Crigglestone Nursery School

Crigglestone Nursery School High Street, Crigglestone, Wakefield, West Yorkshire, WF4 3EB

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Overall effectiveness

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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher and deputy headteacher work well as a team and effectively communicate their passion and enthusiasm to provide the best possible start for children.  Since the last inspection, there have been improvements to the indoor and outdoor environments and changes to the structure of sessions, which have had a positive impact on children’s achievement.  Children achieve well in all areas of learning. They make strongest progress in their personal, social and emotional development and in learning the sounds that letters make.  The quality of teaching is consistently good. Staff establish warm and caring relationships with children. This contributes to children’s confidence and their good level of achievement.  Children show a high level of interest in their learning. They behave extremely well and are very familiar with the routines of nursery. Children are well prepared for the Reception class in their next

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

school.  Children show a strong sense of security in nursery and a high level of awareness of how to keep themselves safe.  The school has excellent relationships with parents. They have much praise for the excellent level of information provided by school and support for them to develop their children’s learning at home.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching is not yet outstanding. Staff do not always engage in children’s play skilfully enough or ask questions to challenge children to think.  Assessments of children’s learning are not always used well to make sure that challenging targets for the school are set for future development.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed a range of sessions or part sessions, one of which was a joint observation with the deputy headteacher.  Meetings were held with the Chair of the Governing Body and three other governors, the leadership team and other staff. Telephone meetings were held with a representative from the local authority and the Reception class teacher of a local primary school.  The inspector observed the school’s work and looked at a number of documents, including the nursery’s information on children’s current progress, planning and checks on the quality of teaching, records relating to behaviour and attendance, and documents relating to safeguarding.  There were insufficient responses to the online Parent View survey for them to be taken into account. However, the inspector spoke to several parents and carers when they brought their children to nursery and took account of both the school’s most recent questionnaire to parents and the seven completed staff

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Inspection team

Elaine White, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 Children attend part time, for morning or afternoon sessions.  The school is situated in a building shared with Crigglestone Daycare private day nursery, the day nursery is subject to a separate inspection and reports of its quality can be found on the Ofsted website.  Almost all children are of White British heritage and none speak English as an additional language.  There are no children who have special educational needs supported through early years action. There are no children supported through early year action plus. There is one child on roll with a statement of educational needs.  Since April 2013 the nursery has been federated with Castle Nursery School. The schools share a governing body and the same headteacher but have different deputy headteachers. Staff can work across the two nursery schools.  Since the last inspection there have been significant changes to the leadership team. The current

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Information about this school

headteacher and deputy headteacher have been in post since April 2013.  The nursery works in partnership with a group of other schools locally to share good practice.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching and children’s achievement by further developing the skills of staff in engaging in children’s self-chosen play and questioning children to extend their learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by making better use of the assessments of children’s learning to inform more challenging targets for development.

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The leadership and management are good

 Since their appointment the headteacher and deputy headteacher have worked well to lead and manage the nursery and sustain children’s good level of achievement. Their enthusiasm and commitment to further improvement is shared by staff and governors.  The school is a welcoming, harmonious environment in which all children are valued and respected, and rules and routines are shared and understood. This contributes to developing the British values of tolerance, respect and equality.  The headteacher has an accurate picture of the quality of teaching. Staff performance is managed effectively and staff are supported to develop their skills through regular training. Improvements to the indoor and outdoor areas, and to the teaching of the sounds that letters make, have led to improvements in children’s achievement.  Systems for assessing children’s skill levels on entry to nursery and tracking their progress have improved

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The leadership and management are good

to make sure that leaders and staff have a more accurate picture of children’s capabilities and progress. However, these assessments are not made full use of to show the impact of improvements to teaching on children’s achievement and so inform future planning.  The headteacher and deputy headteacher know the strengths of the school well and identify accurately actions to secure further improvements. These actions are reflected in the school’s development plan, but the targets set are not always challenging enough to make sure that the school is improving on its already good provision.  The activities provided for children are broad and interesting and cover all areas of learning. They include problem solving, such as den and bridge making, learning about different cultural festivals and regular visitors to nursery, such as by fire fighters. This promotes learning which helps children to prepare for life

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The leadership and management are good

in modern Britain.  The school has excellent links with parents, who report that they feel very well informed about their children’s progress. Parents feel well equipped to support their children’s learning at home as they receive clear information and guidance from staff.  Excellent links with the main primary school to which children transfer have a positive effect on how well children are prepared for their transfer to the Reception class. Primary school and nursery school staff share a common approach to routines and the structure of the indoor areas. This helps to ensure that children’s move to primary school is smooth and that they settle quickly.  Safeguarding arrangements meet requirements and are effective in ensuring that children are kept safe. A high priority is given to ensuring that the school building is safe at all times.  The local authority provides light touch support for this good school. It has recently carried out a review of

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The leadership and management are good

governance for the school which the school found helpful.  The governance of the school:  Governance is good. Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They are kept well informed through governor meetings and regular headteacher reports. Governors have a clear understanding of the quality of teaching and the performance management of teachers. They are clear about how to match the rewards for teachers to the impact they have on children’s progress and well-being. The budget is well managed and spending decisions are based on improving outcomes for children. Governors keep themselves up-to-date by attending relevant training. They work as a team and have provided support and challenge in the time of change since the last inspection. They have responded positively to a review of their work and so have improved their effectiveness.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of children is outstanding. Children respond exceptionally well to staff’s high expectations for their exemplary behaviour. They are very familiar with nursery routines, and listen attentively to instructions. Children show an extremely good awareness of others as they cooperate together to share resources and develop role-play games outdoors.  Children show very positive attitudes to learning as they enthusiastically contribute to a group discussion. They show a high level of curiosity and are fully engaged in their learning as they purposefully explore the indoor and outdoor areas, for example, investigating natural objects and spiders webs using magnifying glasses and binoculars.  Parents say that children behave very well and the school reports that there are no bullying or racist incidents.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is outstanding.  Staff place a high priority on making sure that children understand how to keep safe in nursery and elsewhere. As a result children show an excellent awareness of safety as they climb on plastic crates they have stacked together and carry wooden poles in the outdoor area showing a regard for the safety of others.  Parents are confident that their children are safe in nursery. Attendance is good and parents report that their children are always eager to come to nursery.

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The quality of teaching is good

 As a result of consistently good teaching over time, all children achieve well. Staff provide a stimulating indoor and outdoor learning environment. Indoors, a broad range of resources are interesting and presented at children’s height. As a result children develop independence and are eager to engage in learning, as they select their own activities and involve themselves in role play. The outdoor area is still under development but provides resources for children to access and use imaginatively. Children happily use large tyres as a ‘bus’ on which they are taking a journey.  Staff present activities in an interesting and meaningful way for children. This means that children are keen to take part. Children listened intently, for example, as staff introduced an activity scooping out the inside of a pumpkin and using the flesh to help make scones. Children later engaged enthusiastically with the activity, and some children recalled that they needed to plant the pumpkin seeds so that they would

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The quality of teaching is good

grow.  Children’s understanding of early reading, writing, mathematics and number is developed well through good teaching. Staff ensure that children learn to count and recognise letter sounds through regular reinforcement in daily activities and during small group sessions. Staff provide ample opportunities for children to learn to make marks and write their names, and develop their love of stories through regular sharing of books in the attractively resourced reading area.  Staff generally question children well to develop their learning. At times, however, they do not engage skilfully enough in children’s self-chosen play to develop learning. This is because they do not always focus closely enough on children’s ideas and interests, or ask questions which challenge children to think.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 A good proportion of children start nursery with weaker skills in personal, social and emotional development and physical development than in other areas. All children make good progress and achieve well. They leave nursery well prepared to start the Reception Year in their next school.  Children make best progress in their personal, social and emotional development and in learning the sounds that letters make. They show confidence and independence as they select their own activities and have excellent relationships with staff and each other. They are keenly interested in the resources they find in nursery and the suggestions for learning from staff.  There are no differences in the achievement of different groups. The most able generally achieve well, although there are some missed chances to extend their learning through more effective questioning and more skilled involvement in their self-chosen play. The most able children leave nursery able to read

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The achievement of pupils is good

simple sentences.  The achievement of disabled children and those who have special educational needs is good because of the close support provided by staff and effective links with other professionals to meet children’s needs.  Children show a natural interest in counting as they count pumpkin seeds. They learn to recognise numbers and count to 10 as they play a game using a large dice with natural objects to count.  Children show an enthusiasm for mark making, and make frequent use of the good range of opportunities provided by staff for them to record lists in the home corner, or make marks using chalk or other material in the outdoor area.  Children’s imagination is developed well, for example, as they make wheels for a pretend ‘combine harvester’ in the outdoor area. Their physical skills develop well as they climb a tower of plastic crates and dig using different tools in the gravel pit area.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Parents report that they are pleased with the progress that their children make.

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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 failing

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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.

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School details

Unique reference number 108137 Local authority Wakefield Inspection number 447876

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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 Maintained Age range of pupils 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 62 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Biddy Crawford Headteacher Jo Gogarty Date of previous school inspection 12 January 2012 Telephone number 01924 303290 Fax number Not applicable Email address headteacher@crigglestonecastle.wakefield.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 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

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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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