King's Lynn Nursery School

Inspection of a good school: King’s Lynn Nursery School St James Park, London Road, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE30 5PT

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Outcome

King’s Lynn Nursery School continues to be a good school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy attending this nursery school. They take part in a wide range of different and interesting learning and play experiences. They benefit from a well-resourced indoor and outdoor learning environment. They are interested in the world around them, for example, looking carefully at things that are growing using magnifying glasses and binoculars. They develop their large motor skills through using trikes, climbing, and balancing.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy listening to stories that adults share with them. They join in with songs and rhymes, including actions. Children enjoy taking part in group activities that help them develop their early mathematical and literacy knowledge. They practise mark making, ‘writing’ stories, and drawing on chalkboards.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children play well together and are helped to learn to take turns and share. Any poor behaviour is dealt with firmly, but kindly by staff. The staff help those who are new to settle quickly. Children feel and are kept safe.

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

Leaders have established long-term curriculum plans. These plans identify the essential topics, key festivals and seasonal events to be covered each year. Teachers use these effectively to plan learning for children over time. They also plan well to support children’s individual interests. Leaders are not as clear as they could be on how the learning experiences that older children have will build on that covered in the younger class.

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

Teachers make sure that children develop an enjoyment of reading and stories. There are core songs, stories, and rhymes that adults teach the younger class. For the older children, key stories are revisited through the year, and in each term linked to their topic. Children start to see how they are connected to what they are learning. Children enjoy 25 April 2023

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listening to stories. These are used throughout the day and children like joining in with words and actions.

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A high proportion of children enter the school in the early stages of learning English. Leaders make sure that increasing children’s ability to communicate is a key priority. Well- trained staff model and teach new language to children through both planned and play activities. As a result, children develop their understanding of English over time, many becoming proficient speakers.

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Children learn about different cultures and ways of life through their play. They have visitors in to tell them about religious festivals, such as Hannukah and Diwali. They celebrate the fact that the children bring lots of languages to the school. Children regularly go on trips out, for example to the local church or shops, which ties closely with their learning and development. Children are encouraged to try different things, like fruit, through snack time, and talk about what they think.

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Staff understand young children’s development and know the children really well. Adults use regular ‘spotlights’ to check on how well children are learning and developing. This is also the case for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Where needed, children with SEND have additional adult interaction alongside their play, and some additional group work. This helps those children to access their curriculum effectively. However, the written targets for children with SEND are not as precise as they could be in making it clear for staff what the small steps for learning should be.

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Staff help children develop key skills such as turn taking and sharing. They use consistent phrases to help children understand what positive behaviour is and what is not.

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A few children do not attend as well as they should. Staff do not routinely follow up and find out reasons for some absence quickly. While many children attend well, a small number of children are not being supported to improve attendance.

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The governing body make sure that they visit school, so they understand what the headteacher tells them in context. They are looking to expand their membership to increase their capacity to challenge and support.

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Staff feel well supported by leaders. They are a close-working team and adapt their practice to support colleagues and children as and when needed, for example when children are finding it harder to settle.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

Staff understand the risks to children and have had specific training relating to the young age of the children in their care. They promptly report any concerns to the designated safeguarding leaders. Leaders work closely with families and wider agencies such as children’s services and health visitors. 25 April 2023

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Leaders have worked with the local authority to improve their record-keeping and systems relating to safeguarding. Their meetings of designated safeguarding leaders make sure that all actions needed have been undertaken. Record keeping is clear on who staff have spoken to and the outcomes of any concerns.

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All appropriate checks are made on adults employed by the school.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Leaders’ long-term curriculum plan is not fully developed. This means it is not clear enough how the experiences for older children will be different to those for younger children. Leaders need to ensure that progression of experiences and activities is more clearly established so that all older children are supported to build effectively on previous learning.  The written targets for children with SEND do not precisely identify pupils’ next steps in learning. They are not clear enough to support staff new to the children in knowing what individual children with SEND need to learn. Leaders need to make sure that information and written targets precisely identify children’s next steps in learning so that all staff can support their learning effectively.  Leaders’ systems for monitoring children’s attendance are underdeveloped and some reasons for absence are not identified promptly. A few children do not attend regularly.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Leaders should ensure that staff check on all children’s absence promptly to identify those families and children who need support to attend regularly.

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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 an ungraded inspection and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act. Usually, this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

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Background

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in July 2013. 25 April 2023

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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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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. 25 April 2023

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School details

Inspection number 10241662 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 17 May 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school has two classes.  The headteacher is also headteacher at another local infant school.  The school does not run any breakfast or after-school clubs.  The school does not use any alternative provision.

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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 met with the headteacher and other members of the leadership team. They met with members of staff. They also spoke to the chair of the governing body.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: communication and language, personal and social education and understanding of the world. For each subject, inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons 25 April 2023

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and spoke with teachers and children. They reviewed evidence of children’s previous learning.  To inspect safeguarding, inspectors scrutinised the single central record and a wide range of documentation, including safeguarding files. Inspectors spoke to leaders, including the designated safeguarding leaders, staff and children.  Inspectors considered the 57 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Ofsted Parent View. They also considered the 27 responses to the Ofsted survey for school staff.

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Inspection team

Tessa Holledge, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Joanna Pedlow Ofsted Inspector 25 April 2023

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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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