Holmewood Nursery School

Age group 3–5 Inspection date(s) 30–31 January 2012 Inspection number 376414 Holmewood Nursery School Inspection report

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Unique reference number 100554 Local authority Lambeth Inspection number 376414 Inspection dates 30–31 January 2012 Lead inspector Madeleine Gerard

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Type of school Nursery School category Community Age range of pupils 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 131 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Yinka Vogel Executive Headteacher Sue Donovan Date of previous school inspection 6 November 2008 School address 66 Upper Tulse Hill London SW2 2RW Telephone number 020 8674 2186 Fax number 020 8674 8838 Email address admin@holmewood-nursery.lambeth.sch.uk achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked

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after children, safeguarding and child protection. Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, the school must provide a copy of this report free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may copy all or parts of this document for non-commercial educational purposes, as long as you give details of the source and date of publication and do not alter the information in any way. To receive regular email alerts about new publications, including survey reports and school inspection reports, please visit our website and go to ‘Subscribe’.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk You can use Parent View to give Ofsted your opinion on your child’s school. Ofsted will use the information parents and carers provide when deciding which schools to inspect and when.

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You can also use Parent View to find out what other parents and carers think about schools in England. You can visit www.parentview.ofsted.gov.uk , or look for the link on the main Ofsted website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days’ notice. The inspector spent approximately five hours observing teaching and learning led by four teachers and 13 additional staff, and held meetings with parents and carers. Meetings were also held with staff and members of the governing body. The inspector took account of the responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection. The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at work in children’s individual record books, and at tracking data showing children’s attainment and progress. The school’s development plans and records for safeguarding pupils were also seen. The inspector considered responses to 81 questionnaires received from parents and carers.

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Information about the school

Holmewood Nursery is a larger than average Nursery school. Early Years Foundation Stage children are taught in two Nursery classes. The majority of children attend either only the morning or the afternoon session. The proportion of children known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. The proportion of children from minority ethnic groups is above average. A minority of children speak English as an additional language. The majority of these children are at an early stage of learning English. There are no disabled children at the school. The proportion of children with special educational needs is above average. Most of these children have speech, language and communication needs. The school organises and manages breakfast and after-school clubs during term time, and full-day care during the school holidays. The children’s centre that shares the school site is the subject of a separate

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Information about the school

inspection. The school works in an informal federation with another local nursery school. The two schools share the same headteacher. Holmewood Nursery has been designated a National Early Years Teaching Centre.

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Key findings

 This is an outstanding school. Working together as a very strong team, the staff establish a calm and safe environment where all the children are valued and each individual child is known extremely well. Achievement for all groups of children in their academic and personal skills is outstanding.

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Key findings

 Teaching is outstanding. Observations of children’s interests are used very effectively to plan activities in the inside and outside areas that promote exceptionally well their understanding and increase their knowledge. Assessment information is used extremely well to tailor activities to children’s needs and check that all groups of children make consistently rapid gains in their learning.

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Key findings

 Exemplary arrangements to support children and their families when they join the school, and very well-established routines, ensure that children feel very safe and settle very quickly when they start. Children behave extremely well in the classrooms and the outside areas because adults make their expectations consistently clear and provide excellent role models.

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Key findings

 The promotion of children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. For example, children have opportunities to tend the school’s vegetable beds, feed the laying hens, and celebrate festivals from a very wide variety of faiths and cultures. Visitors to the school and visits to places of interest are popular. Outings within the school’s surrounding area to deepen children’s knowledge of their locality are less frequently organised.

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Key findings

 Highly effective leaders and managers constantly strive to bring about further improvements to the school’s provision and outcomes for children. Improvements to the already rich curriculum include an increased emphasis on developing children’s numeracy skills and enhanced opportunities for children to practise writing in the outside areas. Reading and children’s enjoyment of books are encouraged strongly through daily shared story-time in small groups, and opportunities to borrow books from the school’s library.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase opportunities for children to deepen their knowledge of the area and community around the school through outings and visits within the locality by July 2012.

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Achievement of pupils

Achievement for all groups of children is outstanding. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers who responded to the survey are rightly confident that their children are making good progress and that their particular needs are met. Children join the school with skills and capabilities that are generally well below the levels expected for their age. By the time they leave the Nursery, their attainment overall is above expectations for children of this age. They make consistently rapid progress in all areas of learning, including in communication, language and literacy skills.

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Achievement of pupils

Learning is typically brisk and very purposeful. Children are extremely keen to get on with tasks as soon as they can and thoroughly enjoy choosing activities for themselves in the inside and outdoor areas. They sustain their interest, work hard and concentrate very well. They listen attentively to explanations and follow instructions carefully. This was illustrated in a numeracy session outside where children working in a group with an adult were increasing their knowledge of numbers up to 20. They enjoyed the challenge of counting sequences of numbers. Children thought carefully to understand and follow the teacher’s guidance to count on from 10, and to find the number 13. They sustained their interest in the task and practised their knowledge of numbers by collecting 13 natural items from the garden. Children who speak English as an additional language made similarly brisk progress to that of others in the group. They developed confidence in pronouncing numbers

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Achievement of pupils

because they listened carefully to the adult and other children, and repeated them accurately.

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Achievement of pupils

Children with special educational needs make outstanding progress in their skills. They establish extremely positive relationships with staff. They enjoy working individually with teachers and additional adults, as well as in small groups with other children. They benefit from additional sessions, closely tailored to their needs, with well-trained staff and specialist therapists. Children who speak English as an additional language progress outstandingly well because they practise their listening and speaking skills very regularly. All groups of children enjoy singing songs together and rapidly extend their knowledge of new language because adults consistently seek to ask questions and prompt discussions about what the children are doing.

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Quality of teaching

In the survey, all the parents and carers agreed that their children are well taught at the school. Inspection findings endorse this view. One parent typically wrote, ‘The teaching staff are fabulous, the facilities are amazing and that makes very happy children.’ The curriculum underpins children’s enjoyment of their learning and teaching promotes their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development outstandingly well. Children make friends quickly because adults model warm and positive relationships and promote social skills. Celebrations, including dancing during Black History Month and the annual international day, promote children’s awareness of others. Children from widely diverse backgrounds and cultures work and play very well together. They take turns readily and share resources. They know to sign up to use the scooters and tricycles and to respect the sand-timers so that all children have

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Quality of teaching

an equal turn to use the equipment. The breakfast and after-school clubs provide a calm and enjoyable start and finish to the day for the small number of children who attend.

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Quality of teaching

Effective teamwork ensures that children can choose a very wide variety of resources, toys and equipment in the inside and outside spaces. There is a particularly good balance of adult-led tasks and activities for children to choose themselves. Daily observations of children’s progress are very detailed. Staff use these systematically and carefully to plan suitably challenging tasks that are motivating and capture children’s interest. For example, children practised their knowledge of prepositions by singing songs, and they enjoyed hiding under scarves and using actions to show their understanding. The curriculum is constantly refined as children’s preferences and interests develop and activities are varied daily to ensure children’s curiosity is continually stimulated. Independence is encouraged strongly through daily routines. Children know to find their name card and put it in their key worker corner when they arrive. All children help to tidy up and prepare the

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Quality of teaching

resources for the next group of children to use. Children’s self-esteem and self- confidence are boosted through selecting for themselves the pieces of work they wish to include in their individual ‘affirmation’ record books. Teaching and the curriculum for children with special educational needs are individualised and carefully tailored to provide the support they require for high quality learning. Children welcome visitors, including authors, artists and musicians, and enjoy outings to places of interest such as museums and a city farm. Planned opportunities to develop children’s knowledge of their surrounding locality through visits within the local area are more limited.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Children make an exceptional contribution to their own learning. They thoroughly enjoy working independently and participate wholeheartedly in all activities. They behave outstandingly well at the Nursery and have extremely positive attitudes to school. One parent typically wrote, ‘My child always looks forward to going to school and comes back happy and enthusiastic.’ The very large majority of parents and carers who responded to the survey were confident that behaviour is good and that learning is not disrupted by bad behaviour. A very few parents and carers did not agree that any cases of bullying are dealt with effectively. The vast majority of parents and carers in the survey confirmed that the school keeps them well informed and that their children feel safe at school. Home visits by staff before children join the school and well-organised and structured induction arrangements ensure that children quickly settle at school. They develop confidence that adults will help them

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

should any problems occur, and feel secure.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Adults consistently explain to children how to keep themselves safe from harm. For example, adults ensure they know how to use equipment and resources safely. Children systematically learn how to use woodwork tools safely: they know to wear protective eye masks and to keep their fingers safely out of the way. Children arrive for the morning and afternoon sessions punctually. The school successfully emphasises the importance of attending regularly and on time to enable children to benefit from daily routines and valuable learning time.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher works very closely with all the staff and members of the governing body with an extremely clear vision for the school. They work with outstanding determination to tackle discrimination and promote equality. Consequently, all groups of children, whatever their background or ability, have equal access to exciting and stimulating provision that is sharply tailored to their needs as individuals so that they do extremely well. Since the previous inspection, leaders and managers have successfully sustained the excellent quality of education that the school provides so that children’s learning continues to benefit greatly. They have ensured that children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted extremely well.

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Leadership and management

Professional development for teachers and other teaching staff helps maintain a very consistent approach to all aspects of teaching and children’s learning, and the curriculum. Improvements to the excellent curriculum include rearranging the daily timetable to prioritise group story-time and increase children’s enjoyment of books. Other enhancements include the introduction of Spanish, the addition of laying hens to the wildlife in the school grounds, workshops involving parents and carers in helping their children develop numeracy skills, and a popular monthly Saturday morning activity session for fathers, male carers and their children. The school has successfully secured land for an allotment adjacent to the site. Volunteers, parents and carers, and their children, have worked with the school to design and develop a vegetable garden.

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Leadership and management

The school works in very close partnership with the children’s centre to ensure that children and their families benefit from the additional support and guidance that are available. Through close links with the partner school, staff are sharing their expertise to train others, and developing their leadership skills further. This work also reflects the school’s success in becoming a nationally recognised Early Years Teaching Centre. Arrangements for safeguarding children meet statutory requirements; staff have received recent training and the school site is very secure and extremely well maintained. All these strengths reflect the school’s outstanding capacity to improve further.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 46 46 8 0 Primary schools 8 47 40 5 Secondary schools 14 38 40 8 Special schools 28 48 20 4 Pupil referral units 15 50 29 5 All schools 11 46 38 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously. The data in the table above are for the period 1 September 2010 to 31 August 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ). The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools. Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils’ work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school’s efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils’ punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the governors and headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school’s overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils’ attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons, and their understanding of risks. Pupils’ freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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carers to share with their children. It describes Ofsted’s

main findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Holmewood Nursery School, London SW2 2RW

Thank you for your friendly welcome when I visited your school recently. I really enjoyed my visit and seeing all the interesting things that you do there. This letter tells you what I found during my visit.

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Inspection of Holmewood Nursery School, London SW2 2RW

Holmewood Nursery is an outstanding school. I know you like coming to school very much because you all behave so well and get along very well with one another. I could see how much you love learning both inside and outside. Your parents and carers told me they like the school very much, too. All the adults work so very hard and make sure you have many exciting activities to do every day in the classrooms and in the outdoor spaces. Because of this, you are all doing exceptionally well in your learning. Those of you who need additional help are extremely well supported so that you also make outstanding progress.

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Inspection of Holmewood Nursery School, London SW2 2RW

Your headteacher, the staff and members of the governing body are always looking for ways to make your school even better. We have asked them to plan even more outings for you to explore and find out about your local area. All of you can help by continuing to attend school regularly and on time.

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Inspection of Holmewood Nursery School, London SW2 2RW

Finally, I would like to thank you again and wish you well in the future.

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Inspection of Holmewood Nursery School, London SW2 2RW

Madeleine Gerard Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300 123 4234 , or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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