Stow-On-The-Wold Nursery School

Stow-On-The-Wold Nursery Stow on the Wold Primary School, St. Edwards Drive, Stow on the Wold, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 1AW

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Inspection date

Previous inspection date 04/12/2012 09/03/2009

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early years provision

This inspection: 1 Previous inspection: 2 How well the early years provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children 1 The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early years provision 1

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This provision is outstanding

 The dynamic staff team passionately embrace the characteristics of effective learning, to plan and provide a rich, vibrant environment for children.  Children thrive and make outstanding progress in their learning and development through exceptional planning and assessment, inspired activities and highly impressive interaction.  Individual children or groups of children with identified needs receive outstanding, targeted support.  The highly productive and motivational management team skilfully foster a culture of excellent support. Mentoring and monitoring and are highly successful in their pursuant of excellence to maintain the highest levels.  Staff nurture parents involvement in the nursery and their children's care and education impressively.  Children are extremely well prepared for their transitions to school.

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Information about this inspection

Inspections of registered early years provision are scheduled:  at least once in every inspection cycle. The current cycle ends on 31 July 2016  more frequently where Ofsted identifies a need to do so, for example where provision was previously judged as inadequate  brought forward in the inspection cycle where Ofsted has received information that suggests the provision may not be meeting the legal requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage; or where assessment of the provision identifies a need for early inspection  prioritised for inspection where we have received information that the provision is not meeting the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage and which suggests children may not be safe  at the completion of an investigation into failure to comply with the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector observed children's play and learning and staff interaction, indoors and outside.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector and manager carried out a joint observation of children's self-initiated play.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector took account of the views of staff and parents, and held discussions with the manager.

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Inspection activities

 The inspector examined documentation including a sample of children's records and development plans, safeguarding documentation and self-evaluation.

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Information about the setting

Stow-on-the-Wold Nursery opened in 2007. It operates from purpose built premises within the grounds of Stow-on-the-Wold Primary School, Gloucestershire. The nursery works closely with the Children's Centre provision on the school site. The nursery serves the local town and surrounding village communities. Children attending the nursery have use of a playroom with direct access to an enclosed outdoor play area with both grassed and hard play surfaces. In addition, the nursery has use of the school play facilities on the adjacent playground and field.

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Information about the setting

The nursery is registered on the Early Years Register and currently there are 21 children on roll. The nursery receives funding for the provision of free early education for children aged three and four years. Children attend for a variety of sessions. The nursery operates during school terms between 9am and 12pm each weekday with extended sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays when children may stay for lunch and continue for an afternoon session until 3pm. The nursery currently supports children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.

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Information about the setting

A voluntary committee of school governors and teachers, local professionals, parents and the nursery manager, manages the nursery. The nursery employs three staff members, including the manager to work directly with the children. The manager is a Montessori trained teacher. The manager and deputy are degree level qualified and hold Early Years Professional status. One staff member has completed a Level 3 qualification in childcare. Level 3 childcare students complete their placements at the nursery.

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To further improve the quality of the early years provision the provider should:

 continue to strengthen existing methods for gaining information about children's starting points across all areas of learning to help guide planning straight away.

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who attend

Staff create a vibrant and highly stimulating environment for children to play and learn. They motivate and inspire children's curiosity and learning through exceptional support and interaction and challenging activities and experiences. As a result, all children flourish and make outstanding progress in all areas of their development from their individual starting points. Staff work very closely with their key children's parents to gain good information about children's interests, likes, dislikes and specific needs. This enables staff to gain important information about children's learning across most areas of learning. Staff complete observations in the first few weeks and collate all the information, to build a detailed picture about the child. Teaching is rooted in expert knowledge of the Early Years Foundation Stage and how young children learn. Staff cleverly use this information to tailor activity planning. This nurtures children's individual skills and challenges their

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who attend

Staff place exceptional emphasis on motivating children's learning through play, exploration, problem solving and critical thinking. They are very flexible and innovative in their planning, skilfully using children's interests and ideas to motivate and challenge learning. For example, they foster children's vocabulary and their fascination for books impressively. Children's avid interest in a special story encourages staff to plan fun, challenging activities that inspire them to use resources and equipment in different ways. Children help change the home corner into a cave. They collect and paint leaves to decorate the cupboards and use cargo netting and sheets. They help repaint their large box black and find cushions and torches. This brings their favourite story to life, inspiring their creativity, language and communication skills very well. Children love their big box play, creating a fire engine, their cave and various other things based on their interests

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who attend

and own ideas. This shows children inform planning and take an active part in leading their own play and learning.

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who attend

Children enjoy wonderful opportunities to practice their literacy skills. Pads and writing implements in the role-play areas, and large chalks and mark-making materials outside, enable children to practice their early writing skills every day. For example, they write in meaningful contexts, using writing pads to take orders at the cafe, to make shopping lists for the shop and to take messages in the role-play doctors. Staff readily encourage more able children to write their names on their pictures, and all children learn from a young age to recognise and name the initial letter for their name. Children find their name cards when playing on the computer and at various times throughout the session.

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who attend

Frequent observations and very well documented assessments assist staff extremely well in monitoring children's progress and learning. For example, staff evaluate their on-going observations, and focus observations, to help recognise the uniqueness of each child and to shape future planning. They evaluate their key children's achievements routinely, and rigorously identify new targets for them to aspire to. Excellent knowledge of their key children's needs enables staff to differentiate and personalise their support for individual children. For example, they plan a whole group letter and sound activity, using percussion instruments and small group work when planting sunflower seeds. This also shows staff's brilliant understanding of how activities can promote children's learning in different ways.

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who attend

Children's language development is skilfully fostered through purposeful conversations at mealtimes, story time and during children's play. Staff repeat phrases back to children to help them consolidate their vocabularies and introduce new words frequently. For example, 'segment' when sharing oranges at snack time and 'symmetrical' when children build fantastic, complex structures using wooden blocks. Children choose stories for staff to read and listen avidly. They answer questions that encourage children to talk and think about the story, cleverly promoting their language and listening skills and extending their concentration and understanding. Staff facilitate children's speech and language cleverly, leaving out planned stories and props for children to access at any time. This inspires the children to ask their friends to join them for a story, demonstrating excellent confidence in their speech and language. They sit on the staff's chair, share the props out and hold the

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who attend

book so that their friends can all see while retelling the story in their own words. Using ideas from the story, children attempt to draw their own spider's web and proudly show staff.

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who attend

Staff are creative in their use of resources to provide wonderful, new experiences and opportunities to extend current activities further. In water play, children investigate blocks of ice and explore heavy and light, and floating and sinking using water-filled balloons. Children experiment with spiders and drain pipes and design their own spider's web, using glue and glitter to make horizontal and vertical lines. They participate in spider games and story bags, providing exceptional extensions that skilfully incorporate different aspects of learning. Staff maximise opportunities to introduce numbers and counting, such as counting children at the snack table and before going outside. Activities that provide opportunities for the use of positional language, shape, quantity, size and pattern are plentiful. Children use their arms to measure the size of trees on their nature walk and calculate which is the 'biggest' and 'smallest'.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children are happy, confident, have fun and enjoy coming to nursery. The fully embedded key person system works extremely well in supporting children's social and emotional wellbeing. Planned one-to-one time with key children, small group work and creating covered dens and friendly spaces, expertly nurtures children's confidence and sense of security. Staff give exceptional support to children with identified needs, helping them to flourish, feel special and fully included in the nursery. Meticulous implementation of individual education plans, medical plans and excellent inter-agency working, ensures children's needs are extremely well met. Children develop a very positive sense of themselves and respect for others through the fantastic support and excellent activities staff provide.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff work very closely with parents to tailor settling-in arrangements specific to children's needs. The warm welcome and highly positive, relaxed approach from staff has a very calming influence on the children. As a result, children are happy, settle quickly and build very close attachments. They take very active roles in decision-making and readily contribute to activity planning. They show great independence in choosing what they play with, where they play and whether they join in adult-guided activities. This helps children to feel valued and respected, enabling them to thrive and reach their full potential.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Staff model positive behaviour and negotiating skills expertly, such as 'do you want to ask?..if that is enough?' This gives children the essential skills and confidence they need to manage situations sensitively with increasing independence and self-control. For example, a group of children work collaboratively with construction materials. A child asks politely if they could have some materials to build. The children readily share some of the materials and check if their friend has enough for their play. This shows children are very kind, caring and supportive of their friends, helping them build excellent relationships. Staff help prepare children for school extremely well by encouraging frequent visits from their Reception class teacher. A photograph book of the different schools, their classrooms, teachers and examples of the different uniforms in dressing up, help children become familiar and prepare well for their move to school.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children take a very active role in devising the rules and boundaries for acceptable behaviour. Staff display these prominently with pictures, enabling children to interact and refer to them when necessary. Consequently, children know what is expected and take ownership in managing their behaviour. They are assertive in accessing the sand timer to manage turn taking with the trikes outside. Children know daily routines extremely well. They take turns to shake the bell and notify their friends they have five minutes left before tidy-up time. All the children help to tidy their toys, working well as a team to carry heavy boxes and fold the large car mat. Continual positive praise, enthusiastic encouragement and meaningful targeted support successfully promote children's self-esteem. This inspires the children to persevere and concentrate, show pride in their achievements, becoming highly motivated, active learners.

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

Children benefit from healthy, nutritious snacks and plentiful opportunities for physical exercise everyday that contributes to their good health. They have fun stepping across various tyres, pedalling trikes and using a wide range of equipment to encourage their physical skills and fitness. Innovative ideas and activities skilfully increase children's awareness of the impact of exercise on their health and wellbeing. They use a stethoscope to listen to their heartbeat and compare the changes when sitting and running. Children have fun tasting different kinds of exotic fruit during topics based on a favourite story. This cleverly widens their experiences and knowledge of food from around the world. Staff encourage children to talk about dangers they see and to reflect why something may be dangerous. As a result, they show very good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. They use scissors and tools safely and confidently explain that they need to be

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The contribution of the early years provision to the well-being of children

careful when hopping in case they fall over and bang their head.

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provision

The children flourish and are very happy because staffs' commitment to the children is outstanding. They take great care to provide a welcoming, secure and vibrant environment that is highly conducive to learning. The spacious play areas and extensive range of stimulating, high quality resources and equipment are presented in open, low- level units. This empowers children's independence, nurtures their creativity and inspires their learning extremely well. Staff are meticulous in their maintenance of the resources through bi-monthly safety checks and cleaning.

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provision

Exceptional organisation, thorough risk assessment and comprehensive awareness of safeguarding issues among all staff, significantly enhances children's wellbeing. As a result, staff prioritise child protection concerns and deal with them extremely well. Extensive recruitment and vetting processes and rigorous induction methods ensure the suitability of staff. Applicants attend a formal interview, spend time in the playroom, plan an activity and deliver this to the children, while being observed. This enables the interview panel to gather very thorough evidence to make informed decisions about an applicant's suitability. Staff deployment is very successful in meeting children's needs, with careful consideration given to maintaining children's safety at the beginning and end of each session.

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provision

The inspirational management team achieve excellence in all aspects of the provision, including sustaining the highest levels of achievement for all children. They motivate the staff and manage their performance and professional development exceptionally well. The manager and deputy are extremely positive models for staff to aspire to with both achieving Early Years Professional Status. Staff update their skills and knowledge through frequent staff meetings, appraisals and excellent access to regular training. This results in a highly skilled and dynamic staff team who demonstrate first-rate knowledge of their roles and key responsibilities within the curriculum. Staff use their new skills and understanding expertly, for example, developing and providing an extremely strong programme for communication and language.

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provision

The managers' involvement in the focus group piloting Every Child a Talker (ECaT) for Gloucestershire County Council, has led to an extremely detailed analysis and assessment of children's language development. Examination of the learning environment and opportunities for speaking and listening has led to a more cohesive and comprehensive use of the ECAT programme. Introducing story making and covered spaces for children to communicate safely, provide wonderful opportunities for children to develop their speech and language. Since the last inspection, the management and staff have worked extremely hard to address weaknesses. This has led to significant improvements in facilities and children's learning outside.

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provision

The senior management team have very high aspirations for quality and communicate ambition and drive successfully. Peer observations, feedback from parent questionnaires, frequent audits and regularly updating the self-evaluation provides rigorous and extensive monitoring, analysis and self-challenge. As a result, exceptionally well-targeted plans are implemented with precision and have had an outstanding impact on children's achievement and wellbeing. The management committee skilfully oversees the nursery's progress and strives to support the staff team in making improvements. For example, a committee member undertook a study to assess the effectiveness of the transition process between nursery and Reception class in school. Interviewing children, parents and staff prior to the Reception class visits, and again after the induction sessions had taken place, highlighted the effectiveness of the transition process. A few minor amendments were

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provision

made based on the study. For example, providing a letter to parents about the transition procedure and tips on how they can help prepare their children further. Detailed meetings with teachers to share progress information before children move ensure children's individual learning needs are fully understood. The outstanding partnerships with school skilfully support smooth transitions.

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provision

Measures to monitor and evaluate children's learning and development are highly effective. This is supporting early identification of learning support needs, enabling staff to seek additional help for children quickly. Staff liaise extensively with parents and other professionals involved with the children, ensuring outstanding partnerships are fully embedded. Staff's passionate and exemplary approach to promoting children's education is demonstrated through the high quality support and challenge they provide for children with special educational needs. They plan effective one-to-one activities, use hand signing instinctively during play and daily routines, and implement specific communication programmes. Staff devise very specific pictorial timetables that skilfully aid children's communication and understanding and share these with parents. These include step-by- step guidance for routines such as, putting shoes on, or tidy up time. This enables children

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provision

to participate fully demonstrating the nursery's exceptional commitment to equality and inclusion, placing it at the heart of all its work.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding Outstanding provision is highly effective in meeting the needs of all children exceptionally well. This ensures that children are very well prepared for the next stage of their learning. Grade 2 Good Good provision is effective in delivering provision that meets the needs of all children well. This ensures children are ready for the next stage of their learning. Grade 3 Satisfactory Satisfactory provision is performing less well than expectations in one or more of the key areas. It requires improvement in order to be good. Grade 4 Inadequate Provision that is inadequate requires significant improvement and/or enforcement. The provision is failing to give children an acceptable standard of early years education and/or is not meeting the safeguarding and welfare requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage. It will be inspected again within 12 months of the date of this inspection.

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Grade Judgement Description

Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider continues to meet the requirements for registration. Not Met The provision has no children on roll. The inspection judgement is that the provider does not meet the requirements for registration.

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Inspection

This inspection was carried out by Ofsted under Sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children’s learning, development and care, known as the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Setting details

Unique reference number EY340957 Local authority Gloucestershire Inspection number 834969 Type of provision Sessional provision Registration category Childcare - Non-Domestic Age range of children 2 - 5 Total number of places 26 Number of children on roll 21 Name of provider Stow-On-The-Wold Nursery Date of previous inspection 09/03/2009 Telephone number 01451 870282

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Setting details

set out in the 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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Type of provision

For the purposes of this inspection the following definitions apply:

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Type of provision

Full-time provision is that which operates for more than three hours. These are usually known as nurseries, nursery schools and pre-schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the higher fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Sessional provision operates for more than two hours but does not exceed three hours in any one day. These are usually known as pre-schools, kindergartens or nursery schools and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. They are registered on the Early Years Register and pay the lower fee for registration.

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Type of provision

Childminders care for one or more children where individual children attend for a period of more than two hours in any one day. They operate from domestic premises that are usually their own home. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage.

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Type of provision

Out of school provision may be sessional or full-time provision and is delivered before or after school and/or in the summer holidays. They are registered on the Early Years Register and must deliver the Early Years Foundation Stage. Where children receive their Early Years Foundation Stage in school these providers do not have to deliver the learning and development requirements in full but should complement the experiences children receive in school. 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,

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Type of provision

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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Type of provision

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

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