Inspection Report - Holy Cross Nursery School, Belfast

Holy Cross Nursery School, Belfast

DE Ref No 113-6360

Inspection Report - April 2026

Holy Cross Nursery School is located in North Belfast. The school has two classrooms, each offering 26 full-time places.
There is a clear, inclusive and child‑centred vision for every child to achieve their full potential which is guided by the school’s motto “Children First”. This vision is consistently lived out in the nurturing relationships, high-quality learning experiences, and the staff’s commitment to each child’s wellbeing and their individual needs. As a result, all of the children are supported to develop personally, socially, emotionally and educationally within a welcoming and nurturing early learning environment.
The school has a well-embedded culture of self-evaluation which draws on a wide range of evidence and consultations with staff, parents and governors. The priorities in the school development plan are appropriate and include: enhancing the quality of outdoor play interactions, the provision for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN), and developing effective strategies to promote inclusion for children who are Newcomers and those who have English as an Additional Language (EAL).
Staff professional learning is aligned well to the school’s improvement priorities, and the staff are wholly committed to deepening their knowledge and skills to help meet the needs of all of the children. The associated action plans are purposeful, responsive to the needs of all of the children and focus on continuous improvement to enhance outcomes for all of the children.
The planning and assessment processes are comprehensive and responsive to each child’s prior learning and their development needs and interests. The staff use daily observations and weekly staff meetings to evaluate the children’s learning and inform the next steps. As a result, almost all of the children are making very good progress from their individual starting points across all six areas of the pre-school education curriculum.
The children are happy, inquisitive and enjoy their learning. The curriculum is inclusive and engaging and the learning environments are thoughtfully created to provide high-quality learning experiences across the six curricular areas. The children are developing well their gross motor skills as they balance, climb and navigate the challenging wooden obstacle course, taking risks in their play and developing their independence using the climbing equipment.
The World Around Us is a notable strength with the children engaging in a wide variety of interesting activities such as planting fruit and vegetables and learning about the life cycle of the frog in its natural habitat. The children enjoyed immensely a recent visit to a nearby farm and shared enthusiastically their learning with inspectors. The children used their class interactive panel to create a simple pictogram to show their favourite animal on the farm and articulate their reasons confidently.
During outdoor play, the quality of the staff’s interactions with the children, including the children’s responses, is developing well. Through their ongoing self-evaluation the staff have appropriately identified the need to develop observations of the children’s learning and enjoyment of outdoor play.
The staff are committed to the wellbeing of all of the children and their families. Informal daily conversations with parents and grandparents as the children arrive to school and nurturing routines create a safe and emotionally supportive environment. On a weekly basis, the staff monitor the children’s wellbeing which enables early intervention when required. The safeguarding arrangements are robust, policies are reviewed annually, understood and implemented effectively by the staff and governors, ensuring children’s wellbeing remains a priority.
There is purposeful collaboration with a range of providers, including Sure Start and childcare settings which enables the children’s additional needs to be identified early and supported effectively from their individual starting points. The staff recognise the importance of familiar learning environments, routines and strategies used in partner settings, particularly for children with SEN and EAL. This continuity is significantly reducing anxiety, supporting emotional regulation and enabling the children to settle quickly and engage confidently in learning from the outset. Similar strategies are in place for children transitioning to primary school which helps the children to build on their progress in their new learning environment.
The personal learning plans have succinct and SMART targets with clear strategies to support the child. The staff use effectively and consistently visual prompts, individual learning schedules and Makaton, and work closely with Allied Health Professionals to meet the children’s SEN, speech and language and EAL needs. As a result, all of the children are making progress in their learning and development which is clearly articulated by the staff.
The Pre-school Inclusion Fund has been used to appoint an additional adult to facilitate small group support for the children and purchase a new sensory circuit which is used regularly by the children to help them regulate and manage their emotions.
Effective use of Extended Schools funding maximises the opportunities for early intervention through the provision of targeted speech and language support.
The school has created a strong culture of celebration, where children’s achievements are recognised daily and shared widely. The consistent use of a “WOW” wall, verbal praise, awards, displays and celebration events contributes significantly to the development of their self‑esteem and confidence.
The parents engage regularly in the DE Getting Ready to Learn (GRTL) programme, and attend a wide range of workshops including speech and language support, family events and school trips. The annual “Santa Trail”, supported financially by many local businesses, is a highlight of the school year for all of the families of the school and the local community.
The staff provide additional learning resources to assist and support parents at home with their child’s learning, development and wellbeing, for example, managing behaviour and bedtime routines. They receive regular updates of their children’s progress through timely meetings and a digital application which also celebrates the children’s achievements throughout the year. In their responses to the confidential ETI questionnaires the parents expressed their appreciation of the excellent communication from the staff.
The nursery school has a very well‑established shared education partnership with Edenderry Nursery School and are part of the “Buddy Up Programme” through Community Relations in Schools. The children also visit the library and residential homes which deepens their awareness of the local community and extends their learning experiences beyond the nursery school.
At the time of the inspection, the evidence provided by the nursery school demonstrates that the arrangements for child protection align to the current statutory guidance.

Next steps

Holy Cross Nursery School is successfully realising its holistic child-centred vision and places consistently the “Children First”. The highly committed staff live out the vision through their nurturing relationships, care for the children and strong partnerships with parents and the community.

ETI will continue to work with Holy Cross Nursery School as it develops further the observations of outdoor learning. The District Inspector will monitor the school’s progress in addressing the area for action, as part of ETI’s normal monitoring processes.

Inspectors identified an aspect of highly effective practice from which others may learn. The aspect of practice which should be shared more widely is:

strategies and partnerships developed by the staff to provide seamless continuity for children with SEN and EAL as they prepare to transition from pre‑school to primary school.