Peter Pan Nursery School

P R O T E C T – I N S P E C T I O N School report

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Peter Pan Nursery School Edward Road, Bedford, MK42 9DR

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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.  Children settle into Nursery quickly and happily because of the high levels of care shown by staff.  Children are extremely well prepared for the next stage in their schooling when they transfer to Reception classes in other schools.  Excellent progress is made by children from all groups, including disabled children and those with special educational needs, as well as those with English as an additional language.  Adults all discuss their planning together in considerable depth, at the start of every day, so that all are aware of every activity and every child’s particular needs. Every evening, the day is then reviewed, again in great depth.  The range of activities provided is excellent and takes into consideration the interests of all children. As a result, expressions of delight and comments such as ‘This is fun!’ are heard regularly around the nursery.  Leadership and management are excellent.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

Leaders have improved every aspect of the nursery since the previous inspection.  The quality of teaching, which was good, has been improved still further since the previous inspection.  Adults working with children all engage in an excellent level of questioning and discussion with them all, especially during times when children select activities for themselves. This elicits their understanding, develops their vocabulary and maintains exemplary levels of concentration.  On a very few occasions, during larger whole- group sessions, opportunities are missed to draw every child into discussion, to evaluate their understanding and refresh their enthusiasm.  Behaviour is outstanding. Children become fully absorbed with their learning and work cooperatively, or on their own, for prolonged periods. This has an extremely positive effect on the progress they make.  Parents, children, staff and governors are all proud of the school and work together

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

extremely effectively to make it even better.  Parents are very positive in their views of the nursery. They appreciate the approachability of all staff. All of those parents who expressed an opinion said that they would recommend the school to others.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed teaching in six lessons; three were observed jointly with the headteacher. Different parts of the nursery were also visited for short periods in order to gauge the effectiveness of the range of activities available to children.  Discussions were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and another governor. A meeting was also held with a representative of the local authority.  Interviews were held with the headteacher and the deputy headteacher, who is responsible for checking provision for children with English as an additional language, for disabled children and for those who have special educational needs.  The daily planning meeting for all staff was observed.  The views of 12 parents and carers who responded to the online questionnaire (Parent View) were taken into account. A further 12 parents who were unable to access the internet completed a paper copy of the questionnaire. Fourteen responses to the staff questionnaire were

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Information about this inspection

considered.  The school’s policies and procedures were examined, in particular, those relating to safeguarding, health and safety, child protection, planning and monitoring of teaching, records relating to children’s behaviour and attendance, and the school’s own data on children’s progress.

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Inspection team

Sheelagh Barnes, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is smaller than average.  Day care is provided on the same site for children aged from six weeks to five years old. This is inspected and reported on separately.  The children’s centre and lower school which are also on the same site are also inspected separately.  The great majority of children attend part time, for either a morning or afternoon session. Around a fifth of the children attend for the full day.  Although the large majority children come from White British backgrounds, the proportion that comes from minority ethnic backgrounds is much higher than the national average.  A higher proportion than nationally speak English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs who are supported at school action is below average.  A higher proportion than average has a statement of special educational needs. The proportion

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Information about this school

of children who are at school action plus, which involves external advice and support, is also above average.  The school does not use alternative provision to support any of its pupils.  The school is not eligible to receive pupil premium money.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Maintain the highest levels of teaching and learning throughout the day by ensuring adults draw all children into discussion in large-group times, in order to evaluate each child’s understanding even more accurately and to ensure the highest levels of children’s concentration at those times.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 A very large proportion of children start in the nursery with skills and understanding that are below and, for many, well below, the standards typical for their age.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The progress made in the seven areas of learning for young children is outstanding, because of the exceptional care taken by adults to make learning interesting and ensure it is matched to all children’s exact needs.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children make excellent progress so that by the time they move on to other schools the standards they attain are at least in line with and often above those expected for their age. This includes children from all groups, including disabled children and those with special educational needs and children who speak English as an additional language.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Early reading and writing skills develop very effectively because of the well-planned teaching of the relationship between letters and the sounds they represent, the regular opportunities children are given to look at books and the many occasions adults hear them read.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children develop excellent attitudes to school and to their learning. When told that she would now take part in a session to learn more about the relationships between letters and the sounds they make, one child jumped, clapped her hands and said, ‘Oh, thank-you!’

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children develop the ability to concentrate for relatively prolonged periods to achieve their aims, such as moulding clay into different shapes, playing with small toy animals or hammering nails into wood.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Personal, social and emotional development is given extremely high emphasis. Adults note each tiny success, such as waiting patiently for a turn on the computer, and reward children with a smile and quiet congratulations. As a result, children’s social skills develop outstandingly well.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching is typically outstanding in the nursery. This is because of the exemplary care taken in planning, which takes information from observation and assessment of each child as its starting point. Great consideration is given to every child’s needs and interests, so that activities are exciting and children really want to take part.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 When adults match work to each child’s specific needs, they also consider their emotional needs. Support for disabled children and those with special educational needs is exceptionally well judged and is enhanced by outstanding relationships and information sharing with parents. This contributes to the swift progress of these children.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Adults have suitably high expectations of children’s achievement and give them excellent opportunity to master new skills, such as spreading toast with butter and selecting a topping for this for snack. Children are visibly proud of their developing independence.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Adults ensure that the range of activities is extremely wide and changes throughout the day, so that things do not become stale for children. These regularly changing opportunities to reinforce skills in different ways are major contributory factors to the swift pace of learning in the nursery.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Very effective support is given to children with English as an additional language. This includes translation for some of those with very limited English. Because of this, misunderstandings are swiftly resolved and children settle extremely well, so that their learning can proceed at an exemplary pace.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Adults ensure that children are very effectively involved in evaluating the progress they make. Quiet times are made for them to discuss photographs of activities they have undertaken, which are then put into their ‘learning journey’ books and form an excellent record of their progress.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Children are given excellent opportunities to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural understanding. Time is given for quiet reflection at the start of group work, to which children respond exceptionally well. There are also excellent opportunities for celebration, investigation and learning about the celebrations of others.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 During group-work time, opportunities are given for every child to take part, saying their name and welcoming the rest of the group. Very occasionally, however, adults miss opportunities to draw every child into the following discussion, to refresh their full participation and evaluate their understanding.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children have excellent attitudes to school and their learning. This is because of the establishment of routines, the consistency of messages given in voice and action by all adults, and the regular celebrations of successes.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Parents, staff and governors all share an extremely positive opinion of behaviour and safety in the nursery. Children demonstrate that they feel safe by their relaxed and happy manner at all times.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are proud of their successes and of their learning. For example, when experimenting with paint on a smooth surface, children frequently make comments such as, ‘I can write my name, look!’

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Adults who work in the nursery are all very skilled at understanding young children. As a result, there are examples of excellent improvement over time for some children with particular behavioural needs.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Anti-social behaviour is not allowed, and staff are swift to step in to resolve any disagreements. Children are taught to show when they want something to stop by raising a hand, palm outwards, and also to apologise if they have caused upset to others.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Safety is given a suitably high priority, and adults gently explain when children’s actions could cause harm to others. The calm manner in which this is done encourages children to learn to take responsibility for their actions and consider the needs of others.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The highly successful drive for improvement, led by the headteacher, has made full use of careful evaluations and information from regular training exceedingly well to continuously ‘fine tune’ systems. As a result, the quality of teaching has improved significantly and the pace of children’s learning accelerated.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Self-evaluation is rigorous and accurate. It is used in a continuous cycle, tightly linked to planning for further development. All staff contribute to this evaluation.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Support for all children’s needs, including disabled children and those with special educational needs, children who speak English as an additional language and children whose circumstances make them emotionally vulnerable, is excellent. It is aided by the very open and regular sharing of information between adults, which is an established part of the school day.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Strategies for engaging with parents are highly effective, and information is regularly shared between home and school. This very good communication is an important contributory factor to the excellent progress children make.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Since the previous inspection, a particular focus has been placed on developing children’s understanding of the wider world. A link has been made with a school in Ghana, which has stimulated some interesting and beneficial discussions about different lifestyles. Provision for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is now outstanding.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Policies are highly effective, because they are put into practice consistently each day by all staff. The recent increased focus on teaching children about the relationships between letters and the sounds they represent is already showing significant improvements in children’s early reading and writing skills.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Safeguarding and children’s safety are given high priority and fully meet statutory requirements.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Support from the local authority has been effective in helping the school to improve still further. Training of high quality has been provided for staff and governors alike.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school:  Governors are highly effective in their role. They are knowledgeable about the school and effectively hold leaders to account. Governors have an excellent understanding of the information on children’s performance and are highly skilled in evaluating how well the school is doing in relation to other schools locally and nationally. Evaluations of the performance of staff are tightly linked to pay and to the progress children make. Governors have ensured that the gap between performance of lower-attaining children and the rest is being steadily eroded.

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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 is

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Grade Judgement Description

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 109417 Local authority Bedford Borough Inspection number 401054

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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 113 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Paul Smith Headteacher Isabel Davis Date of previous school inspection 28 September 2009 Telephone number 01234 350864 Fax number 01234 300304 Email address peterpan@deal.bedfordshire.gov.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, please

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School details

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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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