Chelwood Nursery School

Overview

Chelwood Nursery School provides a “warm, welcoming and nurturing environment” where children feel safe and are known well by staff. The report highlights a “strong standard” in personal development and wellbeing, with an “expected standard” across achievement, attendance, curriculum, inclusion, and leadership. While children generally make appropriate progress and leave prepared for Reception, the report identifies specific areas where curriculum planning and assessment practices require refinement to ensure consistent learning outcomes.

Strengths

• Personal development is a “strong standard,” with leaders effectively supporting children’s “confidence, emotional security and independence.”
• Staff build “close, trusting relationships” with children, fostering a culture where pupils feel “emotionally secure” and behave well.
• The curriculum successfully promotes early language development through “high‑quality texts” and real‑world experiences that nurture curiosity.
• Inclusion is effective, with children with special educational needs and disabilities participating fully and receiving tailored support.
• Governors are “knowledgeable and committed,” providing supportive yet challenging oversight of the school’s priorities.

Areas to improve

• Leaders must clarify curriculum sequencing so staff understand how knowledge and skills build progressively over time.
• Assessment information should be used more systematically to identify learning gaps and plan next steps, particularly for less confident communicators.
• Leaders need to strengthen the tracking and analysis of attendance patterns to better support regular attendance for all children.

Safeguarding

The safeguarding standards are met, with leaders establishing an “open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility” and concerns are actively managed.