Lanterns Nursery School and Extended Services

Lanterns Nursery School and Children's Centre Bereweeke Road , Winchester, Hampshire, SO22 6AJ

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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.  All groups of children achieve extremely well. By the end of Nursery they have an excellent grounding in all areas of learning and are extremely well prepared for later life and learning.  They all make excellent progress because the school environment is very suitable, stimulating and safe, teaching is highly effective and activities are so varied, interesting and appropriate for all.  Teaching is outstanding because staff know children and families exceedingly well, use very high-quality resources and adapt their approaches and explanations to meet the varied needs of all children.  All aspects of teaching are at least good and most are outstanding even though some staff very occasionally miss opportunities to extend children’s learning in adult-led sessions.  Behaviour and safety are exceedingly good because the environment and activities are suitable, children are positively and

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

purposefully engaged and support is very effective.  Leaders, including governors, use their very high levels of understanding and experience to ensure that the needs of all children are met. Along with all the very committed and hard- working staff, the whole team provides exceedingly well for all. Consequently all the children achieve extremely well.  All groups of children develop high levels of independence and confidence. They engage in a very wide range of activities and learn about a very wide range of countries, cultures and people. This helps their learning and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development extremely well.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector made 12 observations of children’s learning, either in adult-led sessions or when children were choosing their own activities and working on their own or with others. She observed teaching by all four teachers and all 20 early years’ practitioners, who were working on the days of the inspection. Three of these observations were done jointly with the headteacher.  Discussions were held with children, governors, a representative from the local authority, leaders, teachers and other staff.  During the inspection some parents and carers reported difficulty accessing the online Parent View questionnaire. The inspector considered the views of parents and carers from 12 online responses to the Parent View questionnaire, 12 hard copies of this which the Nursery had printed out, 16 written comments and informal discussions.  They considered 21 responses to the staff questionnaire and the views of children, through both

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Information about this inspection

informal and prearranged discussions.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including: the school’s information on children’s current progress, children’s work, leaders’ reports on lesson observations, the school’s development plan, other planning and monitoring documents, documents relating to safeguarding and records of behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Jo Curd, Lead Inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Lanterns Nursery School is part of Lanterns Children’s Centre, a Sure Start provision on the edge of Winchester City.  Children attend funded places for five half-day sessions each week. Parents and carers can sometimes purchase additional sessions if these are available.  Most children start at the school the term after they are three years old. Disabled children and those with special educational needs can start a term before this.  No children are eligible for the pupil premium, additional funding for specific groups of pupils, or free school meals as they are all too young.  About a third of the places are reserved by the local authority as specialist provision for disabled children and those who have special educational needs.  The proportion of disabled children or those with special educational needs supported through early action is higher than usually expected in nurseries. The proportion supported at early

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Information about this school

action plus or with a statement of special educational needs, is much higher than in most other schools.  A minority of the children are at early stages of learning English.  There has been significant change in senior leadership since the previous inspection. The headteacher started at the school two years ago and the manager of the children’s centre started just before this.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the proportion of outstanding teaching in adult-led sessions by ensuring that adults focus on extending children’s learning wherever possible.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children start at the Nursery with a very wide range of knowledge, skills and experience. Overall these are below the levels expected for this age because so many are disabled or have special educational needs. By the time they leave, their skills and understanding are extremely secure in all areas of learning.  All groups of children progress extremely well because activities are extremely engaging and teaching is highly effective. This gives all the children an excellent start and provides equality of opportunity from a very early age.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs make excellent progress because they use specialist equipment and resources and engage in an extremely wide range of highly appropriate activities inside and outside. They are also supported extremely well by a wide range of professionals, including teachers and early years’ practitioners.  More-able children progress rapidly because there is an excellent balance between adult-led and

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

child-chosen activities. All staff have very high expectations of what all the children can achieve and activities are highly engaging, interesting and open-ended.  Children who are at early stages of learning English make excellent progress because language is promoted so very well. Symbols and signs support the learning of all and most activities are very practical and visual.  Children make excellent progress in all areas of learning, particularly personal, social and emotional development. The nursery uses a very effective scheme to help children’s emotional development, based on the story of a turtle and her early days at school. One parent or carer commented typically, ‘Lanterns has helped my kids communicate and cope with their emotions – turtle time really helps in our house.’  Children develop their understanding and use of spoken and written language very well. The use of signs and symbols, choice boards and visual timetables helps all children including those who

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

are disabled or have other special educational needs. Children are very positive about stories and books. Children hurried to story time, eagerly anticipating what they would see and hear that day.  Children make rapid progress in physical development because they are so active, especially in the very spacious outdoor areas, playing on wheeled toys and climbing, sliding and rolling down hills. Indoors children develop fine physical skills very well drawing, cutting and working with modelling dough and larger physical skills in the ball pool, where they enthusiastically climb and jump extremely safely.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Staff are highly experienced and knowledgeable about their work. They plan and prepare activities extremely well, ensuring these are accessible, suitable and stimulating for all the children. These help children’s learning and spiritual, moral, social and cultural development very successfully.  Staff get to know children and families extremely well and use a very wide range of purchased, acquired and self-made resources very well to meet all the children’s needs.  Staff observe and listen carefully to children and plan activities to meet their interests and needs. For example, on the suggestion and interest of one boy, adults took children to visit the local post office and helped them set up a role-play post office, write letters to friends, address them, buy stamps and post them. They were all thrilled when, a few days later, they all received the letters at school.  Adults plan highly effective activities through which children develop a range of knowledge and

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

skills. For example, a group of children had great fun and rapidly developed language, as well as physical and mathematical skills, in a game outside. They used a numeral, which they selected from a bag and a physical movement, by spinning a dial to determine how many times they would carry out each movement.  Adults use their detailed knowledge of children extremely well to modify their expectations, approach and support. For example, they fully met children’s individual dietary and communication needs during snack time. They used a card of children’s photographs and details to ensure their dietary needs were met. They also used discussion, signs and symbols to enable all the children to make choices and to communicate.  Adults interact with children in their chosen activities extremely well. For example, a role-play hospital was used to extend children’s thought, language, creative skills, knowledge and

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

understanding of the world. Discussion took place concerning where and how they or children had ‘hurt’ themselves, whether they needed an X-ray or medicine, as well as how and where bandaging was needed.  All aspects of teaching are at least good and most are outstanding. However, adults occasionally miss opportunities to extend children’s learning in adult-led sessions. For example, a teacher spent slightly too long going over rhyming words, which some children already knew and an early years’ practitioner praised a child for writing their name, without going on to explain that writing in English is usually done from left to right.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are extremely well behaved because they have so much choice and freedom in this spacious highly safe environment. They are busily and positively engaged in a very wide range of highly suitable activities, with excellent resources. Expectations, routines and boundaries are very clear, consistent and fair.  Children are extremely positive, purposeful and independent. They are very keen to learn and approach activities confidently and eagerly. Parents and carers report how much their children love coming to school. Attendance is good.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs develop independence, confidence and choice. For example, one boy with physical and global disabilities is rapidly becoming more mobile, with the help of a highly sophisticated walking frame. His eagerness and independence visibly progressed, as he began to move around the garden choosing where he wanted to go.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children are healthily competitive and always want to do their best. For example, they use ‘number fans’ very enthusiastically to find the correct number of ducks in a story.  Children also learn to take turns, share and help each other. Sharing wheeled toys for two or three children outside and learning to take turns to use programs on hand-held computers are good examples of this.  Parents and carers are unanimously positive about behaviour and safety. They are all highly enthusiastic and very confident about the care their children receive.  Children are extremely positive about behaviour and safety. They know that almost all children behave extremely well and also know consequences and support for the very few who find this difficult. Their smiles, spontaneous singing and body language show how very safe they feel.  Behaviour management is extremely effective, clear and consistent. All the adults are extremely

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

well trained and receive support and advice from a very wide range of other professionals, including educational psychologists, speech therapists and family support workers.  There are very marked improvements in children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties, because a range of adults work very successfully together with children and families to identify and address needs. In this way discrimination is combatted and inequalities are addressed.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders strive for excellence in all that they do. They are proactive, act very quickly to remedy any weaknesses and go above and beyond expectations. Including many additional features in school evaluation and providing small incentives to encourage a high response and positive attitude to internal staff surveys are two examples of this.  Leaders know the school extremely well and make very accurate checks on how well it is doing. Along with all the staff, leaders have worked extremely effectively to maintain all the strengths identified at the previous inspection. The new headteacher, in strong partnership with others, has successfully improved the rigour of assessments and has maintained a sharp focus on the highly effective school development plan.  All staff spoken to, or who submitted the inspection questionnaire, are positive about almost all aspects of the nursery. There is a very positive ethos and staff are highly committed to their

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The leadership and management are outstanding

work. A minority of staff have found changes in leadership difficult and some feel that leaders do not fully understand the professional needs, roles or contributions of staff. The inspector found that leaders understand the school very well even though, due to pressures of leadership, they have not spent extended time in sessions with staff and children.  Leaders drive equality of opportunity highly successfully. They know individuals and families very well and analyse trends and outcomes for different groups. They also identify the needs of individuals, families and groups and effectively target support to meet these.  Officers in the local authority correctly evaluate the school as extremely effective and consequently only monitor it formally once each year. They know that it provides extremely well for the children who are on roll, for families in the locality and in its support of pre-schools

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school: - Governance is highly effective. Governors are extremely experienced, well trained, competent and knowledgeable. All their statutory duties, including those for safeguarding, are met. They know the quality of teaching and how well children are achieving compared with expectations for their age through regular visits, discussions and detailed reports. They strongly support and challenge leaders and are fully involved in school improvement, building on strengths and diligently tackling any underperformance. Governors have a very clear strategic approach to financial management and oversee budgets wisely. They take responsibility for managing the performance of staff and how the school rewards them, aligning salaries, according to pay scales, closely to performance and outcomes.

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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 134844 Local authority Hampshire Inspection number 402641

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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 2–4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 109 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Kathleen East Headteacher Joy Reynolds Date of previous school inspection 4–5 June 2013 Telephone number 01962 860393 Fax number 01962 863510 Email address adminoffice@lanterns.hants.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, 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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