Wyndham Park Nursery School

Wyndham Park Nursery School Hill Avenue, Grantham, NG31 9BB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Outstanding 1 Achievement of pupils Outstanding 1 Quality of teaching Outstanding 1 Behaviour and safety of pupils Outstanding 1 Leadership and management Outstanding 1

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.  Teachers create happy, friendly classrooms and offer a vibrant range of stimulating activities that are carefully planned to help children make very strong gains in learning.  High aspirations for each and every child, combined with careful checks on children’s progress, ensure that any dips or falters are quickly spotted and rectified.  As a result, the children achieve extremely well and are very thoroughly prepared to enter full-time education.  The children behave exceptionally well and show by their ready smiles how safe they feel at the school and how willing they are to learn.  They rapidly develop confidence because they are cared for so well.  Expert specialist staff in the dedicated assessment class ensure that children who need extra help achieve equally as well as the other children.  The school is keen to develop stronger links with local special schools, to ensure the

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

assessment class offers maximum benefit and value.  The headteacher maintains the excellent quality of teaching through robust checking, providing high-quality training and setting a fine example.  As a result, the entire staff team and the governing body are highly effective.  Parents and the local authority recognise the school’s exceptional quality.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector spent six and a half hours observing 15 sessions led by four teachers and seven early years practitioners.  Meetings were held with the members of the governing body, staff, a small number of parents and the lead specialist Early Years representative of the local authority.  Although there were no formal meetings with children, many opportunities were taken to talk to the children and observe them talking during their sessions in school.  Observations were made of the school’s work, the children’s ‘Learning Journeys’ of work completed by earlier year groups, children’s current work, photographic evidence and documentation relating to the children’s progress, attainment, provision, leadership and safeguarding.  The inspector took into account the 19 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and the substantial responses to recent surveys of parents carried out by the school. She also

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Inspection team

Ruth McFarlane, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 This is an average-sized nursery school.  Most of the children are White British. Although below average, an increasingly wide range of ethnicities is represented. The proportion of children who speak English as an additional language is also increasing but is still below average.  The proportions of children who are supported on school action and school action plus, including children in the school’s additional provision, are above average.  This additional provision is an eight-place assessment class for children with wide-ranging and significant needs, including autism. Currently there are four children in this class, who each attend mornings only. They are taught by specialist staff.  At the time of the inspection, no children had a statement of special educational needs or were known to be eligible for additional funding through the pupil premium.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Extend the links with local special schools in order to make the fullest use of the assessment class facility.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The children benefit from outstanding teaching, so they make rapid progress and achieve exceptionally well from starting points which are generally in line with what is expected nationally for this age group.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children come into the nursery, at the start of the session, excited and eager to find out what new things there are for them to learn. They quickly settle to their choice of activity and welcoming staff ensure they are happy and learning from the moment they arrive. Children learn quickly because adults ask excellent probing questions such as, ‘What do you think happened next?’ and, ‘’Why do you think that happened?’

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children listen exceptionally well. For example, in a small group cooking activity, children listened attentively to each other and to the teacher while they discussed why it is necessary to wash hands before touching food. A lively discussion followed about how to melt chocolate.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Social skills develop apace. Children were frequently observed interacting with each other in a caring and supportive manner, despite their very young age and recent start in the Nursery.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Basic skills get off to a flying start because they are widely included among the many indoor and outdoor learning activities. For instance, sharing games with pegs and buttons of different colours encouraged children to sort and count, and astute questioning by adults led to understanding of which colour had most and fewest buttons. Identifying their name, and checking other objects in the room that start with the same letter as their name, helped develop early reading and writing skills.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children learning English as an additional language make rapid progress because they are given individual trained help at just the right level, and they are included in all activities. This inclusion also applies to those who need extra help with learning.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Staff provide daily intensive support for children who need extra help with their learning. This is backed up by good involvement from outside agencies and excellent use of specialist staff in the assessment class. As a result, these children make similar progress to their classmates.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 By the time children leave the nursery, they are exceptionally well prepared for school life. The majority attain skills and understanding well in excess of those expected of children of this age. There are no significant differences in achievement between any of the children.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching is often outstanding, and never less than good. Strengths include high expectations for every child, staff working together as a team, expertise in Early Years learning, brisk pace of activities, and very positive relationships in a happy learning environment. Staff maintain their excellence through high-quality training from the headteacher and others.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Before children join the school, home visits and careful keeping of records ensure that staff get to know them very well, very quickly. Staff also include children’s particular ideas, needs and interests in their planning.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Language and early reading skills are developed skilfully. All staff encourage the children to understand that books and text are read from left to right. Adults point automatically to the words as they read to the children, encouraging reading. Teachers link sounds with letters whenever the opportunity arises.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The school constantly checks teaching quality and consistency. A current focus is to make sure that all adults understand and operate the same systematic way of linking sounds with letters, so that children receive the same messages from all the adults to help them learn.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 There is an excellent balance between activities that children choose and those led by adults. Activities motivate children to explore and investigate an exciting learning environment indoors and outdoors. Outdoor play is energetic and promotes physical development very well as children climb, dig in the sand, fill and empty containers of water, grow vegetables, watch and feed birds and explore minibeasts.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The questions teachers and teaching assistants ask promote learning well and help children to develop independence and a thirst for learning. ‘What do you think?’ followed by ‘Let’s see’ often sparked a curiosity that ensured rapid progress.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers constantly check how well children are learning, and use the results instantly to adapt and reinforce learning. This ensures that activities stretch thinking and motivate each child, and the regular changes help to maintain children’s interest and engagement.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 A key feature of every session is that individual children are helped to learn at exactly the right level of challenge. The songs and rhymes that permeate the classrooms throughout the sessions help children learn about life and how society works.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Early identification of individuals’ needs and very close working with outside agencies mean that children who need help to learn receive first-rate support. The individual attention the children receive, especially in the assessment class, ensures that progress is as fast as it can be for all.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are completely happy in this welcoming environment that involves everyone fully. They want to come to school and enjoy their activities immensely.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Relationships are a great strength. Outstanding support from their key person helps them to become confident, creative and independent learners. As a result, behaviour is exemplary.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The children follow their routines and instructions very well. They help to tidy their resources. All of them know the school’s moral code. For instance, in ‘group time’ they demonstrate 'good listening' and 'good sitting'. As one child remarked, ‘I am trying very hard to have kind hands.’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children feel very safe and secure and are beginning to know how to stay safe outside school by ‘holding hands’ with a parent, for instance. They use tools and equipment carefully so they do not harm others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children understand how to stay healthy. They enjoy healthy snacks of fruit and vegetables. They know that washing their hands before eating ‘keeps germs away’. Some show quite exceptional understanding of risk for their age. For instance, in the ‘home corner’, a child told the inspector: ‘Be careful! The oven is hot because I am cooking the dinner!’  There are no recorded incidents of racism or bullying of any kind. Relationships are very harmonious. Children celebrate a range of cultures, and respect and help one another. They regularly consider others as they contribute to a range of charities.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The school strongly promotes regular attendance and punctuality. The vast majority of children have high levels of attendance and arrive on time.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher leads a skilled team of highly committed staff. Outstanding quality in all aspects of the school and a clear further upward trend in children’s learning are evident since the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s rigorous monitoring and evaluation systems and procedures successfully lead to continuous improvement. All staff have responsibilities and, with the governors, evaluate and discuss priorities. Staff plan weekly together and are fully up to date with current initiatives.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The welfare and safety of children are paramount, and systems and procedures to keep children safe are robust. Safeguarding requirements are met.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The range of activities and experiences is exceptionally strong. The rich learning environment and a wide range of visits and visitors expand children’s knowledge and understanding by providing them with exciting and memorable learning.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 All staff show a very strong commitment to celebrating and learning from the individual qualities of each child and the cultures of their families. For example, children celebrate the major world festivals, and have an excellent awareness of other cultures. These experiences make a significant contribution to children’s exceptionally strong spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Because the school pays careful attention to making sure work is set at just the right level for each child, there is equal opportunity for all and discrimination is not tolerated, fostering excellent relationships.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s excellent partnerships with parents and other agencies benefit both parents and their children. For example, shared resources such as in the weekly ‘mother and toddler’ group held at school mean that children are familiar with the school and staff before they start.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority is well aware of the school’s strengths and provides ‘light-touch’ but ample support.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Transition arrangements are strong as children move into the school and on to various local schools. However, although links with local special schools are good, especially for when children are ready to move on, the abundant specialised skills of the assessment class staff are currently underused and relatively unshared.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  provides robust challenge; governors know the staff well and have a clear understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses as they monitor and evaluate progress towards its improvement priorities  is highly supportive but rigorous in holding staff to account, underpinning the outstanding quality of teaching and learning.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding An outstanding school is highly effective in delivering outcomes that provide exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. This ensures that pupils are very well equipped for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 2 Good A good school is effective in delivering outcomes that provide well for all its pupils’ needs. Pupils are well prepared for the next stage of their education, training or employment. Grade 3 Requires improvement A school that requires improvement is not yet a good school, but it is not inadequate. This school will receive a full inspection within 24 months from the date of this inspection. Grade 4 Inadequate A school that has serious weaknesses is inadequate overall and requires significant improvement but leadership and management are judged to be Grade 3 or better. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors. A school that requires special measures is one where the school

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Grade Judgement Description

is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the school’s leaders, managers or governors have not demonstrated that they have the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school. This school will receive regular monitoring by Ofsted inspectors.

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School details

Unique reference number 120364 Local authority Lincolnshire Inspection number 401929

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School details

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

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School details

Type of school Nursery School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 108 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Vicki Stephenson Headteacher Debbie Hayes Date of previous school inspection 21 January 2010 Telephone number 01476 563966 Fax number 01476 594017 Email address enquiries@wyndhampark.lincs.sch.uk guidance ‘raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted', 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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School details

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 and as part of the inspection.

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School details

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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School details

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. 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,

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School details

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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School details

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

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