Inspection Report - Holy Rosary Nursery School

Holy Rosary Nursery School

DE Ref No 113-6289

Inspection Report – September 2025

The community of Holy Rosary Nursery School has recently reviewed the school vision. All relevant stakeholders have been consulted, and this collaboration has informed effectively the robust review of values and ethos. The holistic vision of the school is encapsulated beautifully in the school motto “Happy, Respectful, Nurturing, Successful” which is lived out in an inclusive and child centred environment.
The current one-year transitional school development plan is focused appropriately on: a review of planning; developing approaches to understand better how the children acquire and develop language and communication skills to support the children with special educational needs (SEN); and the full implementation of the Education Authority’s Graduated Response Framework to identify and support children with SEN. The staff and governors are in the process of developing a three-year plan and are using strategically their internal evaluations and consultation with stakeholders to identify the priorities for development.
The committed governors are well informed and utilise their own skill sets to support the staff in the school in their efforts to fully achieve their collective vision.
The staff engage continuously in self-evaluation. The new approach to planning, which is at an early stage of implementation, focuses on what the children can do and identifies the next steps needed to support the children’s progress. The regular, planned and spontaneous observations are succinct and impact very effectively on the future planning for each child. The staff have identified the need to review the planning to evaluate fully its impact on the children’s learning and progression.
All of the children are exceptionally well settled at this early stage of the school year. They are very happy in their new environment, following routines, independently accessing their healthy snack, self-registering on arrival and looking after their own belongings (coats and wellington boots). The children are all forming early friendships and almost all of the children are already engaging in significant periods of sustained associative play.
There are well-planned, purposeful, engaging and stimulating learning opportunities across all of the pre-school curricular areas to promote the children’s language development. The consistently skilful and high-quality staff interactions support the children to talk about their play, extend their language, thinking skills, imagination and curiosity. The thoughtful integration of books throughout all learning areas is developing a love of reading and the children are actively engaging in a wide range of early mark making activities.
The children are making notable progress in their learning, exploring and experimenting with resources in the water and sand, and using binoculars to investigate the natural resources which are integrated throughout the room. In the outdoor construction area, the children plan the ‘houses’ they will build, using mathematical language in relation to the size of blocks, how many they will need and where they need to put them so the house will remain standing. The children enjoy opportunities for dramatic role play in the outdoor ‘puppet show’ area, developing their imagination and building their confidence through their ‘performances’ for an avid staff audience.
Professional learning is prioritised for all of the staff, aligned to the key priorities in the development plan; this learning is enhancing the staff’s knowledge and skills. Consequently, the staff are developing confidence in using strategies which support the children’s additional needs, including language and communication development.
The highly inclusive and nurturing learning environment guides well the staff in providing support and safety for all of the children in their care. The staff have worked proactively and successfully to create a welcoming and supportive ethos for the newcomer families and children with SEN. The diversity in the school community is valued and the staff support the children and their families practically and pastorally, in line with the school vision.
The staff foster positive and nurturing relationships with families and provide regular updates on, and support with, their child’s learning. There are many opportunities for parents to be involved in their child’s learning, including participation in the Department of Education’s Getting Ready to Learn programme and celebratory events, for example, at Halloween and Christmas.
Through the Shared Education partnership with Castlereagh Nursery School, the children engage in collaborative learning opportunities and the staff benefit from collaborative training and the sharing of effective practice. Well-established links with local primary schools has provided the children with a smooth and positive transition to Year 1.
The children who have transitioned to primary school are invited back to Holy Rosary Nursery School early in Term 1 to see the staff, talk about their new school and to keep alive the links established during their pre-school year; this is further testament to the long term commitment of the staff to each child and how the “Holy Rosary Family” links remain long after the children have moved on.
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

The children in Holy Rosary Nursery School have begun their education in an inclusive, nurturing and caring environment. They are supported effectively by the skilful and dedicated staff who embrace diversity and prioritise the holistic development of each child.

ETI will continue to work with Holy Rosary Nursery School as it addresses the area for action:

to evaluate the impact of the new process of planning on children’s learning.

ETI will also work with the school to share an example of highly effective practice from which others may learn, which focuses on:

the school’s inclusive community of learning which is responsive to the diverse needs of all of the children and their families and enables equitable access to learning for all.