Hornsea Nursery School

Hornsea Nursery School Newbegin, Hornsea, HU18 1PB,

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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.  Children achieve well from their individual starting points. They make rapid progress in most aspects of their learning.  Children make exceptionally good progress in their personal, social and emotional development and in their communication and language skills.  Children who have special educational needs make outstanding progress.  Teaching is good. Staff make learning fun. Activities, both indoors and outside, are varied and interesting.  Parents appreciate coming in often to see their children learn.  Behaviour is outstanding. Older children look after younger ones and take responsibility. They are kind and helpful to each other.  The nursery makes sure that children are safe and secure. Parents agree that their children are very happy in the nursery.  The leadership of teaching is good. The nursery’s performance has improved rapidly after an unsettled period.  Governors are warmly supportive and take

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

good decisions to improve the nursery further.  The headteacher has created a happy nursery where everyone feels valued. Staff say, ‘We are proud to be part of the team.’

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teachers have a bit more to do to raise further the achievement of the most able children.  Questioning, giving children more opportunities to practise using letters and sounds (phonics) and setting more challenging ‘next steps’ targets are aspects of teaching that are less strong for the most able children.  The provision for mathematical development is not outstanding. Children do not have enough opportunities to solve problems and do open- ended tasks, especially outdoors.  The role of the mathematics leader is less developed with regard to checking rigorously how well children are doing.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed eight sessions, both taught and children’s free choice, at different times of the day taught by three teachers, three nursery nurses and teaching assistants.  The inspector held meetings with the headteacher, staff and four governors, including the Chair and vice-chair of the Governing Body. She also had a discussion on the telephone with a representative from the local authority.  The inspection took into account the 17 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View). In addition, the inspector talked to some of the children’s fathers informally during ‘Dad’s Day’. She also took into account the 58 responses in the nursery’s own questionnaire which parents completed two days before the inspection.

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Inspection team

Lesley Clark, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This nursery is smaller than the average-sized primary school.  Most children are White British. A very small minority are from other ethnic groups. A few are at an early stage of learning English as an additional language.  The proportion of children supported through early action is above average.  The proportion of children supported through early action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also above average.  The headteacher started in September 2012 following a year when the school was led by an acting headteacher.  Several staff have changed since the last inspection as a result of variations in the numbers of children attending the nursery.  From January 2014, the nursery has provision for two-year-olds. This is inspected separately. The inspection report can be found on the Ofsted website.  The nursery offers flexible provision for up to 120 children aged from three to five years.

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Information about this school

Children transfer into Reception classes in primary schools in the September in which they are five. Children spend between three and five terms in the nursery, depending on when their birthday falls.  The headteachers and Chairs of Governors from the nursery and the local primary schools have a formal arrangement to meet twice a term for joint strategic planning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve aspects of teaching in order to raise further the achievement of the most able children by: - making sure that teachers ask questions that extend children’s learning and encourage them to think and make suggestions - increasing the opportunities for children to practise and apply their knowledge of letters and sounds (phonics) in different areas of learning - setting more precise and challenging ‘next steps’ targets.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the provision for mathematical development by: - giving children more open-ended tasks and opportunities to solve problems, especially outdoors - developing the role of the mathematics leader especially in terms of checking children’s progress more thoroughly.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children achieve well from their starting points. The nursery’s evidence shows that children’s attainment is close to expected levels after six weeks in nursery, which is when their attainment is assessed. By the time children leave, the very large majority are working at or within expected levels with a small proportion working above these levels.  Overall, children make the best progress in their personal, social and emotional development both during these initial weeks and subsequently. Their achievement in this area of learning is outstanding. Children settle quickly and concentrate for increasingly long periods. Their maturity aids their good overall progress.  Good progress in their physical development helps children to become confident learners. The outdoor learning environment, including ‘forest school’ encourages them to run, climb and explore, testing their skills safely.  Children, including those new to learning English, make excellent progress in communication and

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The achievement of pupils is good

language. They absorb new words quickly because staff talk to them all the time, encouraging them to talk about what they see and feel. One child desperately wanted to say how many straw hats he could see, exclaiming, ‘I’ve got no numbers to think!’ Children delight in using unusual words such as ‘dissolved’ or ‘prickly’.  Children make good progress in their early literacy skills. ‘Mark making’ is a strength. Children like sharing books with each other, turning the pages carefully and retelling stories. Sometimes the most able children’s progress slows because they do not have enough opportunities to practise and apply their phonics knowledge in different areas of learning.  Similarly, children make good progress in their mathematical development. However, there are comparatively few open-ended tasks and opportunities to solve problems, especially outdoors. This means that children do mathematics when they are taught in a group but not much at other

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The achievement of pupils is good

times.  Children make good progress in understanding the world and in expressive arts and design. The wide range of creative and scientific materials encourages children to explore and experiment.  Children who are supported through school action, school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs make exceptionally good progress. This is because they are taught specific language skills but have the same independent choices as others.  The nursery clearly promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination successfully.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff prepare and plan teaching sessions very thoroughly to make sure that children build up new skills progressively. They design activities that are practical, fun and hold children’s attention. This motivates the children to learn.  Exciting activities spark children’s speech and communication skills, resulting in outstanding language development for all children, including those new to learning English.  For example, staff mixed different substances into bowls of water, encouraging children to suggest what might happen and comment on what they saw. Children exclaimed animatedly, ‘The clear water’s all gone! It looks like snow! It’s eggy!’  Children are taught early phonics well. Staff articulate the sounds clearly and make sure that children know how the sounds relate to letters. However, the most able children’s learning slows when they do not have time or a reason to practise and apply their new phonic knowledge.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff have good subject knowledge and so they have the confidence to give children choices and the time to explain their views. Adults respect children’s choices and reflections and encourage them to ask questions.  Occasionally, staff miss opportunities to extend the learning of the most able children through asking questions that require them to think or to make suggestions.  Children who have special educational needs make outstanding progress. This is because their needs are identified very early and they have suitably small, achievable ‘next steps’ targets.  In contrast, the ‘next steps’ targets for the most able children are less precise and specific. They do not set sufficient challenges to ensure that this group of children learn at a consistently fast rate.  Nevertheless, there is a high degree of consistency across the nursery in the way that adults talk to and relate to children. They use praise and encouragement very effectively to get the best

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The quality of teaching is good

from children. This ensures that learning is consistently good and their personal development outstanding.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Behaviour is outstanding. Children arrive promptly because they do not want to miss the start of nursery because that is when they help the ‘helper of the day’ to count the boys and girls, check the weather and do all sorts of important start-of-the-day jobs.  They know the nursery routines. Older children make sure that those new to the nursery follow them too. For example, they round up stragglers, calling ‘Tidy up time!’ because they know that after that there will be songs and stories and other activities with their special ‘key’ adult.  Children are happy, settled and work hard. It is very rare to hear any crying or fussing because children are busy and want to play with their friends. They are polite and friendly, imitating the excellent example the staff set them.  What lifts children’s behaviour out of the ordinary is the degree of maturity they show. For example, when someone did not have a number line, children quickly found one without

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

interrupting the teaching or losing concentration.  On ‘Dad’s Day’, children’s behaviour was better than ever because they were so proud of their nursery. They took charge, introducing their fathers to their favourite activities so that they could enjoy them too.  Lunchtimes are very happy, sociable occasions. Children open packets and cartons without assistance and chat happily to the seated adults at their table. Similarly, children help themselves from the ‘snack bar’, pouring drinks sensibly and without spillage.  The nursery’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. This is because the staff make sure that children understand how to keep themselves and others safe. Children know the three nursery rules: ‘Stay safe, be respectful, be responsible.’  Children know that it is wrong to hurt another person. They do not throw sand or water, for example, but use materials constructively. The ‘forest school’ makes an excellent contribution

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

because children learn to take risks safely.  The school’s behavioural records confirm behaviour and safety are exceptionally good. Parents confirm that their children are very happy in nursery and feel safe.

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The leadership and management are good

 The nursery has improved rapidly over the past 18 months, following an unsettled period after the last inspection in terms of staffing and the nursery’s future.  Strong leadership by the headteacher has brought about considerable improvements in the systems to check children’s progress. These now ensure that staff are accountable for the progress that children make.  In addition, parents are positively welcomed to frequent ‘stay and learn’ and ‘come and share’ sessions with their children. This close partnership benefits children’s learning, especially those who have special educational needs. As parents said, ‘We feel involved and included.’  Good leadership of teaching has identified accurately what methods work well and what needs to improve further. This, together with effective arrangements to check the performance of staff, ensures teaching is at least good because staff’s training needs are catered for.

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The leadership and management are good

 The roles and responsibilities of leadership are now shared, a development since the last inspection. The role of the mathematics leader is less fully developed than those of the literacy leader and special educational needs coordinator, especially in terms of checking rigorously how well children are progressing.  The leadership team identified a need to liaise more closely with pre-nursery providers, including the children’s centre. The success of this initiative is seen in children’s improved attainment on entry. Children are now better equipped to reach a good level of development more quickly from their starting points than at the time of the last inspection because of this.  Self-evaluation is accurate and clearly shows what needs to improve next and why.  The local authority initially gave additional support to a headteacher new to headship. It is a measure of the headteacher’s success that she and her staff now support other schools. The

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The leadership and management are good

nursery is recognised by the local authority as a leader in early years’ practice.  The governance of the school:  The governing body took decisive steps to ensure a secure future for the nursery. The decision to work strategically with local primary schools, through regular meetings, has had a significant impact. The schools now share a behaviour policy and offer a seamless transition when children transfer from one setting to another. Sharing staff training means that staff in each setting work in a similar way, benefiting children and bringing stability. Governors support and challenge in equal measures. They know how well children are doing and have a system to visit regularly so that they can check for themselves. They understand how well teaching is led. The governing body is closely involved in the management of staff.

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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 117699 Local authority East Riding of Yorkshire Inspection number 430876

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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 100 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair John Whittle Headteacher Claire White Date of previous school inspection 23 May 2011 Telephone number 01964 534396 Fax number 01964 534396 Email address hornsea.head.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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