Warwick Nursery School

Warwick Nursery School Coventry Road, Warwick, CV34 4LJ

p.1

Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 This inspection: Good 2 Leadership and management Good 2 Behaviour and safety of pupils Good 2 Quality of teaching Good 2 Achievement of pupils Good 2 Early years provision Good 2

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Warm and caring relationships ensure that children enjoy their nursery education, make good progress and achieve well in all areas of learning.  Teaching is typically good and some is outstanding.  Parents are welcomed into the nursery and are extremely supportive of all that is done for their children.  Behaviour is always at least good because all adults have high expectations and children quickly learn what is expected of them .  Children feel very safe at school and have an exceptionally good knowledge of how to keep themselves safe. They are very well looked after by staff.  The school provides a wide range of exciting activities which build on children’s interests, stimulates their curiosity and captures their imagination. This promotes well all aspects of their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  The acting headteacher leads the strong staff team well. Together they have the drive and skills to

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

improve the school.  Governors’ monitoring of the work of the school has improved since the previous inspection and is now good.  Governors know the school well. They ask searching questions and hold staff accountable for children’s achievement.

p.1

It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Work is sometimes too easy for more-able children.  Children are not given enough opportunities to use computers to develop their information- finding and communication skills.  Although senior leaders track children’s progress carefully, other key workers lack the skills to monitor children’s achievement in their areas of responsibility.

p.1

Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed nine sessions, including those led by adults and times when children chose activities for themselves. Three sessions were observed jointly with the acting headteacher. Lunchtimes were also observed.  Discussions were held with the acting headteacher, other staff, children, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  The inspector looked at a wide range of documents, including: the school’s self-evaluation and plan for improvement; information on children’s progress and attainment; school policies; records relating to safeguarding, attendance and behaviour; and teachers’ planning of learning. Samples of children’s work were scrutinised from their ‘learning journeys’.  The views expressed in the 13 questionnaires completed by staff were taken into account.  The inspector took account of the 13 responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View. The inspector

p.2

Information about this inspection

also sought the views of parents through informal discussions at the start of the school day, took into account written comments from parents, and considered the results of the school’s own satisfaction survey.

p.2

Inspection team

Helen Morrison, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

p.2

Information about this school

 Warwick Nursery is an average-sized nursery school. It provides part-time nursery education for 58 children.  Children enter the nursery school in the term after their third birthday. Just over a half of the children currently on roll attended during the last academic year, with just under half new to the nursery this term.  The school also operates a 16-place nursery for children aged between two and three years, which is called the ‘nurture nursery’. This was inspected as part of this inspection.  Most children are White British, with the remainder from a range of minority ethnic backgrounds.  A few children speak English as an additional language but none are in the early stages of learning English.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs supported through Early Years action and Early Years action plus is below average. Currently, no child has a statement of

p.3

Information about this school

special educational needs.  As this is a nursery school, it is not eligible to receive pupil premium funding.  The nursery school shares part of its building with a children’s centre. This is not managed by the school and is inspected separately.  There have been significant changes to the leadership and management of the nursery since the last inspection. After the previous headteacher left, in December 2012, there was a consultation regarding the future management of the nursery and children’s centre. While this was underway, the governors appointed two acting co-head of centres. Following the separation of the nursery school and children’s centre at the beginning of this term, one of the acting co-headteachers has been appointed acting headteacher of the nursery school.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching by:  sharing the outstanding examples of teaching already found in the school  ensuring that the tasks given to more-able children are not too easy for them  providing more opportunities for children to develop their basic computing skills.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the leadership and management of the school by ensuring that other key workers develop the skills they need to keep a careful check on children’s achievement in their areas of responsibility.

p.3

The leadership and management are good

 Supported by all staff and governors, the acting headteacher knows the strengths of the school well. Actions needed to secure further progress are identified accurately and training is carefully linked to the school’s priorities. This shows the school’s capacity for further improvement. However, other key workers currently have too limited a role in monitoring the areas for which they are responsible.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders track children’s progress carefully. As a result, almost all groups of children make good or better progress. However, the progress of more-able children slows when they are given activities that are too easy.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Senior leaders check the quality of teaching thoroughly and follow up any weaknesses. As a result, teaching is typically good, and some is outstanding. Teachers’ individual targets, which are aimed at improving their practice, and decisions made about increases in their salaries, are linked carefully to children’s progress.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Parents speak very highly of the nursery. They value the clear information they are given about their children’s progress through ‘learning journal’ books and regular reports.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The exceptionally rich learning environment provides well-planned, exciting opportunities for children to follow their own interests and develop their own ideas. Staff are skilled in knowing when to let children continue uninterrupted and when to ask questions to move learning forward. For example, children were given time to work out that they needed equal amounts of sand in two buckets so that they balanced on the large scales in the sand pit.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Children enjoy using programmable toys and were fascinated by torchlight shining in a dark tent. However, they are not given enough opportunities to acquire basic computer skills.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are skilfully developed through carefully planned activities. For example, children responded with wonder at the intricate patterns of spiders’ webs in the forest school.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The school ensures that all children are included in its activities and has suitable policies and procedures for tackling discrimination should it arise.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Children are taught British values of tolerance, respect, equality and why rules are important. As a result, children play happily together, share toys and equipment, and look after one another.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements are thorough, and children are safe and secure at school.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The local authority provides appropriate support when necessary; for example, by providing training for governors.

p.4

The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors use their skills and experience to support, monitor and challenge senior leaders effectively. They are fully involved in setting performance targets for the acting headteacher and visit the school regularly to talk to staff and watch children learn. As a result, they have a good understanding of the quality of teaching and the progress of different groups of children. They ensure that teachers’ pay and promotion are tied to the effectiveness of their teaching. Governors monitor the school’s finances carefully and carry out their statutory duties effectively, ensuring, for example, that procedures for safeguarding children fully meet national requirements.

p.4

Behaviour

 There are carefully thought-out procedures to prepare children before they join the school and the ‘nurture nursery’. As a result, children arrive happily and quickly develop positive attitudes to learning.

p.5

Behaviour

 As a result of the good focus on children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development and adults’ high expectations, children play well together, share toys and treat all resources with respect. Behaviour at the ‘lunch club’ is exemplary.

p.5

Behaviour

 Very few incidents of poor behaviour have been recorded over the past two years and there have been no incidents of racism or exclusions.

p.5

Behaviour

 Although attendance is not statutory for children of this age, staff work effectively with parents so that children attend regularly.

p.5

Safety

 The school’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding.

p.5

Safety

 All staff and governors have received appropriate training and regular, planned staff discussions ensure that they know how to support families and protect children from harm. All parts of the site checked by the inspector were very safe.

p.5

Safety

 Children’s understanding of risk and how to keep themselves and their friends safe is exceptionally well promoted. For example, children take turns to conduct a ‘health and safety check’ of the outdoor play equipment. Accompanied by an adult, they check whether surfaces are wet or slippery, and decide which equipment is safe to use.

p.5

Safety

 Adult supervision and guidance are excellent. Children are helped to have the confidence to try out new activities safely. For example, they are taught to wear gloves to protect their hands when using a hammer and to be careful when climbing and balancing outdoors.

p.5

Safety

 Parents have no concerns regarding behaviour or the safety of their children.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 The consistently good teaching ensures children make good progress in all areas of learning. Each child is valued as unique and special and, as a result, they love coming to nursery.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 Staff talk about what they are doing and model vocabulary well. For example, in the ‘nurture nursery’, adults listened to the children and talked about different foods as they prepared a ‘picnic’. This quickly developed children’s speaking and listening skills and their confidence in learning.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 The outside area is exciting, interesting and provides an exceptionally good range of activities. For example, children enjoy making ‘chocolate gravy’ in the mud kitchen; they care for the hens and they pedal enthusiastically around the bike track. As a result, they have very positive attitudes to learning.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 The needs of disabled children and those who have special educational needs are very quickly identified. Well-targeted support ensures they make consistently good progress. Children who speak English as an additional language also make good progress as a result of skilful teaching.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 The teaching of early reading, writing and mathematics is good. Children are given good opportunities to make marks and learn to control paintbrushes, pencils and pens. They listen to stories and join in counting activities with enthusiasm. However, sometimes teachers miss opportunities to encourage more-able children to develop their letter-recognition and counting skills.

p.5

The quality of teaching is good

 Adults assess children’s learning accurately and record children’s good progress in their ‘learning journal’ books. However, when working with mixed-ability groups, some activities are too easy for more-able children so they do not make as much progress as they could.

p.6

The quality of teaching is good

 Activities are carefully planned to meet the requirements of the Early Years Foundation Stage curriculum. However, the examples of outstanding teaching found in the school are not always shared with other teachers.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Almost all children join the ‘nurture nursery’ with skills and knowledge generally below those typical for their age. Teaching is well-focused on developing clear speech, increasing the number of words children know, and developing basic counting skills. As a result, children make good progress, although they begin nursery school with skills still below those expected for their age.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Most children who join the nursery school at age 3 have skills below those expected in all areas of learning, particularly in literacy and mathematics.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Work in children’s ‘learning journal’ books, observations during the inspection and analysis of the nursery’s performance data show that children make at least good, and sometimes outstanding, progress and leave nursery with skills typical for their ages. Children make outstanding progress in personal, social and emotional development due to the care shown for individuals, and the opportunities provided for children to work together, make choices, follow their interests and talk about their feelings.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Children make good progress in reading, writing and early mathematics because of carefully planned, practical learning activities. Children enjoy hearing adults read to them and some join in familiar stories. Their mathematical development is promoted well. For example, children counted out three bowls and three spoons when acting out the story of Goldilocks.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Parents’ comments show they are very pleased with the progress their children are making.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 The achievement of disabled children, those who have special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language is good because the school is very quick to identify their individual learning needs and give them appropriate support.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Some of the most-able children are already beginning to identify initial sounds in words, and a small number are beginning to write their name. During the inspection, one girl accurately subtracted two from five. Although the most-able children generally achieve well, they are not always given activities that challenge them and so they do not always make as much progress as they could.

p.6

The achievement of pupils is good

 Children’s information-finding and communication skills are underdeveloped because they do not have enough opportunities to use computers.

p.6

The early years provision is good

 As all children in this school are in the Early Years Foundation Stage, the report sections above evaluate the school’s quality.

p.6

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 failing

p.7

Grade Judgement Description

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.

p.7

School details

Unique reference number 125490 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 448113

p.8

School details

This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

p.8

School details

Type of school Nursery School category Maintained Age range of pupils 2–4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 74 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Wes Lacey Headteacher Cathy Bignold (Acting Headteacher) Date of previous school inspection 8 November 2011 Telephone number 01926 492701 Fax number 01926 402264 Email address Admin1022@we-learn.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 .

p.8

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.

p.9

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

p.9

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 and 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

p.9

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’.

p.9

School details

T: 0300 123 4234 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.ofsted.gov.uk

p.9