Cleator Moor Nursery School

Cleator Moor Nursery School

Address: Ennerdale Road, Wath Brow, Cleator Moor, Cumbria, CA25 5LW Unique reference number (URN): 112088

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, pupils are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect schools for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The school has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. All legal requirements are met. Not met: The school has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders think through their curriculum for children's personal, social and emotional development expertly. They make certain that children learn to stay safe and healthy. Children learn about the importance of exercise and eating healthy foods. Staff teach children about kindness and friendship. They enable children to protect the privacy of their bodies. Staff help children understand how to behave online, and the school provides parents and carers with extremely helpful advice on this topic.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff nurture children's wellbeing with considerable success. If any child arrives at school upset, staff are immediately warm and supportive. Where needed, staff and other agencies provide children with specific extra help to cope with their emotions. Staff help children to deal with 'yucky feelings'. The children's annual 'spa day' is also immensely popular. Children are confident, self-reliant and independent. They love school and know to keep on trying when they face difficult tasks.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders provide children with rich opportunities for their personal growth. Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, benefit from many well-considered educational trips. Disadvantaged children gain new skills and confidence from specific opportunities, such as to ride and care for horses. Children learn to be inquisitive, polite and self-assured with special visitors to the school.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Throughout the school's work, leaders ensure that children develop secure knowledge of the fundamental British values. Children know that their views and opinions are important. They learn to care about the quality of the local area, such as through taking part in the Great Cumbria Litter Pick. Staff help children to respect other people's faith and religion. Children develop an impressive understanding of the importance of rules, voting and charitable fundraising. Staff help children to understand the roles of people who help the local community, such as firefighters and doctors.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children acquire appropriate knowledge and skills in each area of learning. Some of their knowledge of early mathematical and scientific concepts are particularly well developed. Children build a rich knowledge of books, stories and characters, songs and rhymes. Mostly, children learn to talk and communicate effectively. Older children develop a knowledge of ambitious words such as 'loyalty' and 'companion'.

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Achievement Expected standard

By the time that 4-year-olds leave the school, they are ready to go full steam ahead in their learning in the Reception Year at primary school. For example, children develop essential physical, imaginative and language skills ready for learning to read and write. Children develop important habits, such as inquisitiveness, resilience and persistence. Disadvantaged children achieve well, including 2-year-olds who develop the personal, physical and communication skills that they need. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities experience success because they benefit from staff's extra help. Children make important strides forward from their starting points.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders and governors keep a careful check on children's attendance and behaviour. They want to see all children benefit fully from the school's provision. Leaders ensure that staff record attendance and behaviour information carefully, to inform the school's actions. Mostly, children attend school regularly. However, on occasion, some children do not attend when they could. Leaders strive to understand the reasons for children's absences from school. They support individual families with children's attendance. This results in an improved picture of attendance by individuals and groups of children, during the year that typically they are on roll. This enhances children's readiness for primary school.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders set high standards for children's behaviour. Staff understand the school's behaviour policy, which they support children very effectively to follow. This work begins remarkably well in the class for 2-year-olds. Throughout the school, staff are patient, positive and gentle. Staff teach children to respect one another and school resources. Children take care of toys and keenly help staff at tidy-up time. Staff act skilfully, to support any children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, if they struggle to manage their own behaviour. Staff prevent bullying from arising, as they swiftly guide children on what may be unkind behaviour.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders' curriculum identifies essential knowledge clearly in each area of learning. Staff know what information to teach and assess now and next to 2- to 4-year-olds. Leaders have a well-informed understanding of the school's curriculum and teaching. They use this well to push improvements forward.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders make certain that the insights of wider professionals inform the school's work with children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Staff make effective checks on children's knowledge, including their communication, language and wellbeing. Staff complete the required progress checks on the learning of 2-year-olds very well to identify gaps in children's understanding.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Generally, staff teach the agreed curriculum well. For example, teachers develop children's essential knowledge of the building blocks of reading, writing and mathematics effectively. The school promotes a love of books and reading very successfully. Staff support children very well to use the many high-quality fiction and non-fiction books that teachers display throughout the school.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Mostly, staff provide skilful support for individual children who need extra help to catch up in their learning. Often, staff talk well with children. On occasion, some teaching does not make the most effective use of high-quality talk to support children's learning. At these times, staff's support for children who are reluctant talkers is less successful.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders, governors and staff consider each child who faces challenges in their life to be especially important. They are ambitious for all children's learning and strive to understand children's difficulties and experiences. Leaders draw on their deep knowledge of child development and the early years foundation stage to pinpoint children's needs. As early as possible in children's schooling, staff make skilful checks on children's communication and language, wellbeing and engagement. They provide well-considered support, to ensure that children overcome barriers to their learning of the curriculum.

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Inclusion Expected standard

The school works closely with other professionals, such as health visitors, to understand the extra help that children need. Teachers and teaching assistants provided timely and effective support for children, particularly children known to social care or those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders' well-thought-out use of extra funding helps disadvantaged children's learning and wellbeing to stay on track.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Mostly, staff understand and follow a clear, step-by-step approach to the education of children with SEND. They develop plans for specific children through close cooperation with other professionals, as well as parents and carers. Occasionally, the school does not ensure that the targets in some children's plans inform classroom teaching as well as they could.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

This is a successful and improving school. Leaders draw efficiently on their expert knowledge of high-quality nursery education and special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They have resolved the weaknesses in the school's work that inspectors identified at the previous inspection. For instance, leaders have extensively and successfully revised the school's curriculum. In addition, governors have stepped up the quality of their work. They act effectively to challenge and support the school and think carefully about its long-term development. Governors meet their legal duties well.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders match their great ambitions for the school, with their accurate and realistic self- assessment of its strengths and priorities. For example, they have thoughtfully identified which aspects of inclusion, teaching and children's attendance will benefit from further refinement. Leaders ensure that the essential ingredients are in place to support the school's increased success over time.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders base their successful leadership of the school on respect for other people. Leaders are passionately committed to get things right for young children and their families. Leaders ensure that all children, including those with SEND, feel that they belong at the school. Leaders provide successful training for staff. They spot and support the professional potential of less well-qualified or less experienced staff very well. Leaders draw effectively on educational research to enhance their support for staff's work.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff feel valued and involved in school life. Leaders act effectively to support staff's workload and wellbeing. Relationships between staff and with leaders are happy and considerate. Leaders' well-developed links with other professionals, local employers, parents and carers enhance the school's provision.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are happy and well cared for. They make lots of friends. They feel safe in their classes and when moving around the school.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children achieve well. They make positive progress from their starting points and are well prepared for learning at primary school. For example, they build a secure understanding of important mathematical concepts. Children develop a love of books and reading, in part because of the school's well-thought-out literacy curriculum and how it is taught. Leaders and staff celebrate the joys of reading and books frequently and effectively with children, including 2-year-olds, and with children's families.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Through their learning, children become inquisitive, respectful, independent and confident. Staff teach them to be welcoming and interested in other people. Disadvantaged children's learning comes on in leaps and bounds because leaders and staff think and act carefully to help them to overcome obstacles to their success.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children find that this is a school in which they feel that they belong. This is because leaders and staff are genuinely interested in children's ideas and opinions. It is also because staff teach children to learn how to communicate with one another using gesture as well as words. This approach particularly helps children with SEND to feel included and to communicate successfully.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children enjoy school. Staff act swiftly to halt any unkindness between children, which prevents issues that can lead to bullying. The children behave extremely well. They often demonstrate sensible, kind and thoughtful behaviours towards others. On occasion, some children do not attend school as often as they could.

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What it's like to be a pupil at this school

Children benefit from many well-designed opportunities to take part in broader experiences at school. For example, children gain new skills at gardening club, gymnastics and on school trips, including to see the local fells.

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Next steps

Leaders should continue their work to improve children's attendance so that children benefit fully from the school's curriculum, teaching and wider provision. Leaders should make more effective use of agreed targets in individual children's learning plans to inform teaching, to make an even greater difference to children's progress through the curriculum. Leaders should further strengthen teaching so that staff use high-quality talk even more to support children, especially those with language or communication difficulties, so that

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The data was used by the inspector(s) during the inspection. More recent data may have been published since the inspection took place.

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About this inspection

The school shares an executive headteacher with another local nursery school.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Margaret Messenger.

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About this inspection

Inspectors carried out this full inspection under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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About this inspection

Following our renewed inspection framework, all inspections are now led by His Majesty's Inspectors (HMIs) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMIs.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, class teacher and teaching assistants during the inspection. The lead inspector met with members of the governing body and with a representative of the local authority. An inspector spoke with some parents and carers. Inspectors spoke with children during their play activities.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

At the time of the inspection, there were 72 children on roll, including 2-year-olds.

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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What does this mean?

The total number of pupils currently at this school and how this compares to other schools of this phase in England.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with an education, health and care plan. This covers pupils with more support than is available through special educational needs support.

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What does this mean?

The proportion of pupils with reported special educational support needs at the school.

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What does this mean?

Based on the English Indices of Deprivation (2019) and the school's location, we have calculated whether the school is located in a more or less deprived area.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other schools can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The school reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The school is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The school needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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