Crossens Nursery School

Inspection of Crossens Nursery School Preston New Road, Southport, Merseyside PR9 8PA

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Overall effectiveness Good

The quality of education Good Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Good Previous inspection grade Outstanding 8 and 9 May 2024

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are happy at this welcoming and nurturing school. The school’s motto ‘kind hearts’ underpins the caring relationships between everyone at the school. Children are loved and cherished. They form trusting bonds with staff and each other.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Most children achieve well. This is because the school has high expectations for every child, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Typically, children move on to primary schools ready for the next stage of their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children behave sensibly. They are polite and well mannered. Children in the two- year-old provision are ably supported by staff to understand the rules and routines of the nursery. They settle quickly. Children take part in learning activities with confidence. They know that staff will help them to play and explore.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy special activities, such as learning outdoors with staff in the nursery garden. They proudly showed inspectors their learning environment and favourite equipment. Children engage in creative activities, including painting, dancing and woodwork, with gusto. They learn well.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are involved in projects in the local community, such as litter picking and making charitable food donations. They benefit from educational trips and visits, for example visiting the dentist, travelling by coach to a farm and exploring local woodland areas.

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better?

The school is ambitious for children to become happy, confident and curious learners. Since the last inspection, the school has made a successful start to revising the content of its curriculum. Children gain a successful start to their education.

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better?

The school has ensured that the curriculum is ambitious. In many areas, the curriculum outlines what children should know and be able to do. However, in a few areas of learning, the school has not identified clearly some of the important knowledge that children should learn. This makes it difficult for staff to know what essential information that they should prioritise when designing learning activities. This means that, on occasion, children do not gain the building blocks of knowledge that are crucial to their later learning.

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better?

Typically, staff join in children’s play, supporting and expanding their ideas successfully. In much of the curriculum, staff take opportunities to address any gaps in children’s knowledge. However, in some areas of learning, staff are less clear on what children do and do not know. Sometimes, staff do not revisit and reinforce important learning. This means that some children do not deepen their knowledge as well as they could. 8 and 9 May 2024

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The school identifies the additional needs of children with SEND effectively. For instance, staff use the progress check at age two of children’s development to identify any early concerns about individual children. This helps staff to pinpoint where they need to adapt their delivery of the curriculum to help children to overcome barriers to their learning.

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Most staff ensure that children learn to communicate and to listen attentively. Staff make story time interesting, by reading carefully chosen books with enthusiasm and enjoyment. Staff regularly check how well children are developing their communication and language knowledge. They provide focused support for children who may be at risk of not keeping up in their learning. These children benefit from the support that they receive.

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Staff teach children the school’s expectations for their behaviour sensitively. Children, including two-year-olds, learn how to be kind towards others. They understand the importance of looking after resources and eagerly help to tidy toys away.

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The school has thought carefully about its support for children’s personal development. It provides a range of opportunities to extend children’s learning beyond their immediate environment. For example, it takes children to visit the local library, shops and veterinary surgery to learn about occupations and local facilities. Through the stories and celebrations that staff carefully share, children learn to respect the differences between people and communities. This helps children to be ready for life in modern Britain.

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Governors use their expertise to provide the school with valuable support and challenge. They display a strong sense of purpose and passion to bring about positive outcomes for the children, parents, carers and staff of the school. The school engages well with staff and acts to support their well-being. When making decisions, the school is considerate of any impact on staff’s workload.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 In some areas of learning, the school has not identified clearly enough the important knowledge that children should learn. This hinders staff in knowing what learning they should prioritise when designing activities. This sometimes slows some children’s learning. The school should make clear to staff the key foundational knowledge that it wants children to learn in these areas of learning.  At times, some staff do not check on children’s understanding of key knowledge in the curriculum. As a result, in a few areas of learning, some children are not as 8 and 9 May 2024

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well prepared for the next stage of education as they could be. The school should ensure that staff are supported to identify and address any gaps in key knowledge that children may have.

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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). 8 and 9 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Date of previous inspection 29 June 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school’s provision includes early education for children aged two years old.  The school does not make use of alternative provision for children.

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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.  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 and other school leaders. The lead inspector also spoke with a representative of the local authority.  The lead inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. 8 and 9 May 2024

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 Inspectors carried out deep dives in these areas of learning: communication and language, mathematics and physical development. For each deep dive, the inspectors met with curriculum leaders, visited a sample of classroom activities and spoke to staff.  Inspectors also discussed the curriculum in some other areas of learning.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the 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.  Inspectors spoke with children and observed their behaviour as they played in the nursery.  Inspectors reviewed documentation, which included leaders’ evaluation of the school’s strengths and areas for improvement and documentation relating to children’s behaviour and attendance.

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 Inspectors considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free- text responses. Inspectors also spoke with some parents during the inspection.  Inspectors reviewed the responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff. There were no responses to Ofsted’s online survey for pupils to consider.

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Inspection team

Victoria Burnside, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Olivia Barnes Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 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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