Monkchester Road Nursery School

Inspection of Monkchester Road Nursery School Monkchester Road, Walker, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Tyne, and Wear NE6 2LJ

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The quality of education Requires improvement Behaviour and attitudes Good Personal development Good Leadership and management Requires improvement Previous inspection grade Outstanding

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Until November 2020, the school was exempt from routine inspection because it was judged as outstanding for overall effectiveness at its previous inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The school has not been inspected under section 5 of the Act since November 2013. The school received an ungraded inspection under section 8 of the Act on September 2023. Since September 2024, schools have not been awarded an overall effectiveness grade. 8 and 9 July 2025

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy coming to this school. They build positive relationships with their key workers. This helps children to settle quickly and feel safe and secure. Children behave well. On occasions when disagreements arise between children, staff are on hand to give them gentle reminders, such as to share and take turns. Children benefit from the consistent routines across the setting. These help them to know what is expected of them at different times of the day.

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What is it like to attend this school?

The school has high expectations for children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). However, in many areas of learning, these aims are not realised. This is because the school does not ensure that teaching is matched well to the needs of the children.

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What is it like to attend this school?

Children enjoy the opportunities on offer to extend their learning. These wider experiences include weekly cooking sessions and visits to their school forest. This helps children to develop their independence skills, for example putting on their own jackets and trousers to work outdoors. Children and their parents and carers take part in regular trips and outings with the school. These are carefully designed to support families to become familiar with the local opportunities on offer, such as visits to the local beach.

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

The school has recently taken action to review and revise its curriculum. In each area of learning, the school has identified the age-related milestones that it expects children to reach and the important knowledge that it wants children to learn. However, despite these improvements, the school has not ensured that staff have the expertise to deliver the curriculum effectively or design activities that support children to learn well. Some checks on children’s understanding are not effective. This has an impact on how well children achieve.

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

The school does not make sure that staff develop children’s language well. In day-to-day interactions, language is not modelled effectively or used in ways that extend the words and phrases that children use. This limits how well children are prepared for the next stage of their education.

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

The school prioritises early reading. Children enjoy listening to and joining in with familiar stories, rhymes, and songs. Staff encourage children to role play parts of the story, for example children dress up to pretend to be Goldilocks or one of the three bears. This helps them to become familiar with story language.

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

The needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified swiftly. The school identifies the next steps in learning for children with SEND. Leaders work closely with external specialists, such as speech and language therapists, to secure appropriate advice and guidance. However, the broader weaknesses in the school’s 8 and 9 July 2025

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support for children’s communication and language mean that some children with SEND do not receive the support that they need. This holds back some children’s achievement.

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Children’s personal development is well considered. For example, staff promote the importance of healthy eating at snack times. The personal development offer has been designed to help children learn how to keep themselves safe. Important messages, such as road safety and water safety, are shared with children though books and stories. Staff revisit these stories with children throughout the year. Children learn about the diverse society in which they live. They are taught about differences between themselves and others. This includes discussing different types of families.

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The school encourages regular attendance. It imparts clear messages to parents about the importance of their child attending nursery every day. This instils positive habits before children move on to their next stage of education.

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Children are helpful and happy to follow instructions. They are provided with opportunities to develop their independence. However, at times, the occasions available for children to make their own choices and follow their own interests when in the learning environment are limited. Staff typically focus on the tasks that children need to complete, rather than ensuring that children learn from a balance of directed tasks and opportunities to develop and apply their knowledge independently.

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Governors are aware of their statutory responsibilities. They understand their role is to support and challenge the school and to hold leaders to account. They have made recent changes to the way in which they receive information about the school’s work. Staff working at the school feel well supported. Parents and carers are positive about their child’s experiences.

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Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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Safeguarding

The school ensures that adults who work with the children are safe to do so. However, there are a few inconsistences in the way that checks on adults are carried out and the timeliness of these. The school does not make sure that some of its procedures and policies, including aspects of record keeping, are consistently followed by all staff.

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(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

 The school does not make certain that staff can deliver aspects of the curriculum effectively. It does not ensure that staff focus enough on what they want children to learn from activities and there are inconsistencies in the quality of teaching. This means that children do not consistently benefit from the intended learning. The school 8 and 9 July 2025

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should ensure that staff have the guidance required to deliver all areas of learning effectively.  The school does not sufficiently develop children’s language. Language is not modelled carefully enough or used to extend the words or phrases that children use. This limits how well children successfully develop the foundations for speaking and listening. The school should develop children’s communication and language effectively, through staff’s day-to-day interactions and teaching.  The occasions available for children to make their own choices and follow their own interests when in the learning environment are limited. Children are not given regular opportunities to develop their own creativity and critical thinking skills through periods of sustained play. The school should ensure that the routines of the day do not obstruct the opportunities that children have to develop and apply their knowledge and skills.

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 The school does not make sure that some of its procedures and policies, including aspects of record keeping related to safeguarding, are consistently followed by all staff. This can lead to important information not being recorded or collected in a timely way. The school should ensure that all staff follow its procedures and policies in consistent ways, particularly in relation to safeguarding

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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). 8 and 9 July 2025

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School details

Appropriate authority The governing body

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School details

Website www.monkchesterroad.newcastle.sch.uk

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School details

Date of previous inspection 22 September 2023, under section 8 of the Education Act 2005

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Information about this school

 The school provides education and care for children aged two to five years old. At the time of the inspection, the children on roll were aged two to four years old.  The school is federated with two other nursery schools. They share one governing body.  The headteacher is a co-headteacher at another school in the federation.  The school does not use alternative provision.

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Information about this inspection

The inspectors carried out this graded inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. During a graded inspection, we grade the school for each of our key judgements (quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; and leadership and management) and for any relevant provision judgement (early years and/or sixth form provision). Schools receiving a graded inspection from September 2024, will not be given an overall effectiveness grade. 8 and 9 July 2025

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 Inspections are a point-in-time evaluation 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 assistant headteacher as well as other leaders and staff. The lead inspector met with representatives from the governing body, including the chair of governors. She spoke by telephone to a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors carried out deep dives in these subjects: communication and language, physical development and expressive arts and design. For each deep dive, inspectors held discussions about the curriculum, visited the provision, spoke to staff and spoke to some children about their learning.  To evaluate the effectiveness of safeguarding, the inspectors: reviewed the single central record; took account of the views of leaders and staff; and considered the

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extent to which the school has created an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children’s interests first.  Inspectors considered how the school caters for children’s personal development.  Inspectors observed children’s behaviour when accessing both indoor and outdoor provision.  Inspectors considered the responses from parents to Ofsted Parent View, as part of the inspection. Inspectors also spoke with some parents at the beginning of the school day.  Inspectors reviewed a wide range of documents, including the school’s improvement plan and information on the school’s website.

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Inspection team

Sarah Gordon, lead inspector His Majesty’s Inspector

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Inspection team

Adrian Fearn Ofsted Inspector 8 and 9 July 2025

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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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