St Thomas Centre Nursery School

Overview

Children make a “good start to their education” and are described as “happy and safe” at the school. The inspection found that staff are “nurturing and attentive,” helping children settle quickly while fostering personal attributes such as “collaboration, resilience and curiosity.” The school provides a broad range of learning opportunities that help children become “confident and successful learners.”

Strengths

• The curriculum is “ambitious” and clearly sets out key knowledge to ensure children are “ready for the next stage of their education.”
• Staff effectively support children’s emotional needs, using resources like stories to help them “understand their feelings and express them.”
• Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) “progress well” due to effective collaboration with parents and professionals.
• The school uses space and resources effectively to cultivate creative skills, with “natural resources” playing an important part in learning.
• Governors demonstrate a “strong sense of purpose and passion” and provide valuable support and challenge to the school.

Areas to improve

• Staff interaction with some children is variable, meaning some are not fully included in activities; the school must ensure staff have the skills to “promote effective dialogue and interaction with all children consistently.”
• Curriculum provision in the outdoor environment is “less well developed” than indoors, with some activities lacking clear focus; the school should ensure outdoor activities “contribute to, and extend, children’s early development in all areas of learning.”

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”