Etherley Lane Nursery School

Inspection of Etherley Lane Nursery School Hazel Grove, Bishop Auckland, County Durham DL14 7RF

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Inspection dates: 26 to 27 September 2023

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Good Leadership and management Outstanding Previous inspection grade Inadequate 26 and 27 September 2023

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What is it like to attend this school?

Etherley Lane Nursery has been through a period of significant change since the last inspection. The progress that leaders have made in a short space of time is incredible. Leaders’ sheer determination has been instrumental in securing their high ambitions for all children. Children thrive.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children love attending Etherley Lane. They receive a warm welcome from staff who settle them quickly into the daily routines. Children know these routines well. Staff model to children how they want them to behave. Children learn to respect others. They play well with each other, sharing resources with their friends. Children listen to adults’ instructions or requests, responding immediately. They are confident and are ready to learn. Their behaviour is exemplary.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are curious. They ask lots of questions and are keen to get involved in activities. Children like to take on responsibilities such as being ‘line leaders’. Sometimes, they like to teach other children. Parents' views advocate this. One parent commented: ‘I have noticed a huge boost in confidence and independent play at home since returning to nursery after the summer. I am very happy with the early years provision and development of my child.’

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better?

Children benefit from a well-thought-out, broad and ambitious curriculum. Leaders have carefully chosen what they want children to learn, right from the start until they leave nursery. The curriculum designs are precise. The exact knowledge they want children to learn is broken down with opportunities to revisit this so that children remember what they have learned.

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better?

Staff skilfully introduce and model new knowledge during group-time sessions throughout the day. This includes early mathematics. Staff encourage children to count and use resources to help them. Staff have good subject knowledge. This enables them to plan and deliver activities in the outdoor and indoor areas that capture children’s interests. Children absorb themselves in these activities for long periods of time while using new vocabulary. For example, children eagerly identify and count pinecones and twigs in the woodland area after a group session on counting to five.

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better?

Children listen to stories and rhymes that staff have carefully chosen to develop children’s language and understanding. For example, staff teach prepositions such as ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘over’ and ‘under’ through the rhyme ‘Jack and Jill’. Staff frequently read to children throughout the day so that children become familiar with stories. Children listen attentively and show excitement about what is being read. At the end of the day, children and parents take home the freely accessible books available to them so that they can share stories together at home. 26 and 27 September 2023

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Staff regularly check what children know and understand. If children struggle, extra support is put in place. This ranges from working with external agencies such as speech and language therapists to staff providing one-to-one support. Leaders review attendance to see how this impacts children’s early education. They work with families when attendance is low, with positive outcomes.

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There are systems in place to identify children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). While leaders know children who may need support for SEND, for a small number of children, the help that they receive is sometimes not as prompt as it needs to be. The ‘short plans’ do not have sufficient fine detail for staff to be able to support children very specifically.

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Children enjoy a range of wider opportunities such as visits to a farm. These opportunities are carefully chosen by staff to support children to make better sense of the world around them. For example, staff read stories about farm animals asking children to name them and identify what noises the animals make. Children remember the names of animals and the noises that turkeys make after visiting a farm.

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The curriculum promotes children’s social and emotional development including how to stay safe in the woodland area, care for animals, be independent and manage their feelings. Children interact well with each other and share. Children are well prepared for their next stage in learning. The school ensures that children develop their confidence and self-esteem. Children’s behaviour is impeccable.

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Leaders, including governors, have improved the culture and quality of education dramatically. They have done this in a caring and supportive way with staff. Staff value this and the importance that leaders have given to their professional development. Staff are confident and eager to improve the education for all. Governors effectively hold leaders to account for all these aspects.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 Some children with SEND do not receive the specific support that they need quickly enough. This can sometimes slow learning for these children. Leaders need to ensure that the strategies and interventions that they intend to use to support all children with SEND are clear on children’s plans, implemented quickly and regularly reviewed. 26 and 27 September 2023

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How can I feed back my views?

or to 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’ is used to mean pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND); pupils who meet the definition of children in need of help and protection ; pupils receiving statutory local authority support from a social worker; and pupils who otherwise meet the criteria used for deciding the school’s pupil premium funding (this includes pupils claiming free school meals at any point in the last six years, looked after children (children in local authority care) and/or children who left care through adoption or another formal route). 26 and 27 September 2023

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.etherleylane-nur.durham.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 26 April 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Since the last inspection, the school has formally federated with Etherley Lane Primary School.  There is an executive headteacher across the primary and nursery school and an assistant headteacher has led the nursery school since September 2022.  In addition, there is a new governing body.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this inspection under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We deemed the inspection a graded (section 5) inspection under the same Act.

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Information about this inspection

In accordance with section 13(4) of the Education Act 2005, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires special measures.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision. 26 and 27 September 2023

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 Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspectors met with members of the governing body, including the chair, the executive headteacher, the assistant headteacher and the special educational needs and disabilities coordinator.  The lead inspector held a telephone call with a representative from the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives into these areas of learning: communication and language, personal, social and emotional development, mathematics and understanding the world. For each deep dive, inspectors spoke to the executive headteacher, spent time observing daily routines and activities, spoke to staff and observed specific children at different times of the day.  To inspect safeguarding, the lead inspector held meetings with the safeguarding leader, the governing body and teachers. They reviewed the single central record

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and safeguarding records and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts pupils’ interests first.  Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, Ofsted’s online questionnaire, including the free-text comments that were submitted. They also took account of the responses to the confidential staff questionnaire and gathered the views of staff throughout the inspection.

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Inspection team

Jenny Thomas, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Dimitris Spiliotis Ofsted Inspector 26 and 27 September 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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