King's Lynn Nursery School

King's Lynn Nursery School St James Park, London Road, King's Lynn, PE30 5PT

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Satisfactory 3 This inspection: Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.  As a result of improvements in teaching, the children make good progress so that they leave the school with skills and abilities above those expected for their age.  Parents strongly support the school and are very pleased with the ways the school involves and supports them.  Leaders and staff ensure that children from all backgrounds quickly settle at the school and move on smoothly to their next school.  Children enjoy school and behave well.  Children feel safe because have good relationships with staff, who they trust.  The school has strong links with the diverse community and this helps to enrich the experiences of the children.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 The progress made by different groups of children is not checked regularly in every area of learning in order to plan areas for school development.  School leaders do not make sure that the most successful teaching, for example around table- top activities, is also found outdoors or in less structured activities more consistently.

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Information about this inspection

 This inspection was carried out by one inspector over two days.  The inspector observed five sessions with two teachers, five teaching assistants and a physical development specialist funded through the local schools’ cluster.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, partnership headteacher, staff, children, parents, the Chair of the Governing Body and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector looked at documents including policies, minutes of the governing body, the school’s view of itself, teachers’ planning, learning journeys and safeguarding items.  Opinions of parents were collected from the school’s previous questionnaire, interviews with nine parents and 11 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View.  The views of staff were considered through the 11 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

John Hucker, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 King’s Lynn Nursery School offers places to 80 children who attend for two and a half hours each day. They either attend every morning or every afternoon.  Children attend for three, four or five terms, depending on their birthday.  The majority of children are from White British backgrounds.  One third of the children speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs is very low this year, but this varies.  The school has a headteacher for two days per week. For the other three days, the headteacher of Whitefriars Church of England School is available to support and advise the staff at King’s Lynn Nursery. Whitefriars was not part of this inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Further improve the quality of teaching so that more of it is outstanding by making sure that the quality of teaching seen in closely structured activities around a table is matched when the children are outside or involved with something that is less structured.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Ensuring that leaders frequently check on the progress that different groups of children make in all areas of learning and use this evidence for improvement planning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children join the school with skills, knowledge and understanding that are below the levels expected for their age. By the time they leave, they have made good progress and most are exceeding the expected levels for their age. This better achievement since the last inspection is because teachers have a good understanding of the needs of Nursery age children and how to promote their learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children who are learning to speak English as an additional language settle and learn English quickly, because staff provide for their needs well. Staff use a system of signing to help children with little spoken English to understand the routines, make choices and have their needs met.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 There are very few disabled children or who have special educational needs, but the staff cater for them very well. Staff make sure that these children take full part in all of the activities on offer. They develop and learn at a similar rate to other children.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 From the records that are kept, there is very little difference between the progress that boys and girls make at the school. All groups make progress at the same rate, including those born during the summer term. Staff do not identify and support these children to help them to catch up with older children who stay longer in the school.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 By the time they leave, all children recognise their own names. Some know lots of names and some children read simple, three-letter words by sounding out the letters, then blending them together. A few can write their own name and build short words.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Teachers provide lots of opportunities for children to move their reading, writing and mathematical skills forward, as they judge that children are ready. Most children recognise numbers to 10. They match items to these numbers with varying success, but they understand the idea.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good because teachers have a good understanding of the Early Years Foundation Stage areas of learning and of Nursery children’s development. This means that both in teacher- led activities and in those initiated by children, they almost always extend the children’s language and learning well.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The good teaching has resulted in improved achievement and improved behaviour and safety.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The school has a good range of equipment outside. Children are able to manage their own risks and become self-reliant. Teachers encourage imaginative play well. The inspector visited snack- time to be met by a band of pirates stopping for supplies. They talked excitedly about digging for treasure in the sandpit, sailing a shark-infested sea and looking for danger through the telescopes they had made.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers provide a range of activities from which children can choose, giving them a chance to learn and enjoy at the same time. Art, craft and physical development are especially well taught. Sports day included a very skilful throwing event and hurdles races. These skills are usually seen in older children.  Children’s curiosity about and understanding of the world develops well and is well supported by visitors and parents talking and cooking and dressing with the children in the styles of their birth countries. Minibeasts are found and examined indoors and out. Children grow flowers and food from seed, tending them and watching them change.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The best teaching was seen when teachers joined children in their chosen activity and engaged in conversations that allowed children to practise the relevant language. The teachers asked questions to make children think about new ideas or find solutions to puzzles. This happens more often around table-top activities, rather than outdoors or in less structured activities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 The children love being at school and come to school regularly. They form strong bonds with adults at the Nursery and feel very safe. They trust the staff completely and so do their parents.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Teachers meet children and their parents at the classroom door. They share effective ways to help children behave well in different situations. This discussion continues in story café.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Children learn to keep themselves safe in different situations. They play on swings and climbing equipment, learning their personal boundaries and managing risk. Children move around school, treating objects and people with care. Scissors and other hazardous tools are used safely.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Teachers ensure that learning is rich, yet playful. Children’s enthusiasm for learning and their ability to share, take turns and be polite helps them to behave well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Children learn about bullying and other sensitive issues at their own level of understanding during well-being sessions. These are times when the whole class comes together with the teacher and the teaching assistants help to make sure that all children feel safe and are heard.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are good

 Although behaviour is good, a few do not progress as rapidly as they could in their ability to take account of others. This is because children sometimes get mixed messages about being kind to everyone, sharing or standing firm on the things they want.

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The leadership and management are good

 Although arrangements for the monitoring of teaching are informal, they have proved effective because they have resulted in marked improvements in teaching and achievement since the last inspection.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school has very strong relationships with parents. They value the individual conversations with staff as they deliver and collect their children. Parents are enthusiastic about the benefits of the story café for parents, children and community tolerance and understanding.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school plans a good range of topics and activities that engage children and help their learning and development across all areas. Children explore new interests in a stimulating and safe environment. A rolling programme over two years ensures that children who stay for five terms do not repeat the same topics. Planning for each half-term makes sure that all children visit all areas of learning. The school has close links with the library, museum and local football club that enrich this further.  Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is well supported through a host of different sources. From the joy, spirituality and wonder of a child talking about her new brother coming from ‘mummy’s tummy’ to the cultural exchange at the story café. There is the good moral and social code of eating together at snack-time. Subjects and topics to promote these are carefully planned. They have visits, some from parents with different cultural backgrounds, who

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The leadership and management are good

share their celebrations, festivals, food and dress with the children.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school helps children settle in very well. Staff are flexible and meet the needs of each child. Teachers and managers are proud of their reputation for preparing children for the next stage of education.

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The leadership and management are good

 Information about what children know, understand and can do is not collected and analysed systematically by teachers and leaders across all areas of learning. This limits school leaders’ and governors’ overview of the progress of different groups of children and hinders them in planning for further school improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority has sufficient confidence in the school to have a ‘light-touch’ approach to their support.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors maintain effective overview of the Nursery finances and have ensured it is well resourced. Governors have attended a reasonable range of training offered by the local authority and are clearer about how they should hold the school to account. For example, there are plans for more formal monitoring of the school’s work.  The governing body makes sure that teachers are held to account for meeting targets and this relates to teachers’ salaries. However, these targets do not always link sufficiently to teachers’ accountability for the progress that children make.  Governors make sure that all safety and safeguarding requirements are met.  The governing body has begun a process to ensure that the school will have more stable, full- time leadership in the future.

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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 120766 Local authority Norfolk Inspection number 405961

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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 Community Age range of pupils 3–4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 80 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Lindsay Campbell Headteacher Jane Bellfield, Lee Stevens Date of previous school inspection 14 March 2011 Telephone number 01553 760221 Fax number 01553 760221 Email address office@kingslynn-nur.norfolk.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, 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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