Nursery at Settle Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School

At the April 2023 inspection, early years children built structures for play and balanced on walkways made from wooden planks. These activities give a concrete picture of their outdoor exploration. The nursery forms part of Settle Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School on Bond Lane in Settle. It is school-based provision, with the early years assessed within the school’s inspection.

Ofsted judged early years provision Good at the inspection on 19 and 20 April 2023. That judgement covers the early years as a whole, rather than the nursery alone. The findings combine independence and cooperative play with a specific concern about how some learning is planned.

Outdoor activity is the clearest picture of children’s learning here. In April 2023, children explored the outdoor areas enthusiastically, built play structures together and used wooden planks to make routes for balancing. These examples bring together physical activity, construction and collaboration: children have something practical to work on, and their play involves negotiating a shared task.

Reading and mathematics had a clearer progression through early years into subsequent learning. For parents, the useful distinction is between activities children enjoy and a curriculum that identifies what those activities should teach. Both matter. The inspection’s concern was about the latter in some other areas, where the sequence of learning did not prepare children as fully as it could.

Language development was part of that concern. Adults did not consistently take opportunities to extend children’s thinking and speech during activities. The improvement required was more precise planning of the knowledge and vocabulary children should acquire. A balancing route or construction project can therefore be considered in two ways: what children manage physically, and how adults help them explain their ideas. The April 2023 findings support the first more clearly than the second.

Independence and resilience were strengths in the early years in April 2023. Children also worked cooperatively in their play. These are useful foundations for a child learning to participate in a group: trying things, persisting and sharing an activity with others.

The outdoor construction examples give those findings substance. Children were active participants in making their play spaces, rather than simply using a finished structure. For families, that gives a picture of practical involvement and social learning alongside the curriculum concern about extending language.

Attending this nursery does not guarantee a Reception place. Families must make a separate Reception application through the normal admissions route and meet the applicable deadline. Treat choosing nursery provision and applying for Reception as two separate decisions.

The April 2023 findings about progression in reading and mathematics concern continuity of learning. They do not establish an admissions advantage or entitlement to a place.

The school’s address is Bond Lane, Settle, BD24 9BW, and its telephone number is 01729822019. This locates the nursery within the primary school site and gives families a direct contact point.