Harrington Nursery School

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Wendy Colebourne Headteacher Harrington Nursery School Harrington Street Peartree Derby DE23 8PE

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 8 February 2017, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be outstanding in January 2014.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

This school continues to be outstanding.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the outstanding quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

Your inspirational leadership makes Harrington Nursery a very special place for children to learn. You are extremely well supported by other senior leaders and a highly skilled and passionate staff team. Together, you are unwavering in your desire for every child to ‘sparkle’. You put the children at the heart of everything you do. As a result, children make outstanding progress and leave Harrington Nursery extremely well prepared for primary school.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

Children enjoy a highly stimulating environment. The outdoor area is exemplary. It enables children to make excellent progress in their skills of exploring, investigating and learning about the natural world, as well as encouraging them to experiment with managed risk. The innovative and extensive curriculum promotes all aspects of literacy and numeracy extremely well. Children’s enjoyment of learning is obvious. They show tremendous enthusiasm, settle quickly and sustain their concentration for significant periods of time. Consequently, children flourish in an exciting, safe, welcoming and inclusive environment.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

You know your school extremely well and are committed wholeheartedly to developing and improving it further. You have successfully addressed the area for improvement from the last inspection. You enjoy an excellent reputation within the local community and you are continually at the cutting edge of early years practice. This is confirmed by your designation as a national teaching school and national support school.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

You ensure that the safeguarding of children is a high priority. The single central record indicates that all required checks are made to ensure that staff are suitable to work with children. Rigorous induction processes ensure that all staff have an excellent understanding of your expectations and the requirement of their responsibilities. Training is thorough and up to date and includes training relating to protecting children from extremism and radicalisation. As a result, all staff understand the importance of safeguarding children and make sure that children are able to play in a safe and secure environment, without fear or prejudice.

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Short inspection of Harrington Nursery School

Children are confident and emotionally secure because of the highly effective relationships they have with all adults. Staff give consistently high levels of priority to the safety of children and support very effectively children’s growing understanding of how to keep themselves safe and healthy. Parents are confident that their children are kept safe.

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Inspection findings

 You have moulded a highly talented and committed team who pursue excellence every day and in every way, for all children. As a result, children receive the very best possible start to their education.  Governors use their wide spectrum of skills effectively to support and challenge you and other senior leaders. They share your ambition to continually improve the school and know that being judged outstanding does not mean being perfect. Their frequent visits focus sharply on very specific aspects of the school’s improvement plan and, consequently, they have a deep understanding of current school issues.  Almost all children start in the Nursery with skills that are well below those typical for their age. By the time they leave, most have made excellent progress and have skills and understanding that are at least similar to, or exceed, the level of development expected for their age.  Children develop an early love of reading. Books are everywhere and,

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Inspection findings

consequently, I found children reading in the kitchen, the shop and the den! Adults capture every opportunity to read with children throughout the day. Parents are delighted with the library where they can borrow books and the family workshops which support them in reading with their children at home. As a result, children have extensive opportunities to read both in school and at home and flourish as ‘Happy Harrington Readers’.  Every day brings new surprises, possibilities and challenges for children. Staff are highly skilled at noticing where support or extra challenge is needed. Their timely interactions ensure that any obstacles are overcome or tasks adapted to move children’s learning on more rapidly.  Extra funding for disadvantaged children is being used very effectively to provide additional support and a wide range of enrichment experiences. One notable example is ‘Harrington Hummingbirds’ which is helping to support children’s

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Inspection findings

personal development as they share singing and musical activities with their parents. You have identified carefully the early barriers to learning which sometimes hinder their progress and have a clear action plan to address these.  Children’s emotional development is superbly supported by the highly skilled and caring staff. Children feel very safe because of the strong bonds they quickly form with all adults. This helps children to settle happily, promotes their emotional well-being and raises their self-esteem.  Children are immersed in a language-rich environment. Pictures, signing, artefacts and labels are used skilfully by adults to reinforce language. Adults constantly encourage children to talk and explain what they are doing. They are highly skilled at providing a narrative for children’s play and never miss an opportunity to introduce new vocabulary. Consequently, children make outstanding progress in their communication and language skills.

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Inspection findings

 Children’s behaviour is excellent. They build strong friendships and cooperate extremely well together when playing and sharing. Adults are excellent role models for the children of how to behave and there is an emphasis on thinking about and including ‘our friends’.  Parents cannot praise your leadership and the quality of provision highly enough. One parent summed up the views of many saying, ‘This is a fantastic school where every child is special. It’s my second family. It’s the best!’

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 the school’s recent work to remove early barriers to learning for disadvantaged children continues and develops, in order to enable them to be highly successful across all areas of the curriculum.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools commissioner and the director of children’s services for Derby. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

I met with you, other senior leaders, two members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority. We conducted a tour of the school together and visited all areas to see children and staff at work. I observed children’s behaviour around the school throughout the day. I met a number of parents informally at the beginning of the school day. I evaluated a range of documents, including safeguarding records and policies.

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