are good role models. They encourage children to learn how to share from a young age. Children are well behaved. They listen to instructions and learn appropriate boundaries. Staff get to know children well and understand how to help them to manage their own feelings. Children are kind and respectful to each other, which promotes a harmonious environment.

What does the early years setting do well and what does it need to do better?

• The provider and manager are highly committed leaders who aspire to achieve the very best for the children and their families. Leaders have established good links with outside agencies. They receive regular support from the local authority and embrace their feedback by making further improvements. For example, the manager has recently made changes to the indoor play areas to ensure that children get the most out of their nursery experience.
• Leaders oversee the assessments of children's progress. They work together with staff to swiftly identify any gaps in children's learning or potential developmental delays. The special educational needs coordinator also supports staff to implement specific programmes of learning for each child. Prompt referrals are made to outside agencies, if required. This early intervention helps children to make good progress.
• Staff feel fully supported in their roles. They benefit from a programme of supervision meetings and observations of their practice. However, staff do not always use their knowledge of the children to sufficiently challenge their learning, to help them to make the best possible progress.
• Leaders and staff place a high emphasis on literacy through the use of books and storytelling. Younger children enjoy listening to stories and excitedly talk about what happened to the characters. Staff also arranged for an author to visit to read their story to the children. This exciting opportunity helped children to
• Inspection report: St Johns Roman Catholic Primary School (After School Club and Nursery) 2 14 September 2023 learn key information about books, which further enhances their language and literacy skills.
• In the main, the curriculum is ambitious and well sequenced. Staff get to know children well and provide activities and learning experiences that follow their current interests. However, on occasion, staff do not recognise when it would be beneficial to remind children of previous learning or check their understanding before moving them on. This does not consistently help children to build on what they already know.
• Children listen and follow the nursery routines well. They are also proficient in their self-care skills. For example, they wash their hands before eating and are keen to help to tidy the toys away. Staff teach children how to behave and care for others. For example, staff encourage children to identify good behaviours among themselves. As a result, children understand the importance of sharing, which they demonstrate as they invite their friends to select the colour of dough they want to play with.
• Parents speak positively about the nursery and staff. They explain how their children have been supported when transitioning to the Reception class in the host school. Parents are also pleased that staff have helped their children to adjust to the nursery routines. Staff and parents have regular meetings to discuss achievable targets that children can work towards to help them make good progress.

What the setting must and should do next

The provider should:

• strengthen the monitoring of staff practice to ensure that staff use their knowledge of the children to sufficiently extend and challenge children's learning
• support staff to better sequence aspects of the curriculum so that children build on what they already know and can do.
• Inspection report: St Johns Roman Catholic Primary School (After School Club and Nursery) 3 14 September 2023