Ofsted: Dramatic improvement sees Northampton primary school go from ‘inadequate’ to ‘good’

A Northampton primary school has been awarded a ‘good’ rating by Ofsted after its previous ‘inadequate’ inspection.

St Matthews Nursery and Pre-school, in Abington, was visited by Ofsted inspectors in October and was subsequently rated ‘good’ in all areas, including the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

The report said: “When children arrive, staff greet them warmly and children are excited to enter the nursery and play.

“Children show a strong attachment to staff and make friends with the other children. Staff actively support children to be confident at nursery.”

Positive points raised by inspectors about the nursery include the manager taking positive steps to address previous concerns, staff having effective working relationships with parents and providing children with a range of resources to play and widen their experiences.

Inspectors describe how children at the setting pretend they are in a coffee shop and work together to count the cups ready for the customers’ drinks and how toddlers use ride-on toys and exclaim “bubbles” and “aeroplane” when they look up and see them.

Nursery staff were praised for using descriptive words to enhance children’s vocabulary and encouraging children to develop their maths by getting them to count out plates and asking them how many biscuits they need.

To improve their grade to outstanding, St Matthews Nursery and Pre-school staff need to improve their knowledge on promoting children’s conversational skills and understand how to support children to build on their own creative ideas instead of taking the lead all the time.

Read the full Ofsted report here.