Childhaven Community Nursery School

Childhaven Community Nursery School Inspection report

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Age group 3–4 Inspection date(s) 19–20 June 2012 Inspection number 380196 Unique Reference Number 121267 Local authority North Yorkshire Inspection number 380196 Inspection dates 19–20 June 2012 Lead inspector Jane Hughes

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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 Maintained Age range of children 3–4 Gender of children Mixed Number of children on the school roll 107 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kevin Wardell Headteacher Jane Pepper Date of previous school inspection 5 November 2008 School address 13 Belgrave Crescent Scarborough YO11 1UB Telephone number 01723 373231 Fax number 01723 373231 Email address headteacher@childhaven.n-yorks.sch.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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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 after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspector observed three teachers, 10 teaching assistants, and one trainee teacher deliver 10 lessons or part- lessons. One was a joint observation with the headteacher. Individual discussions were held with several children and also with parents and carers. Meetings were held with the Chair and one other member of the Governing Body and with school staff. The inspector took account of the responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View) in planning the inspection, observed the school's work, and looked at a number of documents, including the school development plan, safeguarding and equality policies, and children’s assessment files. The inspector analysed 35 parental and carers’ questionnaires as well as others completed by staff.

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Information about the school

This school is of average size when compared to other, similar schools. Most children are from White British backgrounds. A few of the children from minority ethnic backgrounds speak English as an additional language. Few children are disabled, are supported at Early Action Plus, or have a statement of special educational needs. The school has achieved Healthy Schools status.

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Information about the school

The school runs a breakfast club and offers lunchtime care for children who attend for full days, or who extend the length of their usual nursery session. The school is also registered on the Early Years Register to provide care for up to 12 children between the ages of two and three years. The inspection report for this provision can be found on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the school

In 2010, Falsgrave Children’s Centre was co-located in the nursery school’s building, but under separate management. Parallel inspections of the school and children’s centre took place. They are the subject of separate inspection reports. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

 This is an outstanding school. The leadership is held in the highest regard by parents, carers, staff, children, and work partners across a range of organisations. A relentless drive for continuous improvement since the school’s last inspection has helped the stable staff team to provide the best possible experiences of early education for all children at the school.

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Key Findings

 Children from all groups, including disabled children and those with special educational needs, achieve outstandingly well in all areas of learning. Their rapid progress in aspects of their personal, social and emotional development, spoken language, and problem-solving is particularly impressive.

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Key Findings

 Outstanding teaching ensures that children engage wholeheartedly in the daily menu of stimulating and meticulously planned, yet flexible, activities. Highly developed monitoring of teaching and learning by leaders sets the highest expectations of staff. Nonetheless, during a few group activities, staff, occasionally, allow more-confident children to overshadow some of the others in their enthusiasm to answer questions.

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Key Findings

 Children behave outstandingly well. They make the most of every moment in school and demonstrate exceptional levels of perseverance because activities engage them so thoroughly in their learning. Their attitudes to learning are first class. Top-quality relationships reflect the high levels of trust between children and adults. Children are quick to pick up how to stay safe. Parents and carers are conscientious in ensuring that children attend regularly, even though this is not required statutorily.

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Key Findings

 Leaders and managers inspire the highest expectations and closest collaboration from the whole staff team. Rigorous monitoring ensures highly effective leadership and management of teaching and learning and the management of performance accelerates outcomes for children. The curriculum is outstanding and promotes children’s excellent spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development. Together, those factors ensure that children leave the school as well-rounded, mature learners. 

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

  Ensure that less-confident children have more opportunities to respond to adults’ questions during group activities by tempering the enthusiastic responses of the most confident. 

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Achievement of children

Children achieve exceptionally well. That includes disabled children and those with special educational needs, and those who speak English as an additional language. The majority of children begin Nursery with skills that are below the levels expected for their age. When they leave to join Reception classes elsewhere, their skills, in all areas of learning, are at least at the levels expected of four-year-old children and more often above them. An increasing proportion of children is making closer to two years’ progress in just over one year. Engaging activities help children to develop important basic reading skills as they differentiate sounds such as ‘s’ and ‘a’. Increasingly, they can link some sounds to letters and also represent some sounds correctly in writing. When drawing a detailed plan of the garden, some were able to label their diagrams clearly with ‘vegetable patch’ and ‘reception door’.

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Achievement of children

For a large part of each session, children choose for themselves where they wish to learn and play. Some descend happily to the well-resourced basement and enjoy a multitude of creative activities and games. Children immerse themselves immediately in the wide range of engrossing activities. Their levels of concentration are usually highly impressive. Sensitive adult support prompts them to think carefully about what they are doing and to see a project to fruition. For example, one girl sat for 75 minutes designing an aeroplane on paper and then constructing her sophisticated model from cardboard rolls, plastic cups, bottle tops, and tape. She assessed her model throughout, compared it to her design and made necessary adjustments to the nose, wheels, and wings.

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Achievement of children

Children are highly independent and take on challenges with determination. There are plenty of opportunities for children’s social and emotional engagement in activities. Some boomed out the unseasonal, but much-loved song ‘Jingle Bells’ into pretend microphones, while exploring in the water table. Others delighted in the written request from ‘Farmer Faloola’ to create a magic potion to help her crops to grow. They were intrigued by the range of ingredients, which included oats, water, bubble bath, and a variety of fresh herbs, such as lemon balm and mint. They took turns to add and stir them together, while casting spells that they made up, such as ‘Hocus pocus, Diplodocus!’ ‘We need to be careful though’, reported one boy, ‘magic dinosaurs might not be good round here!’ Another child ladled his potion carefully into bottles and then helped deliver these to the farmer. The children enjoyed smelling the potions, but knew not to drink them.

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Achievement of children

Every parent and carer who returned the inspection questionnaire, or who spoke to the inspector, confirmed that their children are making very good progress. They comment typically, ‘my child’s speech has improved massively in a year’ and ‘my child has improved in confidence dramatically’.

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Quality of teaching

The enthusiasm of staff to make children’s daily experiences highly memorable is contagious and rubs off on the children. Adults provide the highest-quality role models to children in terms of how to treat others with respect and to collaborate generously with others. The focus on developing individualised learning programmes is at the centre of the successes enjoyed by children here. Conscientious key workers compile impressively detailed assessments as ‘learning stories’ for each child. The assessments support teachers’ planning and ensure that activities match children’s needs exactly and provide sufficient, yet flexible, challenge each day.

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Quality of teaching

Another particular strength is the way adults use questioning to promote children’s independent learning. Information is not given away easily. Instead, children are encouraged to solve problems for themselves, with subtle prompts from adults. Children grow visibly in confidence when they work out solutions to a tricky problem for themselves. Skilled support staff work with individual children to meet their specific needs. During a few group sessions, adults, occasionally, allow some overly- eager children to dominate when answering questions and so limit the chance for others to contribute.

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Quality of teaching

Adults’ consistent expectations and challenging responses to children mean that the children are familiar with the high standards and automatically work towards them. Deep levels of sustained involvement are a key factor in children’s outstanding achievement. Teachers introduce complicated concepts in matter-of-fact ways that make it easy for children to assimilate. For instance, one child used a clear plastic cup as part of a model. The teacher exclaimed ‘Look at that cup, it’s transparent.’ Then she continued seamlessly, ‘It’s clear and you can see through it!’ The child nodded in agreement. Later the teacher referred to ‘some protuberances’ on the side of an object. Again, she threw into the conversation ‘they’re the bits that are sticking out.’ The careful giving and receiving of information continued for some time.

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Quality of teaching

All parents and carers who expressed a view say that their children are taught extremely well. Typical of their comments is that ‘staff have contributed massively to my child’s all-round growth, including his language acquisition’. Their views on provision for disabled children and those with special educational needs are particularly positive.

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Behaviour and safety of children

Children are routinely kind to each other and there is a very happy atmosphere throughout the school. There is no bullying, name-calling, or evidence of racism. Children say themselves that everyone behaves well and is friendly. They say that they like coming to school ‘to play with their friends’. The school is linked with a school in Hackney, so they have an increasing awareness of children from very different backgrounds and experiences. They learn to celebrate diversity through festivals such as Chinese New Year and also enjoy a wide range of books that feature cultures and lives from around the world.

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Behaviour and safety of children

Children know very well how to keep themselves safe. They negotiate flights of stairs in the building nimbly and carefully hold the handrails. They are clear about how important it is to be careful in or near to the sea in this coastal town. They know to talk to a familiar adult if they have any worries. Attendance is above the levels found typically for children this age.

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Behaviour and safety of children

Parents and carers responding to the inspection questionnaire and the school’s own surveys confirm unanimously that the school takes very good care of their children, that behaviour is of a high standard, and that their children feel safe in school. Inspection evidence confirms that children’s behaviour and safety are typically outstanding over time.

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Leadership and management

The headteacher provides inspirational leadership and drives whole-school improvement on all fronts. Staff agree that leaders at all levels trust in the abilities of the whole staff team. They say they are proud to be part of the school. Everyone is encouraged to increase their skills through a wide-ranging programme of professional development. The management of performance is robust. Rigorous monitoring of teaching identifies and addresses any dips in performance quickly. The governing body provides excellent support and challenge to the leadership. Together, they put in place detailed strategic plans, which stem from accurate self-evaluation. The school meets requirements with regard to safeguarding.

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Leadership and management

Children’s excellent achievement, the first-class curriculum, ambitious and highly effective leadership, management and governance, and exceptionally strong parent and carer approval ratings are all strong indicators of the school’s excellent capacity for improvement.

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Leadership and management

The school collaborates closely with other schools and organisations, including the children’s centre and university. Transition projects with primary schools receiving children from Childhaven ensure that children and their parents and carers are likely to find the move to full-time education as seamless as possible.

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Leadership and management

Inclusive approaches in all aspects of the school’s work ensure equality for all. No form of discrimination is tolerated. The performance of individuals and groups is checked regularly to identify gaps and amend practice accordingly. Outside support is sought as required, although the experienced staff team already provides many of these skills.

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Leadership and management

Every effort is made to equip children with invaluable life skills. The promotion of spiritual, moral, social, and cultural awareness is etched indelibly into all aspects of children’s learning. This year, staff have enabled children to cook or taste at least 20 foods from around the world, such as pumpkin soup, Serbian flat bread, couscous, salsa, and Chinese dumplings. Adults highlight the joy of variety and encourage children to embrace difference. The school views its work to involve parents and carers in their children’s learning as vital. Popular workshops help parents and carers to support children’s learning and development in school, at home, and in the wider world. Parents and carers, typically, sum up the school with comments such as, ‘This is a wonderful nursery. The staff are outstanding. I cannot praise them enough. They have given my children the best start in life that you could possibly ask for out of a nursery.’

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its childrens' needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its children well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its children. 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 children. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September to 31 December 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 ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

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 childs' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance: the regular attendance of children 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 children behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Children’s 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

Floor settings: the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures.

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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 children 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 children are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the children's 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 children are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Children’s freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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1UB

 You were all so friendly to me when I came to see all the wonderful things you do at your Nursery – thank you very much! I had a lot of fun – just like all of you. This letter tells you what I found out about Childhaven. I am going to use a long word to describe your school – outstanding. That means it is very, very good! You all do very well in everything at school. Your teachers make sure that you are all happy. They take very good care of you. They are very good at spotting when someone needs a bit of help to do something even better and they always plan lots of very exciting things for you to do. I enjoyed watching you make your stone pictures, cast your magic spells and practise singing and dancing to the ‘banana smoothie’ song! You told me that everyone is kind to each other and that you like coming here. I saw that too. It was super to see all the colourful photographs of everyone celebrating

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1UB

different festivals like Chinese New Year and going out on trips. The list of foods you have made during the year made my mouth water, especially the Ritz Hotel ‘tea’ and the roasted vegetable couscous. It is great that you all try so hard to do your best at Nursery. I have asked your teachers to make sure that everyone has a chance to speak at group time if they want to, so don’t forget to take your turn! Carry on learning lots and having fun at nursery with your friends and all the excellent teachers! I send you all my best wishes for the future. Enjoy your new schools when you go. Yours sincerely

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1UB

Jane Hughes 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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