Hedon Nursery School

Hedon Nursery School Market Hill, Hedon, Hull, HU12 8JB

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.  Children make extremely rapid progress in all areas of learning. They do particularly well in their personal, social and emotional development, early reading and writing and mathematical reasoning.  Adults develop warm relationships with children. A wide range of stimulating and exciting activities captures the children’s imaginations, extends their understanding and deepens their thinking.  Inspirational teaching from a gifted team of adults meets the needs of every child. From the second the children arrive, they are fully engaged throughout each session because the activities are exceptionally well organised, hugely enjoyable and totally engrossing.  Children benefit from accessing excellent quality resources. This adds to their quality of learning.  Planning is precise, daily routines immaculately implemented and assessment thorough and accurate. Although individual data is available for each child, it is not

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

organised well enough so that it is easy to compare the progress of different groups of children within the school.  Children’s behaviour and safety are outstanding. They play and learn alongside one another exceedingly well. All grow in confidence and develop advanced social skills for their age.  Parents work in close partnership with staff to support their children’s learning. They are very pleased with the start the nursery gives to their children. One parent describes the school as being, ‘A perfect combination of organised activities and free-time. It is a stimulating, caring and safe environment’.  Strong links with other schools and support agencies enhances the development of the skills of the staff and enhances provision for children with special educational needs.  The school owes its success to the headteacher’s exceptionally clear view of what these children need. The headteacher leads by example encouraging innovation and setting

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

the highest standards.  Together with a strong and supportive governing body, the headteacher and staff constantly strive to improve the school. There has been good improvement since the previous inspection and it is very well set to continue to improve in future.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching indoors and outdoors on eight occasions.  Separate discussions were held with the headteacher, staff and the Chair of Governors. A telephone conversation was conducted with the school’s local authority School Improvement Partner.  In planning the inspection, and when forming judgements, reference was made to the 18 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View). In addition, an evaluation was made of the views of parents that had been conducted by the school. During the inspection, six parents independently gave their views about the school.  The opinions of 17 staff were gained by analysing their responses to questionnaires.  An evaluation of a range of school documentation added to the inspection judgements. These included the documents relating to safeguarding, the school’s improvement plan, the document that records the school’s view of its performance, and information about the children’s progress

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Inspection team

David Byrne, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger than average-sized nursery school. Children join it after their third birthday and, consequently, some spend five terms with the school and others attend for four or three terms.  The school has the capacity for 140 part-time places (70 full-time equivalent) for children with 15 hours of free entitlement. There are six sessions per child each week, so each child has one full day a week in addition to four half days to secure the entitled hours.  Some parents pay for extended hours, where spaces exist, with children attending for one or more additional sessions.  Almost all children are of White British heritage.  The school has achieved several awards for its work. These include the Early Years Quality Mark and Healthy School status.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Refine the analysis of assessment information by evaluating the school’s approach to recording children’s progress to make the comparison of different groups of children more efficient.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children enter school with levels of development that are broadly as expected for their age. They make rapid progress owing to high quality teaching and they are extremely well prepared for moving on to full-time education.  Children respond extremely positively to the daily routines and very quickly gain confidence in mixing with other children and the adults. They cooperate very well together and gain the confidence to make decisions for themselves. Children’s speaking skills generally move on at a swift pace because the staff take every opportunity to engage them in conversation and promote their vocabulary.  Children make excellent progress in recognising the sounds that letters make. For example, during one session, children deepened their knowledge of the sound ‘t’ to say aloud words such as tortoise and train. A host of activities give children the confidence to have a go at mark making and writing. By the end of their Nursery Year, many children write simple three letter

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

words and start to break down words using sounds.  From early counting activities, children speedily move on to see how ‘counting on’ can help them to do simple addition. As a result of playing ‘ten pin bowling’ for example, they counted how many skittles had been knocked down, and the number that were missed. A wide range of activities, including placing toy cupcakes on matching numbers on a cake stand, and sorting and counting shapes, gives an excellent grounding in using everyday mathematical language. Their play opportunities are cleverly designed to develop their understanding of relative size, volume and weight.  Physical development improves rapidly. When working indoors and out, children weigh up risks for themselves and benefit from a very attractive and safe environment. Children gain the confidence to push their individual boundaries, for example a girl was seen persevering with great determination to safely negotiate the climbing wall.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Great strides are made in the children’s creative development. They are exposed to well-chosen samples of art and use these as a stimulus to create their own designs using water paint, clay and collage materials. In so doing, they illustrate advanced levels of dexterity and creative flair. Children thrive on using computers to learn and play and are enthralled by activities that develop their understanding of the world around them.  The school is totally committed to securing equal opportunities and removing any discrimination. This is demonstrated by the excellent progress of children with disabilities or special educational needs matching that of all other children.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Inspirational teaching is evident in all areas of this nursery. There is a wealth of experience among the long-serving staff team. This is a tremendous resource for all to draw on and contributes to creating activities adapted to meet each child’s needs  Everything is extremely well planned and meticulously organised. Because children know and understand the daily routines, learning moves forward extremely rapidly. High expectations of children’s behaviour and engagement are evident. Teachers are skilled at seeking to extend children’s skills through intervening to develop language or set new challenges to advance their existing ideas.  The staff team work extremely hard to ensure that every child experiences the feeling of success. Children are encouraged to aim for high standards in their work and all staff provide high quality displays and presentations. Both indoors and out, a bright, lively and stimulating

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

environment entices children to learn and develop.  Whenever possible, learning is linked to experiences that may be familiar to children. For example, they develop their understanding of the world by exploring life under the sea in a role- play area. Children danced as porpoise and a shark and created their own designs of sea life. Others developed their physical coordination by being horses and completing a show jumping circuit outside.  Very good use is made of the new Early Years curriculum to improve learning. The areas of development demanded for children of this age are extremely imaginatively organised. There is an unusually good balance between focused-led tasks and options for children to select play activities of their own. Detailed topic plans, which have very clear objectives for learning, mean that, while much play occurs, it invariably has a clear purpose linked to one or more aspects of

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

their development.  Children’s successes are accurately recorded by observing their learning and noting outcomes. There are many occasions when teachers create awe and wonder in learning which fully engages all children and promotes their excellent spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Virtually all of the parents who responded to the on-line questionnaire rightly agree that their children are taught very well. High levels of staff expertise, and the outstanding use of resources, mean that lessons move at an excellent pace.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children eagerly start activities within seconds of their arrival. They are extremely clear about everyday routines. They very thoughtfully wait their turn and share equipment. They become very independent because they have free access to an exciting range of tools and materials, and staff expect children to do things for themselves.  Children learn to persevere when activities are hard because staff encourage them to stick at it. They are motivated to do so through positive comments and prompts about how to proceed.  Parents rightly say that behaviour at the school is excellent. There was no evidence of any bullying seen during the inspection and none is evident in the school’s records.  Staff manage behaviour extremely well. The few children who have difficulties with their emotional and social skills benefit from the extremely safe and caring environment, improving their behaviour because of excellent support from adults, the sensitivity of other children and the

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The expertise of the headteacher is highly regarded by all connected with the school, including other Early Years practitioners. Her clear-sighted and meticulous approach underpins all that goes on. Consequently, there is not a hint of complacency, despite the school’s two previous outstanding judgements.  Staff are open to new ideas. Effective reviews of their performance are linked to high quality training. All staff are involved in evaluating the school’s performance and identifying areas for sustaining its provision and seeking areas for improvement. The introduction of teaching phonics, (the sounds that letters make), for example, demonstrates the desire to move practice forward.  All staff are crystal clear about their roles and each session of each day is precisely planned so that there is never a second of learning missed or a square centimetre of space wasted. Day-to- day procedures are enhanced by the excellent contribution of the school administrative staff and

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The leadership and management are outstanding

the dedicated caretaker.  Staff morale is high; they are proud to work at the school. Among their comments are, ‘This is a fantastic place to work!’ and, ‘Positivity and enthusiasm is felt the whole way through the staff’. The skills of all staff are valued; the headteacher employs excellent strategies to support their career progression. This is one reason why staffing is very settled and absence is rare.  Wise timetabling enables staff to regularly evaluate their work and share assessments of children. This leads to adaptions being made to their planning, where required, to meet more accurately each child’s needs. Assessment is regular and thorough; all judgements are reviewed to secure their accuracy, but the organisation of information from assessments does not allow the school to check the progress of different groups, for instance boys and girls.  Parents are unanimous that they would recommend the school to others. Many positive

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The leadership and management are outstanding

comments about the school were given to the inspector with the overall view that the school does a, ‘fantastic job’.  Effective partnerships with other schools and local support services enhance the quality of education for the children. Close working relationships with the primary schools to which the children transfer, with private providers such as childminders and with other childcare providers such as the local children’s centre have a very positive impact on future chances of children.  The local authority is very supportive and does all it can within its resources to work with the school in its development.  The governance of the school:  A strong, long-serving Chair of Governors complements the continuity of staffing evident in the school. Governors seek regular training and are extremely active in supporting the school and checking all is well. During governors’ meetings and regular fact-finding visits, they ask

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The leadership and management are outstanding

searching questions about the quality of teaching and children’s progress. During their annual review, governors seek assurance that the salaries that staff receive are in line with their responsibilities and effectiveness. An annual review of the headteacher’s performance is linked to a salary review. Governors make sure that all procedures for safeguarding children are robust and meet requirements.

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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 is

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Grade Judgement Description

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 131416 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 402465

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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 134 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Granville Bowes Headteacher Karen Hunter Date of previous school inspection 29 April 2010 Telephone number 01482 891396 Fax number 01482 891396 Email address hedon.nursery@eastriding.gov.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, please

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School details

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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