Lee Royd Nursery School

Lee Royd Nursery School Royds Street, Accrington, Lancashire, BB5 2LH

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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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This is an outstanding school

 The exceptional leadership and high-quality teaching have maintained outstanding achievement for children.  The headteacher is committed to excellence and so is always seeking ways to further improve the work of the school. Improvements to the outdoor area and to systems for checking children’s progress have helped to ensure that children learn exceptionally well.  Adults plan a wide range of exciting, relevant activities for children. This promotes their rapid progress.  Children’s behaviour is exemplary. They enjoy coming to school and most attend regularly. Children show a very well developed awareness of safety.  Governors know the school well and share the headteacher and staff’s passion for excellence. They provide effective challenge and support.  Monitoring of children’s progress is extremely thorough; this ensures they make the best possible progress. Any children who may be lagging behind are swiftly identified and

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This is an outstanding school

support is put in place to improve their learning.  Relationships between staff and children are extremely positive. Staff provide a warm, welcoming environment in which all children are valued and can thrive.  Partnership with parents is excellent. Parents and carers are highly supportive of the school. They comment on how quickly their children learn in nursery and how well prepared they are for school.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed seven sessions, including whole classes, smaller groups, sessions led by adults and those when children chose activities for themselves. Two sessions were observed jointly with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with three members of the governing body, the headteacher, staff, parents, the Reception class teacher of a local school and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked a number of documents. These included the school’s information on current progress, planning, checks on the quality of teaching, records relating to behaviour and attendance, and documents relating to safeguarding.  The inspector took account of 10 responses to the online survey (Parent View), two letters from parents, and the results of the school’s most recent parental questionnaire. The inspector spoke to a number of parents and carers when they brought their children to school. Questionnaires

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Information about this inspection

completed by 11 members of the school staff were also considered.

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Inspection team

Elaine White, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized nursery school, offering 55 places in the morning session and 55 places in the afternoon session.  Around 33% of children attending have English as an additional language. These are mainly children of Pakistani or Bangladeshi heritage, and a small number are of Eastern European origin.  The proportion of children who have special educational needs supported at early action is below average. The proportion of children supported at early action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  The nursery shares a site with Squirrel Club, a privately owned nursery which provides breakfast, lunchtime and after-school care and nursery provision for children aged two to four years. This provision is inspected separately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Continue to work with parents and carers to improve the attendance of children who do not come to school regularly, by ensuring they are fully aware of the importance of regular attendance in supporting their children’s achievement.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 From starting points which are often well below those usually found for their age, particularly in aspects on communication, language and number skills, children make rapid progress to leave nursery with skills that are typical for their age.  Children make particularly good progress in early reading skills. They show growing confidence in identifying initial letter sounds and the sounds that two letters make when blended together. Children show a keen interest in books and stories. They learn that print has meaning, for example as they follow a recipe card for baking.  The most able children are extended through development of their reading skills and some are learning to read simple books and apply their knowledge of letter sounds. These children are challenged to extend their mathematical learning, for example as they are encouraged to think how many more objects they will need to find to make a total of six.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children learn to listen well and make rapid progress in developing speaking skills. Children are encouraged to express their thoughts and ideas; this was the case, for example, as they made newspaper towers. They learn the meanings of new words in context: children using wheeled toys outside, for instance, stop for ‘pedestrians’ on the crossing.  Children for whom English is an additional language are very well supported by staff who speak their home language. They help children to understand instructions clearly and to learn to speak English fluently.  Children with a range of additional needs do exceptional well in their learning. Their needs are swiftly identified so that the right level of support can be put in place. Staff carefully check the progress children make towards their targets and adjust the support accordingly to secure good and often rapid progress.  Children show confidence in using their mathematical knowledge, for example as they complete

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

a tally chart of how many goals they have scored in the outdoor area, and enjoy a ‘shape hunt’ identifying squares, circles and rectangles outside.  Boys and girls show confidence and interest in mark making as they write on a large whiteboard using small paintbrushes and mud in the ‘mud kitchen’ area. Children are becoming confident to write their names accurately.  Physical skills are extremely well developed as children make enthusiastic use of the broad range of outdoor equipment. Children are very active in their learning outdoors and confidently climb, balance, run, jump and use wheeled toys to negotiate a path.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Outstanding teaching over time has ensured that the nursery continues to provide high-quality education for the children in its care. Staff have high expectations for children’s learning and keep an extremely close check on the progress each child makes to make sure all children learn exceptionally well.  Staff provide an exciting outdoor environment that helps children to learn. All areas are carefully planned, and the resources provided are interesting and stimulating for children. As a result, children are enthusiastically involved in their learning as they, for example, explore using different tools excitedly in the mud kitchen, dig for minibeasts in the garden area and act out a familiar story wearing masks of the main characters.  Very positive relationships exist between staff and children. Staff build children’s confidence and independence and so contribute to the high quality of their learning.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Early reading, writing and mathematical skills are extremely well taught through a variety of interesting activities which develop highly effective learning. Children apply their counting skills as they count how many spoonfuls of flour they need for baking, and record on clipboards the names of some of the mini beasts they have found in the outdoor area.  Staff often use highly effective questioning skills to extend children’s thinking. When baking buns, children were encouraged to think and explain what had happened to the salt they had just mixed in.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The behaviour of children is outstanding. Children show highly positive attitudes towards their learning and are very well engaged in their activities. This makes a positive contribution to their rapid learning.  Children get on extremely well together. They cooperate very well in play, for example in deciding which footballs they will use for a game and taking turns.  Nursery routines are very well understood and this contributes to children’s feeling of security and excellent behaviour. They confidently respond to staff’s clear expectations at tidy-up time and register time, showing a high level of independence.  The school’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding. Very well understood routines help children to feel secure in nursery. Parents report that the school keeps their children safe and that there are high expectations for children’s good behaviour. There are no recorded

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

incidents of bullying or racism.  Children demonstrate a high awareness of safety as they use climbing and balancing equipment with confidence. They can explain why they should not throw sticks and why they need to wear a hat on a sunny day.  Staff plan activities to promote children’s high level of safety awareness. For example, a road safety role-play activity outdoors was used very well to ensure that children understood how to cross roads safely and that they were aware of the dangers of using wheeled toys in the outdoor area.  Most children attend regularly and the school works hard to promote this. A small number do not attend as regularly and so do not fully benefit from the high-quality education provided.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher, governors and staff have a shared vision for continued improvement and a passion for excellence in the nursery’s work. The headteacher gives clear direction through her high-quality leadership and is well supported by other staff in leadership roles.  The school has a very accurate view of its strengths and where any further improvements could be made. Leaders pay a high level of attention to checking how well individuals and different groups of children are learning. This ensures that all children and groups make similar, rapid progress in learning.  Where gaps in learning are identified, the school works highly effectively to ensure they are closing. For example, the school identified that boys were not learning early writing skills as quickly as girls, and so provided support and activities which ensured that boys made more rapid progress in developing their writing skills.  School leaders focus on maintaining and improving the quality of teaching. Performance

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The leadership and management are outstanding

management provides challenge and support and ensures high-quality teaching is maintained.  Children’s learning is extremely well promoted through the varied and exciting curriculum, which is linked to children’s interests. Children enthusiastically engage in activities relating to England and football at the time of the World Cup. Planning and photographic evidence show children engaged in activities such as watching ducklings hatch and building an igloo from plastic milk bottles.  The school promotes equality of opportunity well. All children are highly valued and included, and learn harmoniously together. Children learn about their own and other cultures through activities such as learning about different cultural festivals.  The school works extremely successfully with parents and carers. Parents have a high level of confidence in the school. They are delighted with their children’s progress and report that their

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The leadership and management are outstanding

children are very well prepared for school.  The local authority recognises the outstanding leadership of the headteacher, and has supported the school in developing improved systems for checking children’s progress.  The headteacher works closely with two other nursery schools to share assessment and best practice.  The governance of the school:  The governing body has a thorough knowledge of the school. Governors know about the quality of teaching and how well children are learning. They are fully informed through detailed reports from the headteacher, including data about children’s progress. They provide a high level of support and ask searching questions to hold leaders to account. They understand the teacher appraisal process and links to pay progression. They have been actively involved in the appointment of a new staff member for the next school year. Governors ensure that all safeguarding requirements are met in order to ensure that staff and

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The leadership and management are outstanding

children are kept safe. Governors manage financial resources well, making sure money is spent wisely to support children. For example, they have recently funded more assistant teaching staff in order to ensure that the needs of all children attending nursery, including those needing a higher level of attention and support, are met.

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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 119064 Local authority Lancashire Inspection number 439465

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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 3–4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 110 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bernard Holden Headteacher Karen Coffey Date of previous school inspection 22 March 2011 Telephone number 01254 231725 Fax number 01254 231725 Email address bursar@lee-royd.lancs.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 and 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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