Seaham Harbour Nursery School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Seaham Harbour Nursery School continues to be an outstanding school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Seaham Harbour Nursery School provides children with a wonderful start to their educational journey. It is a happy, welcoming place in which to learn. Children feel safe and valued here.

Parents and carers appreciate the care and support that the school gives to their children. Children are taught to be independent. They explore their thoughts and ideas through play.

Children develop positive learning attitudes for the future.

All staff share the same vision for excellence. They put children's learning at the centre of all that happens.

They are det...ermined to ensure that children fulfil their individual potential. This determination is realised. The curriculum is carefully planned to help all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), make exceptional progress.

Children develop the curiosity and courage to explore and talk about their learning.

The school helps children learn to play together harmoniously. Through carefully planned activities, children learn about kindness and sharing.

Staff model gentle, caring behaviour. This leads to children helping each other. Falling out is rare.

The school is proud of children's regular attendance. Parents feel secure in the knowledge that their children love going to Seaham Harbour Nursery. One parent said that their child is 'disappointed when they can't go to nursery because it is the weekend'.

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

The school's leaders and all staff have an excellent understanding of the importance of early education. From the moment children join the school, there is a focus on helping them to learn. Staff are knowledgeable about the statutory requirements for children in the early years.

They use this knowledge to guide and support children effectively. The curriculum focuses equally on all important areas of learning. Children are encouraged to be curious and ask questions about the world around them.

Communication and language development is central to the school's curriculum. Core books are identified for each half term. These provide starting points for learning.

Stories are shared, enjoyed and retold by the children. Familiar songs are used to signal important times of the day, such as snack time. Children enjoy singing them and learning new rhymes.

Booklets of familiar rhymes are shared with families to help children to continue their learning at home.

Every moment is used well to promote learning. The school makes excellent use of its extensive environment, both inside and outside.

Staff use the school's high-quality resources well. Children use them well too. They enjoy exploring, digging, cooking and investigating, alongside their friends.

Staff are highly skilled at developing children's communication skills. They talk and listen to the children to identify their interests and encourage their natural curiosity. All aspects of the curriculum are explored by the children in the provision.

They enjoy pouring water from large to small containers. They use tools confidently and enjoy playing with rollers and pump-action containers to paint on hands and paper.

This is an inclusive school.

Staff know the children well. They are highly skilled at adapting the provision to ensure children feel safe and supported as they play and learn. Children with SEND are quickly identified.

The school works closely with professionals to ensure that it fully understands any complex needs. The school has developed a quieter space for some children. This space is used flexibly to give children quiet time to focus on learning or to enjoy sensory resources.

At other times, children play or share snack time together.

Independence is encouraged here. It is promoted in all activities.

Staff have high expectations of what children can do and of how well they should behave. These expectations result in highly independent and confident children. They access all areas of the provision independently.

They learn to be problem-solvers. Staff nurture the younger children. These young children learn how to do things confidently.

Sharing is modelled and supported. Any disagreements are swiftly addressed with calm discussion and a smile.

This is a school that does not stand still.

Staff work as a team and continuously seek ways to improve the curriculum and provision for the children. Staff training is regular and supportive. There is great importance placed on staff's well-being.

The result of this is a team of staff who are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Background

When we have judged a school to be outstanding, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains outstanding.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the second ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be outstanding in April 2015.