Executive Headteacher Lynsey Hadfield at Rawmarsh Nursery School partnered with Early Excellence to elevate her 2-year-old provision, creating a quality, curriculum-aligned learning environment with the ‘Large Complete Classroom 2-3yrs’ solution. The investment has had a positive impact on children’s learning, prompting the Federation to adopt the same approach at Arnold Nursery School. Located in Rotherham and part of a Federation with Arnold, Rawmarsh serves 2-4-year-olds, with a recently increased admission capacity of 133, including 13% EAL, 20% SEND, and students from 11 ethnicities. Under Lynsey’s three-year leadership, the school retained an Outstanding Ofsted rating in October 2023 and is proud to be an Early Excellence Partner School.
Contextual Information
Located in Rotherham, Rawmarsh Nursery School is part of a Federation with Arnold Nursery School, both of which are designated Children Centres. Rawmarsh offers provision for 2-4-year-old children, although their bespoke curriculum starts at birth due to children’s entry levels. Rawmarsh has recently increased their admission number, so now caters for 133 places, made up of 13% EAL, 20% SEND and 11 ethnicities. The children continue their educational journey at 8+ feeder schools as they enter Reception Year.
Lynsey has been Executive Headteacher across the Federation for 3 years and has a background of teaching in the Early Years, Primary Phase and Headship. The Nursery School retained their Outstanding Ofsted judgement in October 2023 and are also proud to be an Early Excellence Partner School.
The Bespoke EYFS Improvement Consultancy Plan:
Lynsey’s aims for this investment were to:
- Provide an instant core Continuous Provision offer, with space to enhance
- Ensure longevity, with durable furniture & storage
- Achieve access to developmentally appropriate, high-quality, robust resources
- Facilitate curiosity and learning characteristics
- Support the delivery of the setting’s bespoke curriculum
- Further strengthen Communication & Language opportunities for children
- Enhance the ‘Key Text’
- Approach used across the Nursery Federation
Project Intent & Implementation
Executive Headteacher, Lynsey Hadfield at Rawmarsh Nursery School, was seeking to review and reinvigorate her 2-year-old provision. Lynsey got in touch with Early Excellence to unpick her ideas for a learning environment redevelopment project and I was delighted to help.
Our discussion allowed Lynsey to explain her vision – she wanted to set the highest of standards with a quality, learning rich, indoor environment to give the children the best start in their educational journey, seeking provision which would meet both curriculum and developmental needs.
The conversation was brief, yet purposeful! We explored the various redevelopment services, and it quickly became apparent that the right option to achieve the vision would be to invest in the ‘Large Complete Classroom 2-3yrs’. The process of selecting and ordering the complete classroom solution is quick and easy, so Lynsey was able to do this online without any further assistance.
I’m happy to say that we have stayed in touch and I’m delighted to hear such positive feedback about the impact for the children. We were absolutely thrilled when the Federation decided to opt for a complete classroom solution for Arnold Nursery School too! Just take a look at Lynsey’s feedback about these investments.
Nikki Walters, Head of School Services, Early Excellence
“It’s great to hear feedback from Executive Headteacher Lynsey about the success and impact of the complete solutions package for both of her Nursery Schools!”
Evaluating the Impact
Tell us about the ordering process – how was it?
“I would absolutely recommend the complete solution package to any Headteacher looking to set up a new 2-year-old provision or seeking to reinvigorate their current offer!
It was so quick and easy to place the order for the complete classroom online.
I didn’t need worry about researching which resources would be right for the children’s developmental ages and stages or for the EYFS Curriculum – Early Excellence had already done all of this thinking for me!”
Tell us about the day of the delivery – how did it go?
“The Early Excellence Delivery Team were amazing! So professional, helpful and knowledgeable about the products and process.
As we didn’t opt for the room planning service, my team and I spent time ahead of the delivery considering where we would place each provision area. Then on the arrival date, we were able to lay out the furniture and resources as the delivery team bought the items into the space. It was seamless! The Nursery team were so excited to see the space transformed so quickly.”
What was the impact on Teaching and Learning?
“The complete classroom solution instantly bought the Statutory Framework Educational Programmes to life!
Our Early Literacy curriculum has been strengthened because Communication and Language threads throughout the provision. The quality of the texts for the Reading area and across the provision are excellent and we’ve increased exposure to rhymes, songs and puppets.
We’ve seen instant impact! Investing in the complete classroom has set a high expectation for high quality learning through play.”
Our Children
“The new provision has inspired our young children! They are more curious and spend time investigating and problem solving. They’re keen to engage with the core offer for learning every day.
The resources have been thoroughly considered and enable the children to progress developmentally, and they’re encouraged to stretch their thinking. The children are making great progress from their very low start points.”
Our Environment
“The learning environment looks and feels sensational! There’s an extremely purposeful atmosphere with children and adults learning and playing together. It’s been so impactful and effective that we invested again for our second Nursery site at Arnold.
The height of the furniture is ideal to allow a clear view of the children, whilst for them, it feels cosy and safe. We are truly delighted and our parents are very impressed too!”
Our Adults
“The team have been empowered! Removing daily set up and frequent provision changes have significantly reduced workload and gives them more time for professional discussion and time with the children.
The new classroom design enables the team to share good practice. The quality resources allow the children to showcase more of what they know and can do, and the adults are able to use their training and knowledge to act on this in order to deepen learning, support next steps and achieve progress.”
This Case Study has an associated podcast:
Hear more from Lynsey about her 2YO Learning Environments and the bespoke curriculum they offer in the Head-to-Head Podcast ‘Successful Curriculum Development: Starting with 2-Year-Olds’
Is Strengthening your 2YO Learning Environment a Priority?
If your a school based in England, the UK Government currently has Funding for School-Based Nurseries. Learn more about rapidly creating inspirational and enriching learning environments for 2-4 yrs in our blog: Government Funding for 300 School-Based Nursery Classrooms.
To find out how Early Excellence can support your school development priorities in EYFS and KS1 or develop a bespoke package, look at our School Improvement Services or get in touch with a member of our Senior Team today on seniorteam@earlyexcellence.com