We are inviting families to take part in the Ox Close Cheer to celebrate St George’s Day.

We would like to wish everyone associated with the school a very successful 2020 on behalf of Team Oxclose. We have enjoyed hearing about the various gifts and experiences which the children have relished over the festive season. We hope that you all had a wonderful break. 2020 is set to be another busy and exciting year for Oxclose and we look forward to tackling all of the challenges which come our way and continuing in our efforts to provide the very best possible provision for all of the children.

Everyone at Oxclose Nursery would like to wish you all a Happy Christmas. We hope that you all have a lovely break and we can’t wait to see you in 2020 to make more amazing memories.

Children return to school on Monday 6th January.

This morning, we had a special visitor at Oxclose Nursery – Pudsey Bear.

The children loved playing hide and seek with our special guest and gave him lots of cuddles. He told us that he really enjoyed visiting all of our children.

Oxclose Nursery School was inspected by Mr. Geoffrey Dorrity on Wednesday 10^th May 2017. The Ofsted Inspection was the first short inspection to be carried out at the nursery since the nursery was judged to be outstanding in November 2013. The school received their fifth consecutive judgement of ‘outstanding’.

Ofsted were impressed by the progress the children make at Nursery. ‘All children, including those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, make outstanding progress. On average, children make two whole years of progress in the one year they are typically in the nursery. Those who stay for longer make much more progress than might be expected.’

Mr. Dorrity reported that ‘Parents talk enthusiastically of the way they feel the nursery is part of their extended family, and how staff willingly go the extra mile to support and make them feel included in the life of the nursery. This whole-family approach is a strength of the nursery.’

Another strength of the school was the wide range of experiences provided for the children. ‘Staff consistently make learning fun and put the children at the centre of all they do. Children’s interests and suggestions are always included in the day-to-day planning, meaning that children are constantly engaged in their learning.’ Mr. Dorritty joined the children on a visit to the Leisure Centre in Spennymoor, where the children were having a gymnastics lesson.

The inspector was impressed by the International partnerships forged by the nursery in the past and the planned project the nursery is hoping to start in September 2017, working with kindergartens in Italy, Latvia, Turkey and Portugal, to look at the teaching of Science in the Early Years. Mr. Dorrity reported that these projects ‘have deepened the children’s awareness of lives lived beyond their own community. This, along with the keen sense of fairness and compassion evident across the nursery, means children are well prepared to live in modern Britain.’

The new provision for two year olds was a focus of the inspection and Mr. Dorritty reported that ‘the two-year-old provision has been developed at the right pace to ensure that it is of the highest quality, and that it has not had any detrimental impact on the existing provision for three- and four-year-olds. The environment addresses the needs of this group sympathetically, enabling them to ‘have the space to learn’. ‘

The nursery has recently extended the building to provide a speech and language base for one to one and small group support. The report states that the school has ‘recognised that those children who enter the nursery with speech and language delay needed a dedicated space to work with the high-quality staff in a more-focused environment. By reorganising and extending the building you have enabled this to happen, with the outcome that children are showing even more rapid improvement in these skills.’

All safeguarding arrangements were found to be in place and to be effective. Mr. Dorrity reported that the ‘school works exceptionally well with other professionals to meet the needs of all children, particularly the most vulnerable, and ensures that parents are involved in the process. The exemplary records securely kept in the nursery ably demonstrate this. Parents talk of how well supported they feel when they have been going through any difficulties in their family life.’

Mr. Dorrity found the children to be ‘confident, polite, and well-mannered towards each other.’

We are thrilled that Mr. Dorrity was impressed by what we all do here at Oxclose Nursery. We are a very strong team- staff, families and Governors, all striving to provide the very best for our children. We are all very proud to be five times outstanding. It’s a great achievement and testament to the hard work and dedication of an amazing team.