Frizington Nursery School

Frizington Nursery School Main Street, Frizington, Cumbria, CA36 3PF

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  The school provides children with a rich and exciting environment where they can all learn well and flourish.  Teaching is of good quality. As a result, children make good progress and achieve well.  Adults always expect children to do their very best and encourage them to join in different activities and discussions.  Parents are delighted by the good quality of education that their children receive.  Nursery staff have a good understanding of how children learn. They provide a wide range of exciting activities that hold children’s attention both in the classroom and outdoors.  Children thoroughly enjoy school. This can be seen in their excellent behaviour. Children show kindness to each other and respect the routines in school that help to keep them safe.  The headteacher provides good leadership and she is dedicated to improving the school. She is well supported by all the staff and the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

governing body who together are committed to doing their very best for the children.  The curriculum provides children with exciting opportunities to use both the indoor and outdoor areas. They concentrate well and settle quickly to sharing a book and learning letters and sounds.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Although adults ask children questions to find out what they know or have learnt, they do not always ask the questions that challenge children to think even harder.  Opportunities for children to use numbers to solve simple problems are not provided often enough.  Parents are not as involved as much as they could be in helping their children to learn.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed one teacher and two teaching assistants during five lessons.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, members of the leadership team, the special educational needs coordinator, children, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector observed children’s work, shared books with them and talked with children about their different activities.  A range of the school’s documentation was examined, including the school’s analysis of how well it is doing, documents relating to the school development plan, systems for tracking children’s progress, documents regarding safeguarding and key policies.  The inspector took account of the 22 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View), the school’s most recent questionnaire for parents and the views of parents who spoke with the inspector during the inspection.  The inspector analysed questionnaires completed by staff.

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Inspection team

Sue Sharkey, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 Frizington Nursery is smaller than an average-sized nursery school.  The school provides a morning session in the autumn term and a choice of morning or afternoon sessions in the spring and summer terms subject to places being available. A lunch club is also available each day.  Children are admitted to the nursery following their third birthday.  The majority of children are of White British heritage. A few children are from minority ethnic backgrounds.  A few children are currently supported at school action and school action plus or have a statement of special educational needs.  The school shares the site with a children’s centre. There is childcare on site, managed by the governing body, for children from three months to three years and also a childcare centre offering extended care for children from birth to under five years. These are both inspected separately and their reports are available on the Ofsted website.

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Information about this school

 The headteacher has taken up post since the previous inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching so that it is outstanding by:  ensuring that questioning by adults is always of the highest quality in order to make sure that children make even better progress  providing more opportunities and challenge so that children can further develop the use of numbers to solve simple problems.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop even further the way that parents are involved in their children’s learning in order to improve the progress made by children.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All children make good progress from where they start when they enter the nursery. Skills in physical development are often much lower than in other areas at this early stage.  A wide range of activities promotes children’s physical development well. They quickly develop skills as they work with small tools, climb wooden frames outside and learn to hold and write with a pencil. For example, a group of children were using clay to make models. They enjoyed the feel of the wet clay before shaping it into balls and using tools to flatten the clay or add patterns.  The few children who are disabled and those with special educational needs as well as the few from minority ethnic groups are well supported, often in very small groups or individually, to make sure that they make good progress. Support is frequent, for example through speaking and listening sessions to help children catch up and learn new words.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The school has had a good focus on improving children’s early reading and writing skills and the teaching of letters and sounds is now part of weekly activities. Children also look forward to weekly visits to the local library.  Children say they enjoy all kinds of books. They respond well to the many opportunities they have to learn letters and sounds and to look at books. They are keen to share a book with an adult, sit quietly and listen well. They know the kind of books they like and can often predict what is going to happen next in a story. They recognise words that rhyme and offer new rhyming words with excitement.  Children do not always make as much progress in numbers as they do in other areas of mathematics. Staff have made some changes to the way they work with children to ensure that children receive support in mathematics. Number skills are planned into activities and adults take opportunities, for example whilst reading stories, to count. However there are occasions

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The achievement of pupils is good

when adults do not challenge children enough or miss opportunities to use numbers to solve simple problems.  Children work, play and share well together. They have a keen sense of fairness and cooperation can be seen in all they do. For example, they enjoyed working together as they listened to different musical instruments. They took it in turns to hide behind a small cupboard to play their chosen instrument. As it was played, other children in the group were encouraged to listen carefully in order to identify the instrument. There was great excitement when they were right.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Activities are carefully arranged so that there is time for group work and use of both indoors and outdoors as well as children exploring their own activities. Movement from one activity to another is calm and purposeful and children clearly understand what is expected of their work as well as their behaviour.  Group activities often contribute well to children’s social and emotional development as well as extending their speaking. During snack time children sit together with their key worker, choosing what they would like to eat and making their own sandwiches. This provides opportunities for children to talk together with an adult, learning to take turns, share and develop manners. They thoroughly enjoy this social occasion and are courteous and polite.  Staff work well together as a team and are well trained in teaching young children. Very positive arrangements are in place for the beginning and end of sessions. This helps children to

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The quality of teaching is good

settle quickly into the wide range of activities provided.  Staff carry out regular observations of what children are learning. These are used to plan what children need to learn next as well as to follow children’s progress individually or in groups.  Nursery staff are constantly talking with children to develop their skills in speaking and listening. They question children about what they are finding and what they need to do next but these questions are not consistently of a sufficiently high quality to extend children’s learning and help them to explore new words and ideas.  Teachers make good use of the outdoor area which is highly stimulating for children. There are two main areas providing different activities. For example, in one of the areas children are able to crawl through a tunnel, slide down the slope, climb back up again and then have a rest in the wooden house, and in the other they can safely find out about what water can do as well

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The quality of teaching is good

as explore different shapes they can make with sand.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour throughout the nursery is outstanding. Children quickly develop friendships and obviously enjoy school. They have extremely good attitudes to learning; this can be seen in their interest and excitement when approaching activities.  Children cooperate very happily with each other and thoroughly enjoy the responsibilities they have to keep their classroom tidy and clean. They clean tables, sweep the floor, put books and games away and move around the rooms like ‘busy bees’.  Children have a first-class understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe because they are taught well about what is safe and how to reduce risks. They use tools and equipment carefully, understanding that knives which are used for cutting food can be dangerous if not used as they should be.  All parents who responded to Parent View or who talked to the inspector say that their children are safe in school and that they are confident in how well their children are looked after.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Attendance is above average. In working closely with parents the school offers a lunch club so that children can attend the nursery as much as possible. It is obvious that children enjoy attending, meeting their friends and finding out new things each day.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has been successful in maintaining a good school whilst making sure the areas for improvement at the previous inspection have been tackled successfully. For example, staff now use the information they gather on how well children are doing to make sure activities help them to improve continually.  The headteacher is constantly checking the work of the school, which includes regularly reviewing the progress children make. This gives a good understanding of the strengths of the school as well areas that need improvements.  Professional development is effective and is linked to staff performance management. Currently all the staff are implementing the new curriculum for the Early Years Foundation Stage, and they are working hard to adapt their planning. The curriculum has improved since the previous inspection and better use is now made of the local area as well as visitors working with

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The leadership and management are good

children in school. For example, visits are made to the beach, seaside towns and the aquarium. In visiting other areas children are able to find out and explore the world around them as well as meet other people. This makes a good contribution to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The local authority has good links with the school and has been supportive through providing training for staff to successfully deliver the teaching of letters and sounds.  The school works closely with the local community. For example, the nursery is able to make use of the hall and equipment at two local primary schools to enjoy physical development lessons. This contributes successfully to developing children physically.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is strongly supportive of the school. Since the previous inspection governors have successfully developed their roles and responsibilities so that they work

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The leadership and management are good

confidently with the headteacher and regularly check how well the school is doing. Governors ensure that the school is a safe environment and that staff are appropriately checked and trained in child protection matters. Governors make sure that money is spent wisely.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 112090 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 401233

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School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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School details

Type of school Nursery School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3-5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 30 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dot Mingins Headteacher Lesley Savage Date of previous school inspection 7 January 2010 Telephone number 01946 810846 Fax number 01946 810846 Email address head@frizington-nur.cumb.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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School details

You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when and as part of the inspection.

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School details

You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk, or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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School details

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille,

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School details

please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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