Inspection Report - St Maria Goretti Nursery School

St Maria Goretti Nursery School

DE Ref No 113- 6353

Inspection Report - October 2025

St Maria Goretti Nursery School provides a warm, inclusive, and nurturing environment where the children feel safe, families are welcomed and supported, and the staff feel valued and empowered to make a difference. Its vision, ‘learning to learn, hand in hand’, is clearly embedded in daily practice. The staff contribute fully to the life and work of the nursery school, creating a child-centred setting where everyone is supported to learn. A specialist provision class was established in September 2024.
The priorities within the three-year school development plan have been informed by a broad range of feedback from parents, staff and governors. The detailed plan has appropriate areas for development and includes the further embedding of support for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN) attending the specialist provision and the use of ‘in the moment’ planning. A highly strategic approach to the review and monitoring of the actions, involving all staff, is in place.
The children have very high levels of independence, self-register on arrival and for snack and self-label their creative work. They lead their learning and engage enthusiastically in the wide range of practical learning opportunities across both the classroom and extensive outdoor learning environments. The children are developing well their confidence and resilience as they experiment and learn from mistakes in the safe and engaging environment.
A key strength of the provision is the development of the children’s interest in their world around them and their care for the environment. They access independently the vast range of real and authentic resources which enhance their curiosity and support very effectively the development of their exploratory and investigative skills. The children share resources readily, many of them engage in collaborative play and are establishing very good social skills and early friendships. Their behaviour is exemplary.
The staff work collaboratively to create a stimulating and dynamic learning environment where all of the children are happy, settle quickly and participate readily in their play. A robust planning, observation and assessment cycle is in place and is based on the staff’s extensive knowledge and understanding of each child’s needs, interests and ability. Through ‘in the moment’ planning, the staff provide an adaptive curriculum which meets more readily the needs of the children, enhances their engagement and develops their curiosity. Most of the children are making good progress in their learning.
All of the staff are highly pastoral, caring and sensitive in their interactions with the children. They model expectations and language and use skilfully open-ended questions to develop the children’s vocabulary and thinking skills. Specific and effective interventions are in place for children who require support with their learning, such as, small group sessions led by the Full-Service Community Network (FSCN) and are impacting positively on the children’s social engagement and speech and language.
Inclusion, equity and diversity are highly valued and are at the heart of the whole nursery school community, where everyone is respected and valued. The specialist provision has become an integral part of the life and work of the nursery school and meets very effectively the complex needs of the children.
Opportunities for staff professional learning have been proactively sourced, and the staff apply very well the skills and knowledge they have gained to support and develop the children’s social-emotional, language, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Regular professional learning is helping the staff to maintain successfully high-quality practice. They have welcomed staff from other schools to observe their use of strategies which are developing effectively the communication skills of the children in the specialist provision.
Very effective parental partnerships are forged through initiatives such as the Department of Education’s ‘Getting Ready To Learn’ programme and ‘Stay and Play Tuesdays’, which supports well the engagement of parents in their children’s learning.
Community engagement is very strong. The nursery has developed meaningful and purposeful connections with the local parish, sports clubs and schools. The children explore their local environment through, for example, visits to the local library and a local farm, which develops their sense of belonging and inclusion. External providers are used to enrich the learning experiences of the children and enhance their well-being. For example, the staff employ music and play therapists and the children’s physical development is supported by an external organisation.
At the time of the inspection the evidence provided by the nursery school demonstrates that the arrangements for child protection align to the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

Through a well-embedded culture of collaboration, St Maria Goretti nursery school is living out well it’s vision ‘learning to learn, hand in hand’. The staff are proactive in supporting the children’s needs and have created a community of learning which is inclusive, responsive and valued by all.
ETI will continue to work with St Maria Goretti Nursery School as it addresses the area for action: to embed further the support for children with special education needs (SEN) within the specialist provision. ETI will also work with the school to share examples of highly effective practice from which others may learn, which includes the highly effective approaches and strategies used within the specialist provision class which meets the needs of all of the children and the ‘in the moment planning’ and adaptive curriculum which are used well by the staff to promote, enhance, and extend the learning of the children.