Everton Nursery School and Family Centre

Inspection of an outstanding school: Everton Nursery School and Family Centre Spencer Street, Liverpool, Merseyside L6 2WF

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Outcome

Everton Nursery School and Family Centre continues to be an outstanding school.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children thrive in this exceptional school. They enter their classrooms with broad smiles. Children, including those in the two-year-old provision, settle quickly. They are taught how to be gentle and to respect others. Children are happy. They form trusting bonds with staff. This helps children feel cared for and secure.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has extremely high expectations for children’s learning. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children achieve remarkably well. They move on to primary schools extremely well-prepared for the next stage of their learning.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children are supported to be well behaved. They are skilfully shown how to share and take turns. Children relish the praise and rewards that they receive for following the school rules.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children take part in learning activities, such as mixing paint and modelling clay, with confidence. They engage in creative activities, including music, cooking and woodwork, with gusto. They trust that attentive staff will help and support them.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children learn to care for living things, such as chickens, tadpoles and a therapy dog. They benefit from educational trips and visits, for example visiting a ship, a recycling centre and watching theatre performances. Children also enjoy exploring the extensive outdoor areas. This helps them to learn more about the wider world and nurtures their imaginations.

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

The school has thoroughly considered how the curriculum will be taught and delivered. It is clear about how each aspect of learning should be broken down so that it is easily 14 and 15 May 2024

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understood and remembered by children. This clear curriculum thinking also supports staff very effectively. Staff check what children do and do not know meticulously. They take every opportunity to address any gaps in children’s knowledge. The school has ensured that staff have the training and experience they need to be experts in promoting children’s development in all areas of learning.

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Staff draw on their in-depth knowledge of child development to identify the additional needs of children with SEND at the earliest opportunity. They adapt the delivery of the curriculum so that these children learn alongside their friends. As a result, children with SEND achieve exceptionally well. This includes children taught in the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision). Here, children receive highly effective support from staff who have a strong understanding of the particular difficulties that these children face. Children thrive in this supportive environment and are fully involved in the life of school.

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Children’s early communication and language skills are given the highest priority. Children are immersed in stories, songs and rhymes. Staff are wonderful role models for children. They expertly listen to children as they talk and purposefully extend their vocabulary. Staff know that this repetition of key words supports children to learn and remember more.

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The school has well-established routines. Children join in activities with little fuss and listen attentively. For example, children take part in yoga and massage with their friends calmly and are eager to join in discussions about their learning. Children, including two- year-olds, learn how to be kind and helpful. They understand the importance of looking after equipment such as when they help to tidy toys away enthusiastically.

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The school supports children’s wider development remarkably well. Children develop the confidence to take, and manage, their own risks when playing. They show high levels of resilience during their everyday play. For example, children challenge themselves to climb the hills and trees in the school’s woodland area. Children are gently encouraged by staff to manage risks and to stay safe. Children put on overalls and wellington boots by themselves. They learn to use woodwork tools, cooking utensils and scissors safely. This helps children, including those with SEND, to develop their independence and important physical skills.

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Governors use their expertise to provide the school with highly effective support and challenge. They are resolutely focused on providing outstanding education and exemplary support for the pupils, parents, carers and staff of the school.

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The school considers the workload and well-being of staff when making decisions. For example, the school has provided staff with high-quality training. This creates a culture where staff are well supported to hone and develop their expertise.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective. 14 and 15 May 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 second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in May 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). 14 and 15 May 2024

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.evertonnurseryschoolandfamilycentre. org Date of previous inspection 16 October 2018, 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 to four-years-old.  The school does not make use of alternative provision.  The school operates a specially resourced provision for children with SEND. This caters for children with autism from two to four-years-old. At the time of the inspection, there were eleven children on roll at the resourced provision.  The school operates a breakfast club and after-school provision.

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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. The inspector discussed the impact of the pandemic with the school and have taken this into account in their evaluation of the school.  The inspector met with the headteacher, assistant headteacher and other school leaders. 14 and 15 May 2024

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 The inspector met with members of the governing body, including the chair of governors. She also met with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector carried out deep dives in these areas of learning: communication and language; personal, social and emotional development; and expressive arts and design. For each deep dive, the inspector met with curriculum leaders, visited a sample of classroom activities and spoke to staff.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspector 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 inspector observed children’s behaviour at structured and unstructured times.  The inspector spoke with children as they played in the nursery.  The inspector reviewed a range of documents, including leaders’ evaluation of the

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school’s strengths and areas for improvement and documents relating to children’s behaviour and attendance.  The inspector considered the responses to Ofsted Parent View, including the free-text comments. She also spoke with some parents and carers during the inspection.  There were no responses to Ofsted’s online survey for staff or pupils.

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Inspection team

Victoria Burnside, lead inspector His Majesty's Inspector 14 and 15 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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T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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