Dear Parents and Carers,
It is so lovely to see you all again, and a big welcome to our new families who are just starting with us.
We love September at Nursery. Children seem to grow so much in confidence over the summer holidays and come back to us bursting with new experiences, which we are really eager to hear about!
For all our lovely new children starting with us this year, our first priority is getting to know them all really well—finding out about their family and special people, what interests and inspires them, what worries them, how they like to express themselves, and how we can best get to know them as unique little learners.
We also start the year here with a celebration of our nursery provision.
Ofsted visited us during the last week of the summer term to conduct a short inspection, and we have just received the report which judges that our Nursery School continues to be Outstanding.
The inspectors noticed that:
This is a thoroughly inclusive school. It constantly seeks to reduce barriers for children, so everyone experiences success and makes progress. Everyone is highly ambitious for children at this school. Staff work in close partnership with parents to match the curriculum to each child. Parents deeply value this partnership.
Staff have a deep understanding of how young children develop. They use this with expertise. As a result, children learn the knowledge and skills that prepare them for life. The interactions between adults and children are crucial to the exceptional learning.
Key workers understand the unique child and tailor learning to meet their needs. They also understand the needs of their group, which then determines the shaping of the curriculum. In this way, children make excellent progress through the curriculum.
Children have an exceptional sense of self. The school values each child’s ‘personal history’, which helps children to feel understood. Stories, songs and rhymes from many different cultures deepen children’s sense of belonging to the school community. Children benefit from moments of curiosity and wonder.
The full report can be downloaded below.
This inspection is a schools inspection considering the quality of our provision for 2-4 year-olds.
Like our other local private or voluntary nurseries we also have another Ofsted Inspection for our Day Care (0-2 year-olds), for which we were also judged to be Outstanding in 2022.
St Pauls has now been judged to be outstanding for the last 15 years! And we are the only Nursery School in Central Bristol area to continue to be judged Outstanding.
This is by no means an easy feat – the Ofsted framework changes regularly, and also the cohorts and needs of our children change over time. Responding to local changing needs, changes in educational direction etc whilst maintaining and improving our quality of outstanding provision takes real team commitment and values led leadership.
It is this strength that has enables us to also be recognised nationally for the work we do, being designated firstly as a National Teaching School and more recently as a South West Regional EYs Stronger Practice Hub ‘Bristol and Beyond’.
We are proud of our achievements here at Nursery! Particularly proud given that as you know, like others, we have been struggling within the context of a national recruitment crisis, and with reduced budgets, yet we still have great ambition and execution.
So, please join me in congratulating and thanking our whole staff team and Governors.
Every single one of them adds value to the quality our St Pauls Nursery Learning Community, it is them that makes this a great place to be.
As a group we are fully invested in continuing to change, adapt, improve, review and reimagine outstanding Early Years experiences to provide the very best for your child.
We hope they enjoy this year at our Nursery, and whilst they are here, develop skills for life, confidence and love for learning, and a true sense of self and belonging. Please check out our St Pauls Curriculum to find out more about what they will learn here.
Many thanks for your continued support and for choosing St Pauls for your child.
Kind Regards
Lucy Driver
Executive Headteacher
