Ightenhill Nursery School

Inspection of an outstanding school: Ightenhill Nursery School Lionel Street, Burnley, Lancashire BB12 6DY

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Outcome

Ightenhill Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are incredibly happy. They make many friends and settle quickly. Children feel safe and form excellent relationships with staff, who they know care deeply about them. Children benefit greatly from the exciting and first-rate curriculum that the school has designed. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve very well because the school expects the absolute best of them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are proud of their school, including being in the caterpillars, butterflies and ladybird groups with their key person. Children take care of the school’s many toys and resources. They act responsibly and tidy the classrooms when the special music is played to alert them. From their time in the class for two-year-olds onwards, children learn from staff how to cooperate and be patient. Children learn to be kind to one another and behave calmly. They use gentle speaking and actions, just like they see modelled by the expert staff. Children learn to respect the views and opinions of other people.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children develop immense confidence, not least because of the time that they spend learning in the school’s beautiful and extensive garden and woodland area. They flourish because of the many opportunities that staff give them to experiment and investigate. Children become passionate, knowledgeable learners.

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

The school has a deep understanding of how young children, including those with SEND, develop and learn. It has used its vision, ambition, impressive expertise and attention to detail to establish an innovative and inspiring curriculum. Children benefit immensely from the exceptional education that they receive.

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

The school draws on educational research and from the advice of external experts to challenge its own curricular thinking. It invests with great success in the training and development of its staff. This leads to consistency in the high quality of staff’s delivery of 25 April 2024

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the curriculum. Two-year-olds, as well as three and four-year-olds, gain a wonderful foundation for their future lives.

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Children learn to communicate their ideas, needs and desires to others. Staff listen closely to children and respond to them skilfully. For example, staff use gesture to help children, including those with SEND, to communicate. Teachers and teaching assistants use new words highly effectively with the children. Those children who can, develop a rich and deeply understood vocabulary.

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The school thinks in depth about which fiction, non-fiction books and poems to read to the children as part of its curriculum. Children gain an extensive knowledge about a rich array of different characters, stories, authors, poets and illustrators. Older children learn from staff to read letters and words using phonics. Children love books, stories and language.

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With accomplished expertise, the school pinpoints what children know and remember of its curriculum. Staff build a clear picture of the needs of children with SEND. Teachers and teaching assistants give children exemplary individual support to build their skills and knowledge. Children, including those with SEND, blossom while at the school.

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The school is a peaceful yet happy hive of activity. Disagreements and upset between children are rare and short-lived. This is because children learn from staff how to manage their own feelings and behaviour very well. Children’s behaviour is impeccable.

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Children benefit from the extensive and well considered opportunities that the school provides for their personal development. For instance, through exploring photographs, stories, music and dressing up they learn about different community festivals and celebrations. By making educational visits with staff around their local area, they come to understand the important roles of people such as shop keepers. They learn about the essential role of the dentist who visits them at the school.

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Governors support and challenge the school expertly. The governing body also considers very carefully the school’s long-term priorities. The school is a place where staff are listened to, valued and supported exceptionally well. It has reduced the workload of staff associated with completing unnecessary paperwork. Staff make the best use of their time to support and extend children’s learning in this inspirational school.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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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 25 April 2024

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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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This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in October 2014.

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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). 25 April 2024

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School details

Number of children on the school roll 85

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 1 November 2018, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides some places for two-year-old children.  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 and other leaders to discuss the work of the school. They also considered information provided by the local authority.  The inspectors completed deep dives in these areas of learning: communication and language, mathematics and physical development. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited a sample of learning activities including for two-year-olds, spoke with staff and spoke with some children about their learning. 25 April 2024

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 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. The inspectors considered the 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. He spoke by telephone with the chair of governors.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, inspectors reviewed the single central 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

David Robinson His Majesty's Inspector 25 April 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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