St John's Wood Pre-Preparatory School

Purley Nursery School 58 Pampisford Road, Purley, CR8 2NE

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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.  Parents say that the Nursery is a fantastic place. They comment about how well their children are doing. They say how welcoming, caring and interested the staff are, in both the children and the whole family, and how well older siblings who previously attended are now doing at primary school.  Purley Nursery School is an inclusive school where everyone is welcomed, high quality relationships are paramount and all children’s achievement in all aspects of development is outstanding.  Children make particularly exceptional progress in all aspects of their personal and social development from low starting points. They develop a love of books and stories, eagerly choosing them from the well-stocked school library.  All staff understand exceptionally well how young children learn. They continually check this and construct learning activities to make sure that children make the best progress

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

that they can.  Children make excellent use of the spacious and well-equipped outdoor area. They grow vegetables, explore and create dens using it well in their imaginative play. Parents say it is one of the reasons they choose the Nursery for their children.  Children are so involved in what they are doing that they do not have time to disagree or fall out. Staff provide excellent role models for how to behave and relate to each other. As a result, children’s behaviour is outstanding and they feel safe in the Nursery.  The senior leaders have made sure that the quality of teaching has improved since the previous inspection by providing excellent staff training and development and continually checking that the highest standards of teaching are maintained in the Nursery. The governing body challenges the school extremely well to make sure that it continually improves and remains at the heart of the community.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 11 sessions or part sessions of teaching and learning activities in the Nursery. These were taught by two teachers and several Early Years educators. Three sessions were spent in joint observations with the headteacher.  Meetings were held with the headteacher, three members of the governing body including the Chair and Vice-Chair and the teaching team. A telephone conversation was held with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector read books with and talked to children. There were informal discussions with parents.  The inspector took into account the 15 responses to the on-line questionnaire Parent View.  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 school provides a breakfast club in the Nursery and a neighbouring school and an after- school club on the Nursery site for its children and several other schools. The school provides a holiday club and is open for 50 weeks each year.  The school provides a venue for a range of activities provided by the local children’s centre.  The proportion of disabled children and those with special educational needs supported through Early Years action is below average. There are currently a few children supported at Early Years Action plus, but none with a statement of special educational needs. The proportion of disabled children and those with special educational needs was above average in the cohort that has just left.  Two thirds of the children are from a wide variety of minority ethnic groups. A third of the children speak English as an additional language. These proportions are much higher than

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Information about this school

average and have increased significantly since the previous inspection.  Children at the Nursery are not in receipt of the pupil premium.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Adapt the provision to make sure that all children new to learning English make even more rapid progress in understanding and learning new vocabulary.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children start at the Nursery with skills below those expected for their age, especially in personal and social development. They make rapid progress and over two thirds of them have skills that are better than is typical for their age by the time they leave in all areas of learning and development. They relate very well together, negotiating well as they take turns with equipment and explaining what they are discovering about sand and filling bottles, for example.  Children make excellent progress in communication. By the time they leave all can communicate well. For example, children explained that they were using ‘pretend cinnamon’ and that their parents really like it.  Their physical development is excellent. They spend the majority of their time outside. They can pedal wheeled vehicles uphill taking passengers and use an excellent range of different climbing apparatus and slides. They use their hands and fingers well to write, draw, use chalk and make

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

pancakes with the dough. They can describe what they are doing to adults.  Children really enjoy books. They choose books to take home and parents report how much they love doing this. They adore stories and can predict repeating patterns, joining in enthusiastically. More-able children recognise words.  Children’s progress in acquiring mathematical skills is good and for a significant proportion it is outstanding. Children use counting skills well to determine, for example, how many cones shoot off the slide when they come down it and reading the dial on the petrol pump when ‘filling‘ their vehicles.  Children have plenty of opportunities for writing, recording their name on pictures, practising letter shapes, writing shopping lists and designing tracks and routes on the playground for children and vehicles.  Children who are new to learning English make rapid progress in listening and understanding,

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

and as they gain confidence, after a term in the Nursery they speak English as well as would be expected for a child whose first language is English.  Each year more-able children achieve at a level that would be expected at the end of the Reception year of primary school, especially in confidence, communication and mathematical skills.  Disabled children and those who have special educational needs make outstanding progress. They have more opportunities to work with staff in small groups or individually to make sure that progress is accelerated, especially when a communication difficulty has been identified.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers very capably lead the staff team in a daily review of children’s learning, development and progress. All staff contribute precisely and thoroughly to this continuous checking. They very quickly identify any children who do not have a normally developing range of skills because of their expert knowledge and make sure that specific activities are designed to fill the gaps in children’s learning.  Support staff work very well with the teaching staff as an excellent team. They make sure that children are continually challenged and plan activities and extend children’s learning so that all groups, including the most able, achieve very well. For example, they extended children’s counting and problem-solving and reading skills in several different activities.  Activities are planned and resources chosen that stimulate children’s individual interests from accurate observations of the way children are learning. Staff then question well and sensitively

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

to deepen children’s thinking so that the activity can be extended. For example, in mixing water with sand so that large bricks would ‘stick together’ better when building a wall and how different implements and ways of touching would vary the sounds made in the ‘music arbour’.  There are a rich variety of books in the Nursery and for the children to take home. Story time is an integral part of the day which children eagerly anticipate. Adults model writing activities very well, explaining how and why they are recording observations of learning and providing individual vocabulary cards reflecting children’s interests to help them with their writing.  Information and communication technology is used well as a tool to develop children’s reading, mathematical and creative skills. Children use computers competently and independently.  Children can access both the indoor and outdoor learning areas freely and there is an

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

outstanding range of resources. For example, children put on aprons and boots independently to explore a stream of water over stones that provided excellent opportunities for splashing, transporting it and having great fun.  Occasionally, there is insufficient use of photographs and signing used by all staff to help children new to learning English to make even more rapid progress in learning vocabulary.  Highly skilled staff use a wide range of resources to make sure that children’s experience in the breakfast and after-school clubs is of the same high quality. In the afternoons the younger children benefit from older children and siblings being able to join in their play.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children behave exceptionally well. Even children who had only just started at the Nursery at the time of the inspection settled quickly. They understood the routines and enthusiastically sorted resources at the end of activity time to prepare the Nursery for lunch and the afternoon session.  Children have excellent opportunities to experience risk in attempting the climbing equipment. They judge their skills well, challenging themselves and each other to have a go and enthusiastically declaring ‘I did it’ when crossing the rope bridge. They politely ask other children to move so that they can complete the circuit on the equipment.  Children say they are safe and parents say that they are extremely confident in the ability of the staff to care for their children.  Children manage all the wheeled vehicles safely, showing consideration for other children’s play, taking turns and keeping to the few simple rules such as, ‘we mustn’t run indoors’.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 Children use all equipment safely and independently, for example understanding that chairs must only be stacked in piles of four and when using scissors at lunchtime to open packets.  Bullying is non-existent because children relate extremely well together and a commitment to equality and respect is continually shown by all staff. Children’s moral and social development is outstanding because they learn from the excellent relationships between staff.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Senior leaders use data about children’s learning and progress very well to get an accurate picture of the school. This leads to well-focused improvement plans. They are continually looking to improve their own practice and provide support for others and have demonstrated that capacity since the previous inspection.  The senior leaders have made sure that the whole staff team is highly competent in checking children’s progress in all areas of learning and development and making sure that questioning is used sensitively and appropriately for extending children’s thinking. These were both areas for development at the previous inspection. The performance of teachers and all the support staff is managed well.  The school works in partnership with other local schools and children’s centres to provide expertise and advice. Senior staff check assessments of children’s progress in other maintained settings. They also give professional support and training in developing good Early Years’

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The leadership and management are outstanding

practice to a range of other providers. The school provides placements for volunteers and students, both making sure that they are fully aware of all procedures and policies and supporting their developing knowledge of excellent Early Years’ education.  Parents say that the Nursery and the flexibility of before- and after-school care is a tremendous support for working families. Each individual circumstance and need is met extremely well and sensitively. The Nursery staff are always available to talk to parents and respond quickly to changes. The key worker system, in which an adult is assigned to check the progress and development of particular children in their care, is well organised and parents well informed about how well their children are doing.  Activities that follow children’s interests mean that the Nursery is an exciting place to learn. Children have excellent opportunities that promote their spiritual and cultural development using

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The leadership and management are outstanding

parents from different ethnic groups to help develop cultural activities throughout the year.  Equality of opportunity and being inclusive are paramount to all that the Nursery does. It provides excellent placement for disabled children and those who have special educational needs both in school and in the after-school provision because all staff are well trained to meet these needs  The local authority recognises the high quality of the Nursery school and uses senior staff to support teachers and staff development in other Early Years’ settings.  Statutory safeguarding requirements are met and the Nursery site is secure and safe. Procedures for signing children in and out of sessions are rigorously adhered to by parents ensuring that all the children are safe.  The governance of the school:  Governors use a good range of skills from their work backgrounds, which include education and finance, very effectively to hold the school to account. They make sure that they are

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The leadership and management are outstanding

trained well for their role. They receive regular reports on the checks that are made of children’s progress and use this well to challenge the school. Governors make sure that the performance management of the headteacher makes a strong contribution to continuing improvement of the Nursery. They know about the quality of teaching and have made sure that good teachers are rewarded for their performance in the classroom and there is no underperformance. They are well informed to make strategic decisions about the future of the Nursery and its financial stability. They understand its central role in the community and how it provides for children and their families. They check the quality of the Nursery through a programme of visits and governors seek the views of parents regularly. This all results in the continual improvement of what is now an outstanding setting.

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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 101174 Local authority Croydon Inspection number 425491

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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 86 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Alex Roy Headteacher Frances Wimpress Date of previous school inspection 10−11 November 2013 Telephone number 020 8660 5639 Fax number 020 8645 9673 Email address office@purley.croydon.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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