Granville Plus Nursery School

Granville Plus Nursery School Granville Road, London, NW6 5RA

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 This inspection: Requires improvement 3 Achievement of pupils Requires improvement 3 Quality of teaching Requires improvement 3 Behaviour and safety of pupils Requires improvement 3 Leadership and management Requires improvement 3

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This is a school that requires improvement. It is not good because

 Leaders have not tackled some weaknesses in teaching quickly enough. Too few children achieve well. Teaching requires improvement.  There is not enough good or better teaching. Staff do not always plan activities which excite the children so that they remain fully interested and engaged.  Behaviour requires improvement. There are too many incidents of anti-social behaviour. Children are not always kind towards each other. Adults do not always manage behaviour well.  Leadership and management require improvement. Children do not have enough opportunities to develop an understanding of the world of technology.  Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is not promoted well in teachers’ planning or the delivery of activities.  Governors and staff are not always vigilant regarding health and safety issues. One or two issues were identified during the inspection. They were addressed before the inspection

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The school has the following strengths

 Relationships between the staff and the children are positive.  Children achieve well when they receive good teaching. Activities interest them and adults question them skilfully to move their learning on.  Parents are supportive of the nursery and almost all children arrive happily each morning.  Staff and governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses and priorities for improvement are appropriately documented.  All staff have opportunities to attend courses and workshops to improve their practice and develop professionally.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspection was carried out with half a day’s notice and took place over two days.  The inspector observed 14 parts of sessions taught by three teachers, eight nursery assistants and a nursery officer.  Discussions were held with the headteacher and staff, children, parents, two members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  School documentation was looked at including school improvement planning, teachers’ planning, documents relating to safeguarding, along with information on the views of parents collected previously by the school.  There were too few responses to take account of the on-line Parent View survey.  The views of the staff were considered through the analysis of 18 completed staff questionnaires.

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Inspection team

Nina Bee, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Full report

In accordance with the Education Act 2005, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement, because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.

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Information about this school

 Granville Plus Nursery School currently offers places for 57 children who either attend full or part time.  Almost all children come from a wide range of different minority ethnic groups.  Almost all children speak English as an additional language.  The nursery has Additional Resource Provision (ARP) for 11 nursery-age children identified as having autism.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs supported through early years school action is average.  The proportion supported through school action plus or a statement of special educational needs is above average.  The on-site childcare for children aged six months to three years is managed by the headteacher and the governing body but was not part of this inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  ensuring that activities interest and excite the children so that they remain fully engaged and learn well  ensuring that in all sessions the need to sit properly, listen carefully and take part are all high focus  ensuring that all adults question children effectively to reinforce, check and extend learning.  Improve children’s behaviour by:  establishing expectations, which are shared with the whole staff, regarding expected behaviour both indoors and out and then applying these at all times  ensuring that all adults have high expectations regarding behaviour and do not tolerate any anti-social behaviour.  Improve leadership and management by:  ensuring that teaching and learning are monitored more rigorously so that more teaching is of a good or better standard  ensuring that curriculum planning and teaching focus more consistently on developing children’s understanding of the world of technology and that of their spiritual, moral, social

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

and cultural awareness  ensuring that governors and staff are more vigilant regarding health and safety issues, particularly in the outside area.

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

 Children enter the nursery with skills, knowledge and understanding that are low for their age. Although in the past children have achieved well, in relation to their starting points, this is currently not the case. Only a few children achieve well and, as a result, achievement is too variable and requires improvement.  Almost all children have English as an additional language. Adults often speak too quickly and do not check that children understand or develop vocabulary effectively. Consequently, this hinders the progress they make, especially, in developing communication and language skills.  Achievement in reading is good when adults share books with children and allow them to talk about the pictures and develop early reading skills. Children often pick up books but do not stay focused because adults miss opportunities to successfully engage with them.  Adults know who the higher attaining children are, but there is little evidence of their skills being

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

recognised and developed further. A group of children focused well as they made marks on paper. One child wrote recognisable letters and numbers. However, his attempts were not celebrated or saved and by the end of the session he had cut his work into pieces. When asked, children were keen to show how they could write their names, but the adult supporting them did not promote this during the activity. Weak interaction, at times, between adults and children contributes to why children do not achieve as well as they should.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs, along with those who receive the Additional Resourced Provision, are totally integrated in all activities and so they make similar progress to the other children. This, in most cases, is not rapid enough.  All children have individual profiles which show how well they are achieving across the curriculum. The best ones clearly identify the next steps of learning. Few mention whether or

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The achievement of pupils requires improvement

not children with specific needs are reaching their individual targets.  By the time they leave and move on to their Reception classes, few children reach the expected levels. Most make sound progress but do not achieve well because of weaknesses in the teaching they receive.

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

 Teaching requires improvement because the proportion of good teaching is not high enough to make up for gaps in children’s skills, knowledge and understanding and to ensure that the children get a good start to their education.  Where teaching requires improvement, activities are dull and boring and do not interest and excite the children so they remain fully engaged and learn well. Adults do not set the scene at the beginning, for example, to ensure that the children all understand that they are expected to sit properly and listen carefully.  Adults often move on too quickly, to extend learning, without checking that all children fully understand what they are doing. Children then become confused, cannot retain their concentration and become off task.  In a small minority of sessions, teaching is good and children learn effectively because activities interest them and so they concentrate well. Children thoroughly enjoyed their learning during an

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The quality of teaching requires improvement

outdoor activity where they planted sunflower seeds. The adult leading the activity explained clearly what they were going to do and checked learning as the session progressed. Vocabulary, such as magnifying glasses, seeds and cotton wool, was effectively developed. Number skills were well promoted as the children counted accurately, for example, the number of magnifying glasses they would need.  At other times, children learn well when adults interact spontaneously. A group of children enjoyed initiating their own activity by using bricks to construct a building inside. Adult interaction was good because he skilfully intervened to reinforce and develop language, counting skills and their understanding of how to balance bricks on top of each other. When children are taught well there are no behavioural issues because they know what is expected of them and they rise to the occasion and behave well.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Staff do not have well established guidance regarding how they expect children to behave in different situations. Adults, at times, miss opportunities to develop children’s personal and social skills and their expectations are not high enough.  For example, sometimes children are allowed to run and shout when inside. While some adults deal with this behaviour, others ignore it. While children play as they learn outside, they sometimes lash out at others or bump into each other. Incidents such as these are not always dealt with effectively by adults, although all injuries are recorded in the incident book.  Sometimes children do not do what they are told and adults respond differently so children become confused. Anti-social behaviour is, at times, tolerated by children and adults.  For example, when children wait to use the toilets and the washbasins before lunch, even when an adult is nearby, they do not stand in an orderly way and wait their turn. They start pushing

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

and annoying each other. When sitting eating their lunch many children take their food without saying please and thank you, because adults do not remind them that it is polite to do so.  Although many children know how to behave appropriately and demonstrate sound attitudes to learning, behaviour is not consistently good and so requires improvement.  Despite all of this, children from many different backgrounds generally mix well together. They enjoy coming to nursery and most confidently take part in what is on offer. All children have a key worker and for certain parts of the day work with them in their designated areas which they call ‘islands’. This enables all children to build a close relationship with at least one adult.  Daily opportunities enable children to learn about the importance of eating healthily and drinking water regularly. Children enjoy preparing the fruit snacks which they eat each day

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The behaviour and safety of pupils requires improvement

 Attendance is monitored effectively and most children attend regularly.

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The leadership and management requires improvement

 The headteacher has an accurate understanding of the quality of teaching, but monitoring of teaching has neither been regular nor rigorous enough. Teaching is too variable. Children do not receive enough good quality teaching and so too many do not achieve well.  The curriculum follows the most recent guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage. However, planning does not focus adequately on developing children’s awareness of the world of technology or the promotion of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Recently, staff and governors have not been focused enough on health and safety issues and because of this, and the other weaknesses, leadership and management require improvement.  As they learn through play, children who attend the Additional Resource Provision are totally integrated and so receive similar provision to that of the other children. Staff and governors are

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The leadership and management requires improvement

well focused on equal opportunities and do not tolerate any discrimination.  For the last few years the nursery has chosen not to receive support from the local authority. There are plans for them to receive support next term.  Senior leaders review school data regularly and check how individuals are progressing and these are shared with staff and governors. Systems are being developed to ensure that staff form a clearer picture of how different groups are performing.  Self-evaluation is accurate, although not well documented. Nevertheless, an improvement plan clearly identifies the areas which the school is focusing on. Senior staff and governors are well informed and have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school.  Links with parents are good and enable children to settle in easily. Parents say they are happy with the provision their children receive. Questionnaires sent home to parents, by the nursery

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The leadership and management requires improvement

staff, confirm this.  Partnerships with local schools are good and enable children to transfer easily.  There are good systems in place which allow staff to develop professionally. They take part in workshops and courses to develop their practice. These link to the appraisal system and are well documented. Adults are suitably qualified and governors are adequately involved.  The governance of the school:  The governing body is an experienced group who attends training when necessary, is well informed and so is knowledgeable about the work of the nursery. The governors understand about entry and exit data and are involved in school self-evaluation and improvement planning.  Governors have clear and well established procedures to ensure that children play and learn in a building which is secure and safe inside. Statutory requirements are met and appropriate checks on adults are carried out to safeguard children. Governors have not recently been quite

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The leadership and management requires improvement

as vigilant regarding health and safety in the outside area. There has been no recent audit of the outside area where children play and learn. However, there are plans to review and improve this provision.

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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 101492 Local authority Brent Inspection number 400483

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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 68 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Sharon Lewsley Headteacher Lesley Benson Date of previous school inspection March 2012 Telephone number 0207 6044620 Email address lesley@granvillepluscc.brent.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

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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