Grosvenor Nursery School and Day Care Centre

Inspection of an outstanding school: Grosvenor Nursery School Lord Street, Kearsley, Bolton, Lancashire BL4 8AR

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Outcome

Grosvenor Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

This is an incredibly happy school. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), settle quickly into the extremely well organised routines that the school has established. Children feel safe. They enjoy learning with their many new friends, as well as with staff.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children’s interests and opinions matter greatly to leaders and staff. They are genuinely interested in what children wish to communicate. Staff respond skilfully to the needs and stage of development of each child. Every child is included in all that the school offers and has an equal chance to succeed.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children learn to be kind and thoughtful. Staff expertly guide them about how to behave. Starting in the classroom for two-year-olds, staff successfully help children to start sharing toys and resources with other children.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children, including those in the specially resourced provision for children with SEND (specially resourced provision), achieve highly. This is because the school strives to provide children with the absolute best curriculum, teaching and support. Children are very well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school is highly popular with parents and carers, not least because of the wonderful, well-thought-out opportunities that two-, three- and four-year old children experience in learning indoors and outdoors.

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

Over several years of considerable change, the headteacher, other leaders and the governing body have made sure that this school continues to thrive. With a determined focus on its curriculum, teaching, staffing and finance, the school has ensured that children in each classroom receive an exceptional early years education. It has achieved its ambition to provide families with a high-quality school linked to a day care provision on 14 March 2024

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the same site. This means that children and families can access a wide range of provision more easily, including the school’s popular, volunteer-run lending library.

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At the heart of its exemplary curriculum the school ensures that children develop their communication and language very well. For children in the specially resourced provision this means that staff are highly attuned to the individual ways that children communicate. The expert staff use gentle, well-chosen talk and gestures. Staff respond to children with skill and sensitivity. In each classroom, children make huge strides forward in their ability to communicate with others. Those who can, learn many ambitious new words.

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The school has thought very carefully about the key knowledge that it wants children to learn. It provides staff with the coaching and guidance that they need to understand the school’s curriculum. Well-trained staff make learning deeply meaningful and engaging. It is no surprise that children love coming to school. Children achieve very well. They are richly prepared for the next stage of their learning.

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The school uses well-chosen books to inspire children about stories and words. Starting in the classroom for two-year-olds, staff tell, re-tell and often act out stories to build children’s knowledge. Children learn from staff the joy of sharing books and stories as well as about the rich work of different authors and illustrators. When appropriate, staff help some children to write simple words and to learn some of the sounds that letters make.

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Staff check carefully whether children know and remember the school’s curriculum. In addition, staff work closely with other professionals, and with parents, to help to identify the needs of children with SEND. Staff provide children with skilful additional teaching and support. Staff meet children’s needs exceptionally well.

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Children learn to manage their feelings and behaviour. This is because the school supports children’s emotional development through its well considered and consistently explained approach. Staff are patient and supportive with children who become increasingly confident and settled at school as a result. Children are extremely interested in and respectful of other people. For example, they learn to celebrate special occasions thoughtfully with elderly residents of a local residential care home. They also have many questions that they keenly ask of visitors, such as inspectors.

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The school provides staff, including those who are a key person for an allocated group of children, with the time that they need to build meaningful relationships with them. Staff also have sufficient time to teach the children. This approach helps staff to manage their workload and feel happy at work. It also enhances their impact on the progress that children make through the curriculum.

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The governing body uses its expertise very well to maintain the improvement of the school’s successful work.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 14 March 2024

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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 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 first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in November 2017.

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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' 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). 14 March 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Dates of previous inspection 31 October and 1 November 2017, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 Several staff are new to the school since the previous inspection.  The school provides some places for two-year-olds in a dedicated classroom.  The school provides some places for children with SEND in a specially resourced provision. These places are allocated by the local authority. Eight children with a range of communication and social interaction needs attend currently.  The school does not use alternative provision for children.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspections are a point-in-time judgement about the quality of a school’s education provision.  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 spoke with the headteacher, other leaders and with a representative of the local authority to discuss the work of the school. 14 March 2024

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 The inspectors completed deep dives in these areas of learning: communication and language, physical development and literacy. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of learning activities, spoke with staff and spoke with some children about their learning.  Inspectors discussed with the school its provision for children’s personal development, behaviour and SEND.  The inspectors spoke with staff about their experience of working at the school. There were no responses from staff to Ofsted’s online survey.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s pupil survey.  The inspectors reviewed the responses to Ofsted Parent View. An inspector spoke with some parents as they arrived at the school.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single central

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record, took account of the views of leaders, staff and children and considered the extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children’s interests first.

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Inspection team

Tim Vaughan, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Sandra Hamilton Ofsted Inspector 14 March 2024

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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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