Brunel Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: Brunel Nursery School Cambridge Street, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 1ES

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Outcome

Brunel Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are happy and make plenty of friends at Brunel Nursery School. They enjoy a wide range of worthwhile learning with staff who are kind and genuinely interested in children’s opinions and ideas. Children achieve well by the time they leave the nursery school. This is because of the high expectations and skilful support of the staff in planning and teaching a worthwhile curriculum.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children act sensibly, take care of resources and explore the well-resourced nursery classroom and outdoor area with confidence. Staff help them to understand how to behave and to respect school resources. Children learn to climb, balance and cycle as well as to sit calmly. They often sing songs and rhymes and share stories with staff. They use the well-chosen fiction and non-fiction books that staff set out attractively for them to select. Children take part in a range of activities, such as role play, in which staff help them to use and understand important new words.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are confident that staff will deal with any issues, such as if one child is unkind to another. This helps children to feel safe. Children are polite with visitors as well as knowing to check that they are safe adults.

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

Leaders understand the requirements of the new early years foundation stage framework set by the government. They have given staff the time and support that they need to develop a meaningful and worthwhile curriculum for all children, including those with SEND. Leaders have also made sure that staff are helping children to catch up on any learning that they have missed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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

Leaders have identified much of the important knowledge that staff will teach and the order in which children will learn key information. That said, in some of the curriculum, leaders do not identify what knowledge they want children to know and remember. This 26 April 2022

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means that some children do not learn all the essential information that they should. Nevertheless, in most of the curriculum children achieve well. They are prepared for learning at nursery and for their later education at primary school.

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Leaders ensure that staff prioritise their time to teach children. Staff support children’s play and talk often with them in learning activities, enabling children to develop their knowledge of different topics. Staff get to know individual children’s needs and abilities. They use this information well as part of assessing what children know. This helps staff to think carefully about what children need to practise, relearn or learn next.

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Leaders have established stories, rhymes and poems as a very important part of daily life at the nursery school. Staff teach children a wide range of stories, including traditional tales and stories by a variety of authors. Staff carefully retell stories so that children learn the typical language that authors use in books. Children want to join in storytelling too. Staff introduce children carefully to several letter sounds and to understand how sounds combine into words. As a result, children love books and are starting to understand that print carries meaning.

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Children at Brunel behave well. This is because staff teach children how to care for one another, look after resources and to respect adults. Children can concentrate and become deeply involved in their learning because there is very little disruption to their activities. Children who need extra support with managing their own feelings and behaviour are given just the help they need by skilled staff.

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Staff teach children to be independent and to make important choices about their eating, toileting and playing when at school. Leaders make certain that staff teach children about the world around them. Staff help children to understand about different faiths and celebrations. They teach children who speak English as an additional language the importance of using their newly learned words in English to communicate their thoughts and ideas at school. Leaders are currently planning how to establish more trips and visits as part of the curriculum, after pausing such activities because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Leaders and governors ensure that all staff feel valued for their work, are effectively supported and given a reasonable workload. Leaders make effective use of links with the federated primary school on site to support the work of staff in the nursery school. In turn, this makes it easier for children when many of them move to continue their education at the Reception class in the primary school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Leaders ensure that staff receive regular updates on safeguarding. Staff are careful to notice any changes in children’s behaviour, appearance or comments that suggest that they are at risk of harm. Leaders and staff keep careful records of any concerns and link promptly with other professionals to safeguard children where necessary. Staff teach 26 April 2022

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children how to stay safe, including when children climb, or cycle at school. Governors check regularly on the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements at the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some of the curriculum, leaders have not identified the knowledge that they want children to know and remember. This means that, on occasion, children are not learning all the knowledge that they should. Leaders should make certain that all the curriculum is well considered so that children’s learning is equally strong across all areas of learning.

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Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good. 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 second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in December 2013.

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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 .

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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. 26 April 2022

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School details

Inspection number 10226143 Type of school Nursery

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.stmatthewsblackburn.com/welcome- to-brunel-nursery-school/ Date of previous inspection 21 March 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 All teaching staff at the school are new since the previous inspection.  Leaders do not use any alternative provision for children.

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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 leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors completed deep dives in these subjects: early reading, mathematics and physical education. They met with subject leaders, visited learning activities, reviewed children’s work and spoke with staff and children.  Inspectors also reviewed evidence for some other areas of the curriculum, including for expressive art and design.  Inspectors considered responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text responses. Inspectors reviewed information from a recent school survey of parents and 26 April 2022

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carers. One inspector also spoke with some parents as they arrived at school with their children.  Inspectors spoke with staff about their work at the school and considered responses from staff to an Ofsted survey.  Inspectors spoke with children as they played.  Inspectors considered a range of information about the safeguarding of children, including leaders’ checks on staff’s suitability to work at the school.

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Inspection team

Tim Vaughan, lead inspector Her Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Mavis Smith Her Majesty’s Inspector 26 April 2022

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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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