A WIDNES nursery may lose its outstanding title of 15 years in its next graded inspection.

Based on Naylor Road, Warrington Road Nursery School was first given the highest grading of outstanding by Ofsted back in 2005.

And every full inspection since, it has received the same exceptional outcome.

However, an official report from a recent non-graded inspection in January this year indicated that the school may drop a grading in its next graded visit from the education watchdogs.

An inspector confirmed that there has been no change to the overall judgement of the school currently.

The inspector went on to say: “However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now.

“The school’s next inspection will be a graded inspection.”

During the visit, the inspector noted the ‘high expectations’ set by the nursery and how ‘children are full of smiles when they arrive’.

“They are greeted by kind and nurturing staff. Children feel safe and happy. They trust staff to care for them, including when they need comfort or reassurance.”

It was reported that children take part in learning activities ‘with confidence’ and staff support them to ‘play and investigate in well-equipped classrooms and outdoor areas’.

“Children proudly showed inspectors their favourite books and resources,” they added.

Positive points mentioned in the report included the staff’s ‘in-depth knowledge of child development’ and how to identify SEND quickly.

As well as the school’s focus on developing reading skills, communication and language.

However, downfalls that were highlighted in the report included staff not building children knowledge further.

“In the main, staff successfully join in with children’s play, supporting and extending their ideas and investigations. However, on occasions, some staff do not build children’s knowledge and understanding through carefully considered, well-planned conversations. This hinders some children from learning as well as they could.”

Another note for improvement was related to the curriculum which in some areas the school is ‘still identifying essential knowledge children should learn’.

“This means that, sometimes, staff find it difficult to design learning that helps children to gain important knowledge. Occasionally, this leads to gaps in children’s learning that prevent children from building on what they already know and can do.”

Concluding, the inspector positively noted how the staff ‘skilfully’ teach children expectations for their behaviour and support their wider development well.

To read the full inspection visit reports.ofsted.gov.uk/