Rowland Hill Nursery School

Rowland Hill Nursery School

Address: White Hart Lane, Totenham, London, N17 7LT Unique reference number (URN): 102072

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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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Achievement Strong standard

Children make clear and sustained progress from their starting points across all 7 areas of learning. Staff ensure that all pupils are carefully supported and can access the learning. All children are very well prepared for the next stage of education. This includes those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children develop the foundational knowledge and skills they need. They enjoy opportunities to explore sounds and rhyming words. Children have exposure to a wide range of diverse texts that are linked to learning in different areas. They show their learning as they practise mark making and count different objects.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children also make impressive progress in their personal, social and emotional development. For instance, staff help children to recognise their own feelings and those of others. This helps children regulate their behaviour and emotions. Consequently, they are ready and excited to learn.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Children enjoy their learning and are eager to be in school. Children attend regularly and attendance figures continue to improve from year to year. Families receive reward certificates when attendance reaches higher levels.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Leaders emphasise the importance of regular attendance to all parents and carers. They work with parents to make them understand the impact that absence has on their child’s learning. Leaders help parents overcome any barriers that stop their child being in school. This includes offering health support from the visiting health team.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

There is a special introductory curriculum in children’s first few weeks at the school. This helps to set up the routines and the expectations for behaviour. Children know what will happen as they move through the school day, and this helps them feel secure. When things go wrong, staff talk to children about how their behaviour has affected others. They help children to consider what they could do differently in the future.

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Attendance and behaviour Strong standard

Children develop friendships and interact respectfully. They enjoy taking turns and learning together. Bullying is not an issue at the school. Children know that if they have any issues, they have a member of staff who will ensure that these are dealt with swiftly.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have designed an ambitious, well-sequenced and exciting curriculum. Learning carefully builds as children move through the school. Leaders have a clear understanding of the quality of the teaching and learning in the school. They are meticulous about making changes where needed to improve what the school offers. Children are effectively supported to access all the different areas of learning. Staff adapt activities where needed and allow all children to participate and make progress. Staff present learning in exciting and engaging ways. Their skilful interactions with children help children to develop rich language. Staff follow children’s interests, deepening and expanding what they know. For example, children use soft toys and puppets to act out a story they know. Staff also encourage them to count the different toys and to think about the sounds used in the characters’ names. Children's reading, writing and mathematics knowledge

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

quickly builds so that they can access wider learning.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Teaching also includes multiple experiences to enrich learning. For example, children observe and discuss what different plants, such as cress and mushrooms, need to grow. They benefit from an artist in residence. Through them, they learn different skills such as how to mix paints to make different colours.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders have created a highly inclusive culture where staff identify, know and understand children's needs. Information is carefully shared with staff so that they can provide very effective support. This is particularly evident for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged.

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Inclusion Strong standard

The school offers support to help pupils learn in many different ways. This includes the use of visual resources and one-to-one support. Staff continually adapt activities as they take place so that all children can take part. Leaders ensure that they carry out regular checks that help them assess the impact of support offered. Plans are then changed and adapted as needed. This ensures that pupils' learning and wider development are always supported.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Staff draw on specialist advice and work extremely effectively with other professionals. This is particularly the case when supporting children who are known or previously known to social care. Ongoing work to support the increasing number of pupils with speech, language and communication needs has been very successful.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders make excellent use of additional funding. This helps to reduce the barriers to learning that disadvantaged children may face. This also includes broadening children’s access to wider experiences, such as participating in trips.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders understand the school’s considerable strengths. They are always ready to take effective steps to continue to improve the school’s offer. The school is involved in early years research projects, and leaders provide training and coaching for other schools. Leaders are fully committed to providing a carefully planned programme of professional learning for staff. This further strengthens teaching and learning across the provision.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders have a sophisticated understanding of the school’s context and the local community. They engage closely with the school community and external professionals. This ensures that supportive measures are coordinated and responsive. Parents and carers praise the support for both their children and themselves. Many parents also mention the caring and dedicated staff. Governors share staff’s commitment to providing a high-quality education for all children. They routinely and robustly check the impact of leaders' decisions. Governors provide substantial support and appropriate challenge to leaders. This helps to ensure the school continues to improve.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Staff are extremely positive about the school. They highly praise the support they receive from leaders. Staff appreciate the professional training provided. They value leaders’ focus on wellbeing and reducing workload.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children’s personal development is a priority when they enter the school. Personal development weaves through the curriculum and across all the areas of learning. Children gain the key skills, attitudes and knowledge they need to enjoy life now and as they move forward in their education. All children, including those with additional needs, can access and enjoy the learning and wider experiences.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff help pupils to develop their social skills and develop friendships. Children show consideration for the feelings of others as they learn and play. Staff are specially trained to help build children’s resilience. This allows children to deal positively with their mistakes and keep trying when things go wrong. Staff teach children how to learn and play safely. For instance, children learn how to cut up their fruit snacks under adult supervision.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn to respect people from different backgrounds and cultures. They learn about major world religions and celebrate different festivals. Every year, the school celebrates a ‘community heritage day’. Members of the community come to share food, play music and wear traditional clothing. Children read diverse texts that reflect the school and wider community.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children experience a wide range of enrichment activities that broaden their experiences. They contribute to charity events and support the local food and baby bank. Children also benefit from visitors, such as a theatre company, a drumming group and parents talking about their different jobs. Children know about healthy foods and can talk about why these are important.

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Personal development and wellbeing Strong standard

Children learn to be kind in supporting others and help to improve the school and local community. They help out with recycling in school and join in planting trees and bushes in the local area. They enjoy gardening sessions with older members of the community, helping to make friendship links across generations.

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

Children thoroughly enjoy their time at this welcoming and nurturing setting. They enter happily and staff help them to settle quickly into their learning and play. Children are safe. They can talk about an adult they would go to if they are worried about anything. From the time children start at the school, staff build close relationships and get to know them and understand their backgrounds. Staff take notice of children's interests and needs. They focus on helping children to settle in and understand the routines at school.

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

Children benefit from well-designed activities and experiences both inside and outside. For example, they have regular opportunities to make clay models, do woodwork, join in with songs and rhymes and enjoy rich role play. Children are also taken on exciting trips to museums and local landmarks and participate in forest school.

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

From children's starting points, leaders ensure that any additional needs are swiftly identified. This includes children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who are disadvantaged. Staff offer tailored support to ensure children can make sustained progress across the different areas of learning as they move through the school. Children achieve well and leave the school very well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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

Children swiftly learn to follow the expectations for behaviour. Because staff know children well, they can therefore predict and avoid any issues. When children do not do the right thing, staff step in and speak to them gently. Any issues are quickly and effectively dealt with. Bullying is not an issue at the school. Leaders promote regular attendance and work with parents and carers to remove barriers that might make consistent attendance difficult.

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Next steps

Leaders should review the approach to logging of behaviour incidents to further ensure any patterns or trends are swiftly identified and appropriate actions taken in response. Although attendance is non-statutory in a nursery setting, leaders should continue working to improve attendance for all children, including the most vulnerable.

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About this inspection

The chair of the board of governors in this school is Jane Perryman.

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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 and senior leaders. They also held meetings with members of the local governing body and representatives from the local authority during the inspection.

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About this inspection

The inspectors confirmed the following information about the school:

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About this inspection

The school currently uses no alternative provision.

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Team inspectors:

Sarah Lack, Ofsted Inspector Jonathan Newby, Ofsted Inspector

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This was the data available at the time of the full inspection, taken from different sources . More recent data may have been published since the full inspection took place.

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Facts and figures used on inspection

The inspector(s) used this data during the full inspection on 10 June 2026

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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?

Headteacher: Sian McDermott 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 needs support 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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