Langley Moor Nursery School

Inspection of Langley Moor Nursery School Brandon Lane, Langley Moor, Durham DH7 8LL

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Overall effectiveness Outstanding

The quality of education Outstanding Behaviour and attitudes Outstanding Personal development Outstanding Leadership and management Outstanding Previous inspection grade Outstanding 15 and 16 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children at Langley Moor Nursery bounce into school every day. They have an infectious enthusiasm to learn.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The nursery environment is calm and ordered. There is a very clear structure of routines and organisation. The school has well-defined behaviour expectations that children understand and follow. For example, two-year-old children respond swiftly to the ‘hands up’ signal that identifies the end of a session. As a result, children’s behaviour is exemplary.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are kind and respectful to each other, to staff and to the environment. Children engage enthusiastically in a wide range of activities indoors and out and show positive attitudes to their learning. Children sustain high levels of concentration and show perseverance when facing challenges.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school provides children with excellent pastoral support. It teaches them to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school uses the woodland area effectively for outdoor learning. Practitioners ensure that they make meaningful links to the seven areas of the early years curriculum. For example, children listen attentively to a story, use their fine motor skills to cut and pick natural resources while practitioners model mathematical language, such as longer, shorter, more and less.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school ensures children are well-prepared socially, emotionally and educationally for the next stage in their learning.

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better?

Since the last inspection, the school has successfully reviewed and refined their early years curriculum. It has carefully considered the small steps of knowledge and skills children need to acquire from two- to four-years-old. For example, in physical development, it ensures before children need to cut a zigzag line with scissors, they learn to hold scissors correctly and practise snipping in a straight line.

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better?

The school prioritises children’s vocabulary acquisition. It has established essential vocabulary for each area of learning. The vocabulary is tiered to reflect simpler and complex language choices. The school displays the vocabulary in the nursery to ensure that adults are emphasising the right words. This ensures consistency from all staff. Practitioners, through facilitating play, make sure that children are using this essential vocabulary.

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better?

The school puts books at the heart of the curriculum. It purposefully selects age- appropriate texts. For example, books for two-year-olds focus on repetition and rhyme while the older children progress to texts about diversity, different family types and ethnicities. The school has a 'rhyme of the week'. These start as easy 15 and 16 May 2024

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repetitive rhymes for the youngest children, progressing to more complicated counting rhymes for four-year-olds. Children sing these rhymes independently at snack time and as they play.

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Practitioners have strong subject knowledge. This has built over time through continuous professional development opportunities. Their training to support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities ensures that their interactions support these children exceptionally well.

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The school teaches important mathematical knowledge, skills and vocabulary discretely in group time. There are subsequent opportunities to explore and practice mathematics across all areas of learning. The school uses the extensive outdoor space creatively. For example, children confidently explained the concept of full and empty using different-sized containers in the water tray.

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The school has a system for checking what children know and remember. Practitioners gather information relating to children’s achievements after each adult- led task. They use this to inform additional play-based activities and to compile ‘mini reports’ for parents.

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The school’s personal, social and emotional development (PSED) curriculum reflects the high ambition of leaders to consistently promote the personal development of children. Practitioners share a commitment to provide a rich and varied range of experiences that develop children’s understanding of their place in the school, the community and the wider world.

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The school’s links with a local university enhances and enriches children’s understanding of careers. For example, children look at freezing and melting through the work of a glaciologist.

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The school’s leaders have incredibly high and ambitious expectations. There is a powerful coherence and consistency to the school’s practices. The staff share the school’s educational vision. The governors have an extensive knowledge of the school’s improvement journey since the last inspection. They have monitored the school’s progress, challenging leaders in a supportive way.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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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. 15 and 16 May 2024

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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). 15 and 16 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.langleymoornursery.durham.sch.uk

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School details

Date(s) of previous inspection 19 April 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school introduced provision for two-year-old children in September 2023.  The school does not use any alterative providers.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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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 second routine inspection the school received since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Inspectors discussed any continued impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.  Inspectors met with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, staff and children.  Meetings were also held with representatives of the governing body and the local authority. 15 and 16 May 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these areas of learning: communication and language, mathematics and PSED. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited the provision, spoke to practitioners and spoke to some children about their learning.  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.  The views of parents and staff were considered from meeting with them and from the responses to Ofsted’s questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Alison Stephenson, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector

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Inspection team

Mike Smit Ofsted Inspector 15 and 16 May 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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