Earlham Nursery School

Earlham Nursery School

Address: Cadge Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR5 8DB Unique reference number (URN): 120767

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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 have developed a coherent and appropriate programme to support the personal development of all children. This is underpinned by the positive and trusting relationships children forge with staff. When children join the nursery, they are supported sensitively to manage their own personal needs. Children learn how to express their emotions and manage their feelings. As a result, children play harmoniously together with very few disagreements. They take turns and share equipment. Children show respect and acceptance of each other’s differences in their diverse community. They offer help when they see a friend fall or upset. Children play together well and cooperate as they tidy up at the end of each session. These personal attributes reflect the school's inclusive nature and pledge to support people seeking sanctuary in their community. ‘I am proud stars’ celebrate children’s successes and help them develop a positive sense of self. The thoughtfully

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

organised outdoor area, filled with trees and shrubs, means children enjoy exploring and learning about the natural world on a daily basis. Mealtimes promote healthy eating. Children help cut up fruit for their snack and learn to use a knife and fork at lunchtime.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

A well-established programme of enrichment activities broadens children's experiences beyond their local community. These provide opportunities that many children attending may not otherwise have. Leaders have forged highly effective partnerships with local organisations and work collaboratively with them to provide regular programmes that benefit children, parents and carers. Events such as the science day and the castle museum project enrich families' cultural experiences and promote shared learning across the curriculum. Families of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities participate in specific experiences that build confidence and help them manage outings more independently. Combined with the curriculum, these initiatives develop children’s confidence, resilience and independence in readiness for their next stage of learning.

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Achievement Expected standard

Overall, children form the foundations for future learning. They remember key information from new topics, such as the names of different minibeasts, and begin to see themselves as readers. They hold books correctly, turn pages, know that text has meaning and join in with familiar stories and rhymes. Children develop positive social skills. They learn to share, play together and take turns. Children build their physical skills as they climb and balance outdoors. The youngest children learn to manage their own hygiene routines and gain confidence independently using the toilet. Older children use cutlery successfully at lunchtimes. Children develop creative skills as they paint and draw using a range of art materials. Learning and development in mathematics are not as secure because this aspect of the curriculum is less established.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children with social and emotional needs make positive gains through well-organised small- group sessions that help them speak with confidence and express their feelings. Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities progress well from their individual starting points.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders and staff set clear expectations for regular attendance. They work closely with families to establish routines and improve attendance when children miss too much of their early education entitlement. This improves attendance so children attend more frequently. Leaders ensure that families experiencing challenging circumstances receive the help they need so their child continues to attend regularly. Leaders monitor children’s attendance closely and respond quickly when they spot any drop in attendance for individual children. However, there remains a group of children who have low attendance. Consequently, because they are not accessing their full early education entitlement, they miss learning and do not develop positive habits for future school attendance.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Children understand the rules and routines. They behave well. They share, take turns and play cooperatively. Children help to tidy up and work together to put large pieces of equipment away. Staff use positive encouragement to help children understand appropriate behaviour, such as 'walking feet' and 'listening ears'. Staff guide children through minor disagreements when these occur. Bullying is rare. This helps children learn to resolve issues smoothly in an age-appropriate way. Staff in the specially resourced provision manage children’s dysregulation calmly. This keeps everyone safe and helps children develop their own ways to cope with their emotions.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders and staff have developed a comprehensive curriculum. This sets out the most important knowledge for children to learn, including life skills such as managing their emotions, building positive relationships and being confident to try new things. Leaders focus on developing children’s language skills. Early assessment leads to targeted support that promotes talk and develops children’s confidence to articulate their thoughts and ideas. High priority is placed on developing children’s early reading skills. Some aspects of the curriculum, such as mathematics and assessment, are still in the early stages of being embedded.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Generally, staff present information clearly to children. They check their understanding and revisit new vocabulary in meaningful ways, such as naming bugs in the garden. Staff thoughtfully organise activities in the outdoor area so that this invites children to practise mark making, for example drawing with chalks on the ground or making marks with sticks in the sandpit. Typically, staff support and guide children's learning well, modelling how to use scissors and fine paintbrushes for their creations. Small-group teaching sessions such as yoga and music are well structured. Familiar routines mean children listen and pay attention, focusing on new learning. However, during less structured sessions, some children do not receive the interactions they need to extend their vocabulary or learning through play.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Staff quickly develop an accurate understanding of children's needs. Meet-the-teacher sessions and home visits help staff get to know children and their circumstances before they start, allowing prompt adaptations that remove any barriers to children's learning and/or wellbeing. This helps children to feel safe and included and to form a sense of belonging swiftly.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities in the specially resourced provision play and learn confidently alongside their peers in the outdoor area. Leaders closely monitor children's needs. They use information about children’s changing needs to adjust provision through ongoing review and responsive actions. Leaders and staff know their community well and understand the challenges families face locally. They use this knowledge to develop innovative projects with local organisations. These projects enhance the experiences of disadvantaged children. Leaders work effectively with other professionals, particularly in supporting children who are known (or previously known) to social care. They make appropriate and timely decisions to seek additional support for children’s health and wellbeing.

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Inclusion Expected standard

Leaders use additional funding to improve children's academic and personal life, for example providing essential clothing items and loaning educational resources to be used at home. However, leaders do not monitor the impact of this funding effectively. This limits their ability to identify what works well and plan future improvements.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders, including governors, have a clear and accurate understanding of the school's strengths and priorities for improvement. Governors have an ambitious vision for every child to Dream, Believe and Achieve. They hold leaders to account for children’s academic progress and personal wellbeing.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders understand the context of the school and local area very well. They are ambitious for all children and take the time to understand individual circumstances. They prioritise support for the most disadvantaged and vulnerable children and families. This enables leaders to make well-informed decisions in the children's best interests. Leaders and staff build trusting relationships with families in the community. As a result, parents speak positively about the ways leaders and staff work in partnership with them, particularly with toilet training and identifying any additional needs. Parents find leaders and staff approachable.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders strategically prioritise staff's professional learning so that they keep up with mandatory training and participate in new initiatives such as designing the newly introduced curriculum. Staff appreciate the support they have with managing children’s behaviour, although views differ about how valued they feel within the team.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

The nursery has undergone some changes that have affected staff's workload and wellbeing. Leaders have made difficult budgetary decisions in support of the sustainability of the nursery. They prioritise time for staff with additional responsibilities to undertake planning, preparation and administration tasks. Leaders have also adapted assessment processes to reduce workload. However, time for staff to work together to contribute to the strategic direction of the school has been limited.

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

Earlham Nursery School is an inclusive, welcoming place. Many children attend the nursery from the local area, where there are high levels of social and economic need. Warm, positive relationships between staff, children and families mean children settle well and generally attend regularly. Children feel safe and happily explore the natural elements in the large outdoor area. Familiar routines help children behave well. Typically, they know what will happen next and understand the behaviours expected of them. Children are kind and caring towards each other. They enjoy the topics they learn about and make connections across the curriculum through real-life experiences, such as using magnifying glasses to find minibeasts and sharing books that widen their vocabulary.

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

Children typically progress well from their starting points, including children who are disadvantaged or with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Those with SEND attending the specially resourced provision benefit from tailored support that flexibly meets their individual needs. Outside, children across the nursery play together, forging friendships and helping each other. Children with social and emotional needs gain confidence to express their thoughts and ideas through sensitively implemented small-group sessions that provide emotional support and promote talk. During less structured times, confident, chatty children receive help from staff readily, while some children who need support to extend their learning do not receive this in the timeliest way. Teaching of early mathematics and assessment systems are not yet fully established. For some children, these things limit them in developing secure foundations in readiness for future learning.

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

Children participate in an extensive range of experiences that create a sense of belonging in their local area, such as trips to the nearby shops and library. Regular visits to Norwich Castle Museum and City Art Gallery widen children's cultural knowledge and experience of the world beyond their local housing estate.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that highly-effective teaching consistently maximises opportunities to support the progress of all children, particularly disadvantaged children and those who speak English as an additional language, during less structured sessions. Leaders and staff should continue to deepen their understanding of the range of barriers faced by different groups, particularly those who speak English as an additional language, so that actions to improve attendance make a sustainable improvement. Leaders and governors should ensure effective monitoring of the use of pupil premium funding so that the impact of funded work informs future planning.

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Lead inspector:

Mireille MacRaild, His Majesty's Inspector

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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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What does this mean?

Leaders should continue to support staff to embed the school’s curriculum, particularly mathematics, and its approach to assessment.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Barbara Peterkin.

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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 staff, some parents, representatives from the local authority and governing body, the headteacher and a parent support adviser.

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About this inspection

The school includes local authority funded provision for 14 children with high-level special educational needs.

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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About this inspection

Headteacher: Carole Jacques 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.

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Urgent improvement

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

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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