Collyhurst Nursery School

Collyhurst Nursery School Teignmouth Avenue, Collyhurst, Manchester, Lancashire, M40 7QD

p.1

Overall effectiveness

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

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 This is a very special place where everyone is made to feel welcome and the uniqueness of every child is celebrated and supported.  There is an unquenchable desire to meet the needs of children, their families and the local community. There is a genuine sense of belonging to one big family.  The exceptional Principal has inspired a shared belief by the whole school community that nothing but the very best is ever good enough. As a result, significant improvements have been made in the quality of teaching and the achievement of all children since the previous inspection.  Children are given exceptionally rich and stimulating opportunities to learn in the very well resourced indoor and outdoor environment. There is a strong focus on developing speaking and listening skills.  The promotion of children’s spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is excellent.  Parents have every confidence that their children

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

are safe and secure. The excellent partnerships that exist with parents ensure they feel valued, actively involved and supported fully.  Excellent partnerships exist with outside agencies, such as speech and language therapy, resulting in children quickly receiving the precise help they need.  Governors know the school exceptionally well and provide just the right balance of support and challenge to school leaders.  Children are cherished and their love of learning is very well promoted. The high expectations of staff and the exceptionally nurturing environment result in children’s outstanding behaviour. Children feel safe and secure.  Teaching is outstanding. Staff know children exceptionally well and use skilled checks on how well they are learning to take every opportunity to capture their interests and extend their thinking.  All children make rapid progress from their different starting points and achieve exceptionally well in all

p.1

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

areas of learning. Children explore their interests with imagination and confidence and are encouraged to try new and challenging things.  Children are well prepared for the next stage in their learning because the vast majority leave Nursery having attained the levels expected for their age in all areas of learning.  The school has recently introduced a vibrant and interesting website. However, it does not yet meet fully the needs of parents, including those who speak English as an additional language, to access information to help them to assist their children’s learning at home and at school.

p.1

Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed a wide range of sessions, both indoors and out, including those led by adults and those where children chose activities for themselves.  Discussions were held with the principal and deputy principal, members of staff, governors, including the Chair of the Governing Body, and an external consultant who has worked regularly with the school over a number of years. In addition, a telephone conversation was held with a representative of the local authority.  The inspector talked to children about their learning and reviewed samples of the work in learning journeys and on display around the school.  A number of documents were scrutinised, including the school’s review of its own performance, the school development plan, data on children’s progress and planning records. The work of governors was also checked along with reports on teaching and documentation relating to behaviour and safeguarding.

p.2

Information about this inspection

 The views expressed by staff in the 19 inspection questionnaires returned were also considered.  The inspector spoke to a range of parents and took account of the school’s own consultations with parents. There were insufficient responses to the online questionnaire (Parent View) for the inspector to be able to access them.

p.2

Inspection team

Chris Maloney, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

p.2

Information about this school

 This is a smaller-than-average Nursery. The previous inspection included numbers of children in the day care part of the Collyhurst Children’s Centre, which shares the same site and is now inspected separately by Ofsted. The school operates a breakfast club, after-school and holiday clubs which are also inspected separately. The inspection reports for all these settings may be viewed at www.ofsted.gov.uk.  The majority of children attend full time. Most children attend Nursery the term after their third birthday until transferring to Reception classes in local primary schools.  The majority of children are of White British heritage, although an increasing number of children come from a range of minority ethnic groups and some join the school at an early stage of learning English as an additional language.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs is above average.

p.3

Information about this school

 The work of the school and the children’s centre is under the leadership of the school principal and overseen by the governing body.  The school has been awarded the Manchester Early Years Health Award and the Manchester Gold Award for Quality Assurance. The school has also been identified as a centre for excellence for being a language- friendly environment by Manchester Early Years Speech and Language Therapy Service.  The school has very close links with Martenscroft Nursery School and Sure Start Children’s Centre in Hulme, Manchester and offers peer support to other settings regarding outdoor learning.

p.3

What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Strengthen content of the school’s website so that parents, including the increasing number who speak English as an additional language, can access more easily information to help them support their children’s learning at home as well as at school.

p.3

The leadership and management are outstanding

 The highly inspirational and visionary school principal, very ably assisted by the deputy principal, has improved successfully all aspects of the school. This is because all staff and governors share their uncompromising passion and determination to focus on meeting the needs of the whole child, their families and local community. This has resulted in all groups of children making outstanding progress.  Team spirit and staff morale are high because staff are valued, appreciated and supported. A typical staff comment was: ‘The teachers and whole staff team approach are consistently reviewed and developing, delivering a stronger quality of teaching and care as each term passes.’ Staff have a wealth of opportunities to improve their practice, especially in observing practice outside the school.  Senior leaders check rigorously on the performance of staff so that any help needed by individuals is

p.4

The leadership and management are outstanding

provided quickly and its success followed up, particularly in how children’s learning has been improved.  The school has benefited greatly from excellent links with Martenscroft Nursery and Sure Start Children’s Centre. Both have helped staff to check more accurately on the learning of children and show progress more visibly on charts so that any gaps in learning are quickly spotted and actions taken to close them.  The curriculum is rich and varied; it is designed to support the whole child, particularly in strengthening children’s personal development and their speaking and listening skills. It supports children’s spiritual, social, moral and cultural development exceptionally well, providing a wealth of opportunities for children to benefit from visits and visitors, such as a recent visit to Victoria train station or the visit of Boland Farm animals to school.  Senior leaders ensure that children have exciting opportunities to celebrate their own and other cultures,

p.4

The leadership and management are outstanding

particularly those represented by children in school, in order to become effective citizens in Britain and globally. The ‘World Taster Day’ provided the chance for children to learn about different foods, as parents were welcomed to school to cook food for the children such as Italian, Russian, Indian, Turkish, Latvian and traditional English.  The school has first-class links with parents. A typical parent comment was ‘They don’t just support the children, they support the parents as well with any problems they might have.’ The ‘You said: We did’ board in school reflects how the school has responded to parents’ requests such as extra Zumba classes to help them keep fit or workshops like ‘Love food, hate waste’ and ‘Robot junk modelling’. The outstanding parents’ forum helps parents to play a leading role in school decision-making.  Although the school website which was introduced recently has great potential, it does not provide enough

p.4

The leadership and management are outstanding

information and ideas which are easily accessible to enable parents, including those who speak English as an additional language, to support fully their children’s learning.  The local authority has provided good-quality support, especially in checking the school’s own judgements of how well it is doing.  The school has excellent partnerships with outside agencies, such as speech and language therapy, to help children and their parents get the help they need.  The governance of the school:  Governors know the school exceptionally well because they visit regularly and receive high-quality reports from senior leaders. They share the ambition and drive of senior leaders to ensure that children, families and the local community are at the heart of all the school does.  Governors leave no stone unturned in improving the school. They provide skilled challenge and support in holding senior leaders to account for the performance of staff and the achievement of the children.

p.4

The leadership and management are outstanding

 Governors have benefited from training and have made excellent use of an external consultant to help them develop the rigour of their roles. They have linked the quality of teaching and the achievement of children to pay, ensuring that good or better teaching is rewarded and underperformance challenged. Finances are managed well and equality of opportunity is ensured for all children. Governors ensure that all safeguarding requirements are met in order to keep children safe.

p.4

Behaviour

 The behaviour of children is outstanding. Children settle quickly in a caring environment where routines are clear and expectations are high. Children quickly learn to develop independence in self-registering and in persevering when choosing activities for themselves.  Children flourish because staff build trusting relationships with them through a thorough knowledge of the children as individuals and the development of mutual respect. All the children feel special because they can see just how important they and their families are to the school staff.  Attendance is above average because children enjoy learning and are eager to attend. A typical child’s comment was: ‘I always jump up and down when I come to school.’ Parents also say how much their children love school. As one parent said, ‘My son loves school. He is desperate to come even when he is feeling ill.’  All staff help promote the joys of learning and the celebration of success, such as through ‘star of the

p.4

Behaviour

week.’ A group of children showed excitement when a child wrote her own name accurately without assistance.  Children show they understand the golden rules for behaviour and need little reminding to listen carefully and follow guidance. They are quick to adopt the positive behaviour modelled by adults. They demonstrate that they have learned to share things, take turns, such as when using equipment like laptop computers, and to take responsibilities when tidying up. They also show how to be kind when someone has fallen over or is feeling a little sad or lonely. They play harmoniously, as seen when a group of boys were negotiating who should use the tricycles.  The highly positive relationships between staff and children give a real boost to children’s self-esteem, self-confidence and risk-taking in their learning. They love taking on the ‘Charlie Chimp Challenges’ that stretch their thinking, particularly of the most-able children. Children love singing familiar songs and

p.5

Behaviour

rhymes and learning French.  The arrangements for starting Nursery and for moving on to primary school are exceptionally well- planned so that the needs of individual children are shared to ensure no learning time is wasted.

p.5

Safety

 The Nursery’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding. Children feel safe. As one child said ‘No naughty and bad people are allowed in our school.’ Parents were highly confident in telling the inspector that children are safe and secure. Children are encouraged to be adventurous such as in using the rolling hill or climbing frames. They also feel confident in telling any of the adults if they do not like the way another child is treating them.

p.5

The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers and teaching assistants have consistently high expectations of all children and grasp every opportunity to make learning irresistible. They use their excellent knowledge of how children learn to capture children’s interests skilfully, and check what they can do and how well they are learning. This information is then used exceptionally well to plan activities that help extend children’s learning.  Children develop their speaking and listening skills in a wealth of ways. All adults are highly skilled in prompting and challenging learning. This deepens learning and encourages children to think hard for themselves. All adults help children to learn new words that extend their vocabulary so that they can express their ideas. Adults also take great care in teaching children about the sounds that letters make and in stimulating their interest and love of books.  Learning is of a particularly high quality when children learn in focused groups. This is because adults are

p.5

The quality of teaching is outstanding

clear about what children of all abilities are expected to learn. Children’s interest and excitement are stimulated very well as a result.  Adults show great expertise in knowing just how to arouse curiosity and extend children’s learning. Children had been so excited to hear their visit to Victoria train station being announced by the station announcer as they bought tickets and boarded a train; staff captured this excitement back at school and supported children expertly in constructing their own train station, where children were given the opportunity to choose an imaginary train journey, buy tickets and decide which number carriage they should sit in.  Opportunities are eagerly grasped to support and extend children’s individual learning, for example when a child was fascinated by the feel of the ladybird she was holding in her hand. She was encouraged sensitively to describe how it felt, to identify the colours and to count the spots.

p.5

The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Excellent use is made of children’s ‘learning journeys’ to celebrate precisely what progress children have made and to identify the next steps each individual child needs to take so that no learning time is wasted. This information is shared among staff and with parents so that all can work in partnership and celebrate achievements at home and at school.

p.5

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children usually start at Collyhurst Nursery with skills that are below, and sometimes significantly below, those typical for their age group, particularly in their language, communication and personal, social and emotional development. All groups of children make outstanding progress from their starting points because of extremely positive relationships, high expectations and activities that meet the needs and interests of individual children. This results in most children leaving Nursery working at a level typical for their age and some above this.  Senior leaders have taken decisive steps to ensure that all staff place great importance on ensuring that they know as much about individual children as possible before they start at the school. This ensures children settle quickly and confidently, build trusting relationships and know what is expected of them.  The school demonstrates a heartfelt commitment to promoting equality of opportunity. All staff check very

p.6

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

carefully on how well children are learning and respond quickly to children’s differing learning needs. In this way, the next step in their learning is crystal clear so that children can make rapid progress and any child in danger of falling behind can be provided with just the right amount of support they need to catch up quickly. If the individual support they receive is not working as well as expected, individual support packages are put in place, especially those involving the speech and language therapy service. As a result, disabled children and those with special educational needs make outstanding progress from their differing starting points.  The most able children achieve outstandingly well, reaching levels above those typically expected when they leave Nursery. This is because they are challenged through skilled questioning, the use of additional resources and targeted support to enhance their learning and deepen their thinking. Children were

p.6

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

engrossed in thinking hard about what materials they would use to build a house to keep their animals warm, while others showed they had learned to write their own name in recognisable letters without help.  Those children at an early stage of learning English achieve outstandingly well. This is because of excellent relationships with families, accurate early assessments and the use of individual and small-group sessions to develop English vocabulary.  Children known to be eligible for free school meals are very closely tracked to ensure that they progress as well as others in school.  Children love the regular story sessions they receive and the access they have to a rich variety of books, including traditional tales. They particularly like the dark den where some children were exploring excitedly their favourite story of ‘The Hairy Toe’, using a torch to bring pictures to life. Their regular work on letters

p.6

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

and sounds helps children become increasingly confident in recognising sounds and letters at the start and end of words. The wonderful sensory garden helps children develop their understanding of the world around them and extend their vocabulary in describing what they can see, feel and smell.  Children demonstrate a great interest in numbers and shapes. They show increasing confidence in using numbers when identifying in which number garage to park their tricycles or counting the numbers in their group. They were excited on their shape hunt when they recognised triangles, squares and rectangles when exploring the excellent outdoor learning environment.  There is an excellent focus on using role play to develop children’s early writing skills, for example, children enjoy thoroughly writing about their super heroes’ powers or making notes of the tickets sold in the train station.  The wonderful grounds outside support all areas of learning exceptionally well. Children particularly love

p.6

The achievement of pupils is outstanding

the rolling hill, where they learn to control their bodies safely as they roll. There are high-quality activity trails, climbing frames and many different levels that help children become increasingly confident in challenging their bodies while running, jumping, climbing and balancing on different surfaces.

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 105385 Local authority Manchester Inspection number 448050

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 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 35 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rev Christopher Fallone Principal Christine Rigby Date of previous school inspection 7 December 2011 Telephone number 0161 205 1744 Fax number 0161 203 5831 Email address head@collyhurst.manchester.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 .

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