Greenfields Nursery School and Children's Centre

Greenfields Children’s Centre Recreation Road, Southall, UB2 5PF

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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.  Children’s achievement is outstanding. From very low starting points, they make rapid progress particularly in their speaking, listening and physical development. Most leave the school having attained or exceeded the expectations for their age.  Teaching is outstanding because staff pay close attention to what the child is interested in.  Well-thought-out and fun activities develop children’s interests and enable them to make the maximum progress.  Children are confident and happy. They enjoy coming to nursery and their behaviour is exemplary because they are often enthralled by the exciting activities that are offered to them. Children know how to keep themselves safe.  Parents are very supportive because the school fully involves them in their children’s leaning. All parents feel that their views are valued.  There are excellent links with specialist support services, including those found on site.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The dedication and drive shown by both the headteacher and deputy headteacher inspires and enthuses the staff to ensure that children receive the very best.  The astutely led governing body has an accurate view of the school’s performance. Governors are very supportive and are fully involved in ensuring that the nursery gets even better.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed 11 lessons and part-lessons; all were joint observations with senior leaders. These sessions were taught by three teachers and other staff.  Meetings were held with senior members of staff and the Chair of the Governing Body. There was a discussion with the artist in residence and a representative from the local authority.  The inspector took account of 56 responses to the questionnaire (Parent View) as well as a letter and 102 responses from the school’s own recent parent questionnaire. Discussions also took place with parents who were collecting their children from the nursery school.  The inspector observed the school’s work and analysed a large range of documents and policies, including the school’s own data on children’s current progress, planning and safeguarding documentation as well as records relating to attendance. Samples of children’s developmental records were also examined.

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Information about this inspection

 The views of staff were analysed through the 13 responses to the staff questionnaire.

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Inspection team

Liz Bowes, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Greenfields Children’s Centre is a larger than average-sized nursery school.  Children are from a number of different ethnic backgrounds.  Almost all children speak English as an additional language and many speak little or no English when they start nursery.  The proportion of disabled children and those with special educational needs supported at early action is higher than the national average. Most of these children have speech, language and communication needs or specific learning difficulties. The proportion supported at early action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average.  No children are supported by the extra pupil premium funding because children of this age do not receive it.  The school provides additional ‘wrap-around’ before- and after-school care during term time which is run by the governing body.  The linked day-care centre that shares the site with the school is inspected separately.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop systems to track the progress of children who enter at times other than the start of the school year more rigorously.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children typically join the nursery with skills, knowledge and understanding that are well below those expected for their age in all areas of learning. Many are at an early stage of learning English.  Children make outstanding progress particularly in their speaking, listening, personal, social, emotional and physical development. Most leave the school having attained the levels of understanding and skills expected for their age. Increasing proportions of children are a year ahead of what is expected. This is because from the minute they walk into the school children are actively engaged in enjoyable and exciting activities. All children are extremely well prepared for learning in their next school.  Those children who speak English as an additional language make excellent strides in their learning and achieve well because of the persistent focus by staff on developing their speaking and listening skills.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Disabled children and those who have special educational needs make excellent progress as they benefit from effective support from well-trained staff, as well as frequent visits from the speech and language therapist.  Children enjoy listening to stories and often join in with words and actions. Letters and sounds are practised continuously so that children make rapid progress and can identify isolated letter sounds in their names and other words. The most-able can read and write simple words. Children understand what the words author, narrator and illustrator mean because the teachers frequently refer to these terms.  Children have lots of opportunities to develop their writing skills. Most activities encourage mark making. Many children are able to attempt writing their own names.  Every opportunity is taken to develop children’s counting skills; many can count up to 20. Children can describe mathematical shapes and many can give them the correct name. The

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

recent project children did on water provided an excellent opportunity for them to learn about mathematical concepts such as size, shape and volume.  Physical development is well planned through, for example, the children’s six hole golf academy course which is on a small part of the outside area. Children have the opportunity to practise their swing and play a game together.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teaching is outstanding because staff understand what excites and engages children. They then work together to develop fun activities that develop those interests and extend learning. As a result each child makes rapid progress.  Children are fascinated with how seeds grow into plants and they take every opportunity to plant seeds in every type of container. Staff have developed this and have established an excellent street gardening project. Neighbours have agreed to let children plant up their front gardens with the vegetables, herbs and flowers that the children have grown.  Children make strong progress in speaking and listening because staff pay a lot of attention to comments from children. No opportunity is missed to encourage conversations with both adults and other children.  The school has an artist in residence who is focusing on developing children’s creativity and understanding of the world. Children go on walks where they are encouraged to photograph

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

what interests them and comment on why it interests them. For example, one child was captivated by numbers and so took photographs of all the places where numbers were found in the neighbourhood.  Music is very important to the children; the music specialist helps them enjoy dancing and explore instruments from different parts of the world.  Displays around the walls celebrate achievements and experiences, such as the trip to the seaside where children flew kites and balloons they had made with the help of staff and parents. Most of the displays in the school are made of natural materials which enable children to develop their skills of exploring patterns found in nature.  All practitioners have an excellent understanding of how children learn and they also ensure that progress is accurately and regularly logged.

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

 The behaviour of the children is outstanding. Children have extremely positive attitudes to learning and eagerly start each session because there is always something interesting for them to do. Children embark on activities with confidence knowing that they will be helped to succeed. Children quickly learn to take turns; for example, when children waited patiently for their turn to taste a smoothie that they had made.  The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding. Discussions with parents reveal that they have complete trust and confidence in the staff to keep their children safe and provide the highest quality of care and support. Parents really appreciate the friendly and easy start to the sessions when they hand over their children. They particularly praise the support and advice that staff provide. Parents of children who make use of the before-school and after-school care

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

are very complimentary. One parent said he liked how his child had breakfast and could play games in a friendly atmosphere.  The school teaches philosophy where children are encouraged to think deeply and talk about things that concern them. They learn right from wrong and learn to accept each other’s differences. Unkind behaviour is rare, but those who do find managing their behaviour more difficult are helped in special sessions where puppets are used to show children basic social skills. They are encouraged to understand how important it is to smile and share.  Parents are always kept fully informed about their children’s work and are delighted with the progress they make. They are given regular information about forthcoming activities. They value the curriculum days where families have the opportunity to see how children learn at Greenfields and how they as parents can encourage effective learning through activities at home. One

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The behaviour and safety of pupils are outstanding

parent was impressed with how the mathematics game he had made had really helped his child to make excellent progress.  Children are encouraged to do things for themselves, such as putting on their coats and washing their hands after messy play; as a result they quickly learn these skills and only sometimes have to ask an adult for help.  Children attend regularly and parents are made aware of the importance of attendance. All absence is quickly followed up.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leadership by both the headteacher and deputy headteacher is inspirational. The school is recognised both nationally and internationally. Recently, representatives from the Moldovan Government and a charity visited to see how the school operated.  The school occupies a new purpose built building which the leadership team helped to design. The entrance is welcoming and calming, visitors have to cross a stream of running water before entering the huge, airy space where most of the indoor learning takes place. Activities allow children to be creative and work together in order to share experiences and build strong relationships. The outside area is excellently designed with a range of different small buildings that children feel comfortable in. The hut on stilts, for example, is a wonderful place for storytelling.  The children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is exceptionally well developed in

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The leadership and management are outstanding

all activities. An example of this was when children were told how some people lose their homes in natural disasters and have to make shelters. Children were encouraged to think about what they would need to make a shelter and used cardboard boxes to make temporary homes.  The school promotes equality of opportunity well. Children learn about their own and others’ beliefs and cultures through music and art.  Leaders, including middle leaders, keep a very close check on each child’s progress and the quality of their learning experiences through accurate checks and detailed observations by staff. Staff are set challenging targets to ensure that all children make the maximum progress. Staff are very dedicated and many have taken higher qualifications.  All staff have an excellent knowledge of the school’s strengths and areas for development. They recognise that they now need to develop a system that will track the progress of children who

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The leadership and management are outstanding

enter at times other than the start of the school year more rigorously.  The local authority views Greenfields as a highly effective nursery and provides a light-touch level of support.  Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements and specific support for children whose circumstances make them vulnerable is exceptional. There are excellent links with the on-site specialist support services.  The governance of the school:  The astutely led governing body is passionate about the school and very supportive and has a very good understanding of its overall effectiveness. Governors bring a wide range of expertise and experience which ensures that they challenge the nursery to get even better. They understand the link between pay and performance and have an excellent knowledge of the qualities of effective teaching and its impact on children’s achievement seen in the nursery. Governors use training effectively to extend their skills such as when reviewing data

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The leadership and management are outstanding

and checking children’s progress. Governors manage finances efficiently and all statutory requirements are met.

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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 101862 Local authority Ealing Inspection number 430818

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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 3−5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 120 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Gill Borg Headteacher June McHugh Date of previous school inspection 12 July 2011 Telephone number 020 8813 8079 Fax number 020 8517 5944 Email address admin@greenfieldschildren.com 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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