Midland Road Nursery School

Inspection of an outstanding school: Midland Road Nursery School Bateman Street, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD8 7DJ

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Outcome

There has been no change to this school’s overall judgement of outstanding as a result of this initial (section 8) inspection. However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a full inspection were carried out now. The next inspection will therefore be a full (section 5) inspection.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Midland Road Nursery School is a special place to learn and play. Children settle into school quickly because they are well supported by their key person. They enjoy spending time in the exciting outdoor area, where they can climb trees, play in the mud kitchen or watch the birds and foxes that come to visit.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy a rich and varied curriculum. When children start at school, adults quickly find out what they can do. By using well-planned and interesting activities, children are helped to develop their skills and knowledge. The school recognised that during the COVID-19 pandemic, some children did not have access to outdoor spaces. They have since made sure that children have many opportunities to develop their physical skills.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are helped to make friends and play alongside others. Adults encourage children to take turns and share, and, as a result, they are kind to each other. Any disagreements are dealt with by adults in a supportive way. Children begin to learn how to resolve conflicts for themselves.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Parents know that their children are safe and well cared for. Parents think that staff ‘go over and above’ to ensure that their children are helped to succeed. In the words of one parent, the school ‘feels like home’. Staff help children with special education needs and/or disabilities (SEND) take a full part in learning so they can achieve as highly as others. A range of faiths and cultures are celebrated.

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What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

Communication and language are strengths of the school. Adults skilfully support children to communicate in a range of ways, such as through sign language and pictures. Well- chosen books are used to spark children’s imagination and foster a love of reading. 16 November 2021

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Children recently had a visit from some live owls to support a story they had been reading. Puppets and musical instruments are available so that children can act out the stories that are read to them.

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Children learn mathematical skills so that they are ready for the next stage in learning. There are many opportunities for children to count and recognise numbers. For example, at snack time the children were observed rolling dice, counting the spots and then choosing that number of pieces of fruit.

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During adult-led sessions, children listen well and are engaged in their learning. Adults use well-planned activities to ensure that children’s knowledge and skills are being built on and developed. However, during free-choice and independent time, children’s learning is not as effective. Some children do not follow routines, such a looking after resources, tidying up or putting on aprons when playing in the water. This hinders children’s independence and stops them quickly using the skills and knowledge they have been taught.

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The school has a strong focus on nurturing children’s personal, social and emotional development. Children are helped to self-regulate their emotions. They learn about how to be kind to others. Children also learn about the importance of caring for the environment. During the inspection, children had asked to make bird feeders, because they were worried that some birds might not have enough to eat in the cold weather.

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Leaders are determined to provide a wide experience for all children, particularly those who are disadvantaged. A pianist comes into school every week so that children can listen to music, sing and dance. The school arranges trips for families to visit the theatre and other parts of the city. Staff support parents to visit the local library and provide free books through a book gifting scheme.

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Staff receive regular training and development, particularly in relation to meeting the needs of children with SEND. As a result, all children, including those with SEND and those who speak English as an additional language, achieve well.

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Leaders manage and support staff well-being. Staff say they enjoy working at the school, and there is a strong team ethos. They value the way that leaders have looked at workload and have reduced this where possible.

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Many of the Governors are new to the role. They are keen to support the school. However, they have not carried out adequate checks on some leadership systems. They do not ensure that some policies or the website are up to date.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff have established trusting relationships with parents. This helps them to be aware of any concerns about a child’s safety at an early stage and provide effective support. Staff 16 November 2021

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understand what they need to do if they are concerned about a child. Leaders are rigorous in pursuing support for children when it is needed.

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Leaders ensure that all staff, volunteers and governors have the appropriate recruitment checks completed before they start employment. Staff and governors receive safeguarding training on induction and regular updates throughout the year.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Governors do not systematically check on some of the leadership systems in school. As a result, some policies and the website are not up to date. Governors need to have an effective monitoring system in place in order to carry out their responsibilities and hold leaders to account.  Some children are not as independent as they could be in their free-choice time. Consequently, they are not able to develop their learning as quickly and purposefully as possible. Leaders should ensure that all routines are clear and that children are helped to carry them out.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding. This is called a section 8 inspection of a good or outstanding school, because it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection. Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the section 8 inspection as a section 5 inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in November 2016.

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How can I feed back my views?

find out what other parents and carers think. We use information from Ofsted Parent View when deciding which schools to inspect, when to inspect them and as part of their inspection.

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How can I feed back my views?

The Department for Education has further guidance on how to complain about a school.

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How can I feed back my views?

If you are the school and you are not happy with the inspection or the report, you can complain to Ofsted . 16 November 2021

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Further information

You can search for published performance information about the school.

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Further information

In the report, ‘disadvantaged pupils’ refers to those pupils who attract government pupil premium funding: pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years and pupils in care or who left care through adoption or another formal route. 16 November 2021

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School details

Inspection number 10200273 Type of school Nursery

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 November 2016, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the previous inspection, the school has federated with Abbey Green Nursery School. Following the federation, the headteacher of Abbey Green Nursery School was appointed as the headteacher of Midland Road Nursery School. The schools share the same headteacher, assistant headteacher, special education needs and/or disabilities coordinator (SENCo) and governing body.  Midland Road Nursery School also runs a day nursery, which operates on the school site. The day nursery is registered separately and caters for young children from the age of three months. The school also provides wraparound care for the children attending Midland Road Nursery School.  The school has a higher than average proportion of children whose first language is not English.  The school has a specialist provision for children with SEND, and it receives additional funding from the local authority. 16 November 2021

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Information about this inspection

 This was the first routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school, and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors held meetings with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and the SENCo. Inspectors also spoke to governors and a school improvement adviser from the local authority.  Inspectors did deep dives in these areas: communication and language, mathematics and personal, social and emotional development. The inspectors visited adult-directed sessions and observed free-flow activities, scrutinised curriculum planning and talked to staff about the way these areas are planned and taught.  Inspectors considered the effectiveness of safeguarding through discussions with leaders, teachers and support staff. They looked at records relating to safeguarding, including pre-employment checks.

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Information about this inspection

 The lead inspector also looked at the school’s website and scrutinised several policies.  An inspector spoke to parents at the start of the morning nursery session and considered the responses from parents from Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View. Inspectors considered the views of staff during meetings with them and took into account the responses to Ofsted’s survey for staff. They also considered the one response to the pupils’ survey.

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Inspection team

Helen Hussey, lead inspector Ofsted Inspector Alison Aitchison Her Majesty’s Inspector 16 November 2021

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regulates and inspects to 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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