Ashworth Nursery School

Ashworth Nursery School

Address: Addison Close, Addison Close, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 1QU Unique reference number (URN): 119091

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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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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders identify children’s needs as early as possible. This starts before children begin at the school, during the extensive transition process. Leaders use detailed information gathered through this process to immediately provide support to families in the weeks leading up to children starting at the school. This includes effective partnership working with a range of professionals, including education, health and family support specialists. When children start at the school, leaders are forensic in checking the impact of any support that has started, as well as previous support. They use this information to carefully plan how to meet children’s needs effectively.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have embedded processes which enable staff to have a precise understanding of children’s barriers to learning. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who face other challenges in their lives. Leaders ensure that children receive extensive, focused support to reduce these barriers. They carefully check that this support is having the intended impact and make timely adaptations where needed. Leaders make well-considered decisions about the use of additional early years funding to ensure that disadvantaged children are well prepared for starting primary school. Leaders are aspirational for children. They provide highly effective wellbeing support to parents, carers and children. This makes a significant difference to ensuring that children, particularly the most vulnerable, get the best start to their education.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

The school’s programme for children’s personal development is extensive and tailored to the needs of children. It has a significant impact on children’s social skills, their emotional development and their broader understanding of the world. Children demonstrate a mature understanding of how to keep themselves safe, including road safety and being safe when accessing online devices. Children understand how to build positive friendships and demonstrate high levels of respect for each other as they interact. They understand that everyone is different and understand that this is something to be celebrated. Children have an in-depth understanding, for their age, of fundamental British values. They explain how they vote to choose a story and that this makes it fair. Children confidently recall their learning about different religious festivals. They enjoy celebrating their own and others’ heritage. Children access a programme that teaches children Spanish. They use these

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Spanish words in their learning across the curriculum.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders carefully consider the context of the school and provide children with many opportunities to encounter new experiences. They learn how different activities make a positive difference to how people feel. Children go on visits linked to the curriculum and engage with the community. For example, children took part in hiding books in the local area for others to find and keep. They participated in litter picking and a sponsored walk for charity. Children learn sports and develop a mature understanding of the impact of different foods on their health. Alongside their parents, they learn to cook and try new foods. Children broaden their understanding of life beyond school. Each term, visitors transform the nursery into different settings for imaginative play including an astronaut station, a garage and a beach. Leaders ensure that children have equal access to these exciting experiences.

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Expected standard

Staff provide children and families with highly effective wellbeing support. They teach children to understand and name their emotions. They use visual prompts to support children, who are at the earlier stages of learning, to communicate verbally.

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Achievement Expected standard

Children achieve well. Leaders prioritise securing the knowledge children they need for physical, personal, social and emotional development. Children make rapid progress in these areas from their starting points, including disadvantaged children and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Some children face barriers to their communication development. Leaders focus sharply on supporting children’s communication and language. Many children are in the earlier stages of learning to speak English when they join the school. Consequently, children make rapid progress in their speech and language skills, which makes a significant impact on their readiness for starting primary school. Children make secure progress in developing their knowledge and skills across most areas of learning in the early years curriculum. However, in some aspects of their learning, including in mathematics, some children still have gaps in their knowledge.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have high expectations of attendance. They carefully check patterns of absences and identify any barriers to attendance that families are experiencing. Leaders take swift and appropriate action to support parents and carers in ensuring their children attend more regularly. While there are some children who don't attend school as often as they should, leaders actions have had a positive impact on improving the attendance of individual children and groups. Leaders carefully consider the needs of children when making decisions about the times that they attend. This supports families in getting children to school on time and ensures that children benefit from being in school as much as possible.

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Attendance and behaviour Expected standard

Leaders have established a consistently calm learning environment. Children understand the rules and routines. They typically follow these with support from staff. Children are kind and respectful to each other. Leaders and staff are clear what bullying is and how this could present in children of nursery age. Staff teach children how to build positive friendships and the importance of not discriminating against others. Children enjoy their learning and are keen to engage in activities. Leaders provide a wealth of support to children who struggle to manage their emotions and those who face other challenges that impact on their behaviour.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders have designed a broad curriculum that identifies what children should learn. They consider the context of the school and the different developmental stages of the children when reviewing the curriculum. In doing so, leaders ensure that the curriculum meets the needs of children year on year. Leaders prioritise securing the important knowledge and skills that children need when they start primary school. Staff skilfully introduce new vocabulary to children and develop their communication skills well. They teach children to hear the sounds in spoken words. This all contributes to preparing children for later learning in reading and writing.

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Curriculum and teaching Expected standard

Leaders ensure that staff have the expertise they need to deliver the curriculum well. Staff are particularly skilled at adapting their teaching, so that children who face barriers can successfully learn. Leaders and staff check how well children are learning. However, in some areas of learning, particularly for the youngest children, there is less clarity about the key gaps in children’s knowledge. This makes it difficult for staff to ensure they focus their teaching on closing these gaps. At times, staff’s interactions with children and the activities children access do not consistently build on children’s learning as effectively as they could.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders are aspirational for children. They are passionate about ensuring that children are given the best start to their education. Leaders have an acute understanding of the context of the school and the needs of the families and children in the school community. They are highly focused on swiftly reducing barriers to children's development, to prepare them for starting primary school. Leaders place children’s best interests at the heart of their decisions.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders understand the school’s strengths. They focus on the areas of school life that would benefit from being strengthened further. They take appropriate and effective action to improve these identified areas. Leaders are proactive at engaging with other school leaders, the local authority and other agencies to continually develop and share effective practice. Governors are knowledgeable and understand their responsibilities. They provide support and challenge to the school. For example, they ensure that leaders are meeting their safeguarding responsibilities and that the school’s funding is used appropriately to meet the needs of children.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Staff are incredibly proud to work at this school. They feel highly valued by leaders and supported with their workload and wellbeing. Staff morale is very high. Leaders support staff to build their knowledge and expertise. They ensure that staff access professional learning opportunities that link specifically to the school’s priorities.

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Leadership and governance Expected standard

Leaders engage well with the local community. They take every opportunity to work in partnership with parents and carers and to provide them with support. This has a positive impact on children’s learning and wellbeing.

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

Children are well cared for and nurtured at this calm, happy school. They greet staff with beaming smiles when they arrive and are confident to separate from their parents and carers. The minority of children who find this transition difficult, are given support, comfort and reassurance from staff. They quickly settle and join in with their friends. Children feel safe and secure in the presence of staff. Children play together cooperatively and support each other. For example, children notice when another child is struggling to climb outside and they offer a helping hand. When occasional minor fall outs happen, children are well supported by staff to resolve these quickly and calmly. Children follow the routines and rules. Children who find it challenging to manage their emotions access specific support to help them develop these skills. This has a positive impact on enabling children to cope in different areas of school life.

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

Children are included in all aspects of school life at this highly inclusive school. Individual children’s unique needs are understood in detail by leaders. Any barriers that children face to their learning or wellbeing are identified swiftly through the school’s robust processes. This includes information collected before children start at the school. Children are given extensive, targeted support to reduce these barriers. Children enjoy the learning opportunities that staff and leaders create for them. They benefit from a broad and engaging curriculum that prepares them well for starting primary school. Children achieve well, particularly in their language and communication skills.

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

Children broaden their personal development through an extensive range of hands on experiences. For example, the curriculum is enriched with local visits and visitors to the school. These are personalised to the needs of the children. Children grow their own vegetables in the ‘secret garden’ and experience seeing caterpillars develop into butterflies. Leaders support parents and carers to ensure that their children attend school regularly, so that they do not miss valuable learning experiences.

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Next steps

Leaders should ensure that teaching consistently maximises the opportunities for engaging children in high quality interactions to that they build on their learning across all areas of the curriculum. Leaders should ensure that teachers accurately identify and address children’s gaps in knowledge, so that children consistently embed their knowledge for later learning.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Dave Harling.

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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 (HMI) or by Ofsted Inspectors (OIs) who have previously served as HMI.

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About this inspection

Inspectors spoke with the headteacher, staff, governors and a representative of the local authority during the inspection. Inspectors also spoke with parents, carers and children.

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About this inspection

A new headteacher has been appointed since the last inspection. The current headteacher was appointed in September 2023.

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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?

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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0.00%

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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0.00%

At the time of the inspection, there were 82 children on roll.

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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

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Urgent improvement

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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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