Mary Paterson Nursery School

13 Riverton Close, off Ashmore Road, London W9 3DS

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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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This is an outstanding school

 Creativity, individuality and the highest quality of relationships characterise this nursery. It provides an exceptional range of experiences for children and their families. Consequently, children develop excellent social skills and knowledge of the world around them to prepare them superbly for school.  The range of languages and international experience is highly valued so supporting children’s development at home and in learning English quickly.  Staff continually plan exceptionally well for each child’s individual development provided through ‘Forest School’ and many other visits. These opportunities allow them to expertly assess children’s learning and development in many different situations. They gain a very accurate picture of the whole child and how their learning can be further developed rapidly.  Children’s behaviour is outstanding; they learn to play together and are very considerate of others and their needs. They also have many

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This is an outstanding school

opportunities to take and decide on risk for themselves, accurately judging what is safe for them to do. Everyone in the wider school community develops an appreciation and understanding of others, accepting and valuing differences. They feel very safe.  The vision and ambition for continuous improvement are shared by the whole staff team. They continually seek out new ways of doing things using best practice internationally. At the same time they maintain their focus on each individual child and their development as inquisitive learners, working with others. This practice has potential to be further improved when all staff are fully involved in coaching and mentoring each other.  Governors have an excellent and wide-ranging set of skills which enable them to contribute strongly to holding the nursery to account for its improvement.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 13 sessions or part sessions of teaching and learning activities in the nursery and on a trip to ‘Forest School’. These were taught by four teachers and six early years’ educators. A morning was spent in joint observations with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, the Chair of the Governing Body and two other members. There were informal discussions with children. Ten parents and carers and another parent governor spoke to the inspector.  There were 28 responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) and the inspector took account of parents’ and carers’ contributions to the school development planning.  The inspector looked at the nursery’s documents, including records of assessment and children’s progress, planning for improvement, monitoring of teaching and learning and records about attendance and safeguarding.

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Inspection team

Janet Dinsmore, Lead inspector Additional inspector

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Information about this school

 The maintained nursery provision inspected is part of the Harrow Road Children’s Centre. It is of average size for schools of its type.  The nursery sessions run from 9.15am to 11.45am and 1.00pm to 3.30pm in term time. Children attend for 15 hours for mornings or afternoons and one full day during each week. There are flexible arrangements for wrap-around care in the breakfast and after-school club from 8.00am to 5.30pm and in the school holidays.  There are much higher than average proportions of children who are from minority ethnic groups and who speak English as an additional language.  There is a much higher than average proportion of children supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.  There is an average proportion of children supported at school action.  There is an average proportion of children known to be eligible for free school meals but at the

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Information about this school

time of the inspection no children were supported by pupil premium funding (additional funding for those known to be eligible for free school meals, children of service families or those looked after).  The governing body also has responsibility for a neighbouring nursery school.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve professional development by developing a system of coaching and mentoring for all staff to evaluate each other’s practice.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children make a fantastic start to learning at this nursery. Many start with skills below the levels expected for their age and the majority leave exceeding age-related expectations. They make outstanding progress in personal and social skills, becoming considerate of others and working exceptionally well in pairs and groups.  They learn to communicate very well because there are so many real experiences for them to talk about. Children who are new to learning English make exceptional progress because there are so many opportunities for learning vocabulary through puppets, pictures, photographs and role play.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs also make exceptional progress because the adults pay very close attention to their strengths using these to help them develop in other areas. They learn to use signs and symbols to communicate and continually try new experiences to prevent poor reactions or patterns of behaviour developing. Those children who

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

are known to be eligible for free school meals also make exceptional progress.  Children are fully aware of how text conveys meaning. Stories, books and ‘writing’ their own accounts of their activities, as adults scribe for them, ensure this. They are encouraged to write whenever it is a natural result of an activity and this can range from recording their name on a picture, writing letters of complaint or recording which children are playing in the role play area.  Children continually use their imaginations and knowledge of stories in role play, supported well by adults. Constructing ’sunbeds‘ with large bricks developed into the story of The Princess and the Pea, which they retold accurately. Their recent visit to castle ruins was also used by them to develop play about knights on horseback and princesses.  Children learn about size and shape, counting, number and weight, using these to determine

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

what will happen with buckets and pulleys in the water tray and outdoor sandpit. They match their number to their mat for ‘Forest School’ independently, making sure that they have all that they need for the day in their rucksack.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 All adults working in the nursery know exactly how to plan activities that will ensure that all children are highly motivated to be involved in them. They understand children’s interests exceptionally well and enable them to develop them. For example, children made hobby horses from wood, fabric and sticks as a result of imaginative games they had devised the previous day at ‘Forest School’. Photographs were used very well so that children could make their own decisions about the materials to use.  Adults are very well trained and their knowledge of children’s development is excellent so that they assess this continually, ensuring rapid progress. Questions and conversations with children during an activity and high-quality discussions among the whole staff team at the beginning and end of each day ensure that planning is dynamic and always specifically tailored to all the children’s individual needs.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Observations of children’s learning and the recording of these are used exceptionally well. This record forms the basis of discussion with children about how their learning has progressed. Parents and carers report that they are very impressed with the way staff talk to them about their children’s learning, especially the professional knowledge and attention to detail with which this is done.  There are high expectations of what each child can achieve and their ambitions to do certain things are realised if at all possible so ensuring good and outstanding progress. The older children work as ‘teachers’ planning activities they think others would like to do and then evaluating the success of these by observing the participation of children in them. This enables children to be very aware of how they and others learn.  ‘Forest School’ activities take place, with a group of nine children at a time participating in a

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

programme for eight weeks, spending a day each week in woodland. This outdoor learning provides exceptional opportunities for children to widen their experience and the sensitive way in which the adults work with the children in this situation enables children to develop resilience to cold and wet, know what clothing to wear and how to work in a group. For example, they decided on the place for the shelter and supported others as they tried to throw the rope over a branch.  Staff ensure that disabled children and those with special educational needs have many opportunities to develop communication and social skills alongside other children. Small-group work is planned for and takes place frequently. This encourages turn taking and sharing as well as learning to express feelings that could otherwise cause frustration and upset.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are so involved in all the activities in the Nursery that their behaviour is excellent. They do not have time to make any poor choices and any form of bullying is non-existent. Adults act as excellent role models in the way they relate to each other and the children. The ‘family worker’ organisation of staff ensures that these relationships are also fostered with parents and carers too.  Children are very independent when tidying the nursery, wearing a badge to remind them what they are doing and completing the tasks quickly. They serve their own food as they share it around a table, participating eagerly and discussing what they like, what they have been doing and learning about others’ likes and dislikes.  ‘Forest School’ activities enable children to take risks and find out for themselves how to stay with the group, deal with dogs who may approach them, decide how to climb trees, build dens

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

and handle large sticks safely. Children learn to use real tools such as saws, build with crates, cook on fires, balance on climbing equipment safely and keep safe.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The nursery is a pioneer of outstanding practice in developing an exceptionally rich range of learning experiences that make excellent use of local woodland and the world-class art galleries and museums in London. Weekly visits are a core part of the planned activities giving children high-quality experiences and understanding of art, music and culture. Equal opportunities are promoted so that every child has a chance to pursue their individual interests, for example in fire engines by visiting the fire station.  Parents and carers are overwhelming in their praise for the quality of many aspects of the nursery. They say that it is like an ‘oasis’: ‘Everyone should have the opportunity to come to a place like this’; the staff are ‘amazingly dedicated’; and they ‘can’t praise them enough’. They report how lives have been transformed and the exceptional progress their children have made especially in independence and communication. They highly commend the support they have

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The leadership and management are outstanding

received from staff if their child is disabled or has special educational needs.  School improvement planning is dynamic, involving parents, carers, staff and governors. This means that the decisions about the actions to be taken are constantly checked by all members of the school community and result in development that benefits everyone. Staff performance is managed well and targets for improvement are closely linked to the school improvement plan; this will be further improved by developing peer mentoring and coaching so that all staff contribute to their colleagues’ development.  All staff work exceptionally well as an international team; they speak several languages in common with the children so ensuring excellent communication with children and families. They make decisions as a whole staff about how to develop their skills even more, visiting kindergartens in several different Scandinavian countries. They also train students from German

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The leadership and management are outstanding

and British universities.  The nursery has excellent partnerships; they are used by the local authority to share outstanding practice with other early years’ settings. They also use the skills of visiting artists and professional musicians to extend staff and children’s cultural experience and understanding as well as developing listening and rhythm skills. They work very well with neighbouring primary schools to ensure that the transition for each child is as smooth as possible.  The local authority provides the minimum level of support for this outstanding nursery.  The governance of the school: The members of the governing body have a wide range of skills from media, education, public service, business and education which they use very well to support and challenge the Nursery. They manage the performance of the headteacher well and ensure that teachers’ pay is related well to their performance in the nursery. They ensure that the finances are well

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The leadership and management are outstanding

managed and carry out their responsibilities well so that the statutory requirements for safeguarding and safety are met. They know how well the children are doing at the nursery through their own visits and the reports from the headteacher.

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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 101106 Local authority Westminster Inspection number 400452

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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 Community Age range of pupils 3−4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 60 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Fiona McCarthy Headteacher Sylvie Gambell Date of previous school inspection 26−27 May 2010 Telephone number 020 7641 5804 Fax number 020 7641 5649 Email address office@marypatersonnurseryschool.co.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

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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