The Lawns Nursery School, Windsor

What is it like to attend this school?

Children thrive in this welcoming and inclusive nursery. As one parent commented, 'The school lays great foundations for education by instilling a love for learning, creativity and reading.' Sessions begin and end with familiar routines. This makes for a happy and settled nursery community. When children come in, they enjoy deciding which area to play in or choosing a book and relaxing on a beanbag to read peacefully. Before going home, children practise their yoga poses and sing well-known songs.

As children explore the indoor and outdoor areas, adults make the most of opportunities to help them consider what is safe and what is unsafe. Consequently, children are confident about how to look after themselves while playing independently, for example on the outdoor climbing frames or when using resources in the creative area.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The school sets highly ambitious goals for what children will learn before they leave the nursery. The precise and thoughtful way in which the curriculum is designed enables children's learning to build securely. For example, in physical development, children strengthen their muscles through yoga and by moving with ribbons and streamers. They have many opportunities to climb, jump, throw and catch in the school's well-developed outside area. Adults support children very well with developing their physical skills, such as through modelling and suggesting ways to use tools such as hammers in woodwork. They actively encourage children to challenge themselves and take risks on the larger equipment, inspiring them to practise so that they become physically confident. Engaging activities, such as writing with large chalks and pens on giant paper on the floor, are planned deliberately. These prepare children well for developing finer motor skills, which they later strengthen as they use an increasingly more complex range of tools and resources. As a result of this deliberate approach to their development, children make excellent progress from their starting points in this and other aspects of the early years curriculum. Consequently, they are very well prepared for their key stage 1 learning.

Leadership & management.

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