Cippenham Village Nursery School

St Andrews Way, Cippenham, Slough, SL1 5NJ

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Requires improvement 3 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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 The headteacher, leaders and managers, and members of the governing body work well as a team. Their high expectations have brought about improvements in achievement, and the quality of teaching is now consistently good  The planning of teaching has improved. Children have increased opportunities to practise their skills in literacy, understanding letters, and the sounds letters make.  Children achieve well in all areas of learning. They make the strongest progress in literacy and in their personal, social, emotional and physical development.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs make outstanding progress. The school quickly diagnoses and addresses any difficulties they have with learning.  Staff establish warm and caring relationships with the children. This contributes to children’s confidence and their good level of achievement.  Children learn well because they are positive about

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

their learning, and take a lot of pride in their work. They are excited by interesting learning materials and activities which are planned around their ideas.  Children are given many opportunities to develop spiritually, morally, socially and culturally. They are well behaved, follow instructions and routines, and take turns. They are kind, and work well with each other.  Safeguarding procedures are thorough, and children have a good understanding of how to keep safe.  Children settle quickly because the school makes sure they are happy. Children are well prepared for transition to the Reception class in their next school.  Children’s attendance has improved since the previous inspection because of the effective use of rewards. Parents say they are highly satisfied with the school.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Teaching is not yet outstanding. Sometimes, teachers miss opportunities in lessons to measure children’s numeracy skills and adapt the learning accordingly.  Although children who attend the school for the full five terms achieve well, they do not consistently make the same speedy progress as some who join the school later.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector spent two days in the school and carried out observations of teaching in nine lessons. The inspector was accompanied by the headteacher and the deputy headteacher for six of these observations.  The full range of the school’s indoor and outdoor activities was observed, and the inspector talked to children at work and during play.  The inspector analysed the responses of the 22 staff who completed the Ofsted questionnaire, took account of the 37 responses to the online survey (Parent View), and the responses to the school’s own parental questionnaires.  Discussions were held with four members of the governing body. The inspector held meetings with a representative of the local authority, and with teachers and senior leaders.  The inspector looked at a range of documents, including the school’s own information on the progress of different groups of children, school improvement planning, monitoring of teaching and learning and staff

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Information about this inspection

appraisal, and records and policies relating to safeguarding, behaviour and attendance.

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Inspection team

Miranda Perry, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 The school is a larger-than-average-sized nursery school which offers up to 156 part-time places. Children attend mornings or afternoons for three, four or five terms, before entering primary school.  The majority of children are from ethnic minority groups. About two in every five children speak English as an additional language.  The number of children who arrive at the school without having previously attended a formal education setting is increasing.  About three in every ten children have disabilities or special educational needs.  There are no children who are supported by the pupil premium (additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and looked after children) because this starts from the Reception year.  Cippenham Nursery School is located on the same site as a children’s centre.  The school runs a lunch club.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching by ensuring that teaching staff: – develop their skills in understanding how to measure children’s progress in numeracy, in particular the ability to recognise and build on learning opportunities as they arise – adjust activities in response to the children’s changing needs, where necessary, to ensure that children are always challenged and activities are achievable.  Improve children’s achievement so that it is outstanding, by: – identifying reasons for the disparity in progress of children who stay at the school for the full five terms – putting in place appropriate measures to accelerate their progress rapidly.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher is highly regarded by her staff. Leaders, managers and all members of staff work very closely together so that inconsistencies in teaching identified in the previous Ofsted report have been successfully addressed.  Since the previous inspection, the school’s leaders have completely overhauled the planning system for teaching and overall improvement. As a result they have reduced gaps in the children’s knowledge and skills.  The school has cultivated a welcoming and harmonious environment in which all children are valued. Rules and routines are shared and understood so that children can focus on their learning. This very positive atmosphere contributes to developing the British values of tolerance, respect and equality.  Children’s skills on entry are accurately assessed, and the system to measure children’s progress has improved. Leaders are now in a position to capture the progress of children attending the nursery for five

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The leadership and management are good

terms, identify issues, and take appropriate action.  The school has adopted a highly innovative system for measuring children’s involvement and well-being. Staff have used this new information well to help the children, especially for those with specific educational needs, reach their potential.  The headteacher has implemented an effective programme of observing learning. All staff take part, as do visitors from other schools to reinforce improvement by providing new ideas and perspectives. This has been instrumental in reaching the stage that all teaching is at least good.  Middle leaders have made a considerable impact on improving children’s achievement. They model exemplary practice, have a strong knowledge of how children in the early years learn, and have a thorough understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.  The priorities for staff training arise out of the school effectively identifying the specific needs of their

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The leadership and management are good

children. This means that staff have the expertise to help children overcome their obstacles to learning.  High expectations are evident in the ambitious targets set annually for staff. All members of staff are clear about their responsibility to improve the achievement of all children, especially those who find learning difficult, and the more able.  Very good relationships with parents are used to support the children’s good achievement. Parents comment on how effective the school’s family worker is at dealing with any anxieties they and their children might have when the children start school. The school’s programme to support children in the transition from nursery to primary school works well, particularly for disabled children and those with special educational needs.  Children are offered a broad and exciting range of activities which develop all areas of learning and their social, moral, spiritual and cultural skills. For example, children love their football sessions, their activities

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The leadership and management are good

in the wildlife area, the drawing and painting classes and their visits to Burnham Beeches.  The school’s lunch club gives children the chance to socialise with their peers from other classes. The children are given opportunities to organise the lunch, understand about healthy eating, and develop skills in personal hygiene.  The local authority has provided training to help improve the staff’ skills at planning learning that is providing children with opportunities to develop their literacy.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school: – Governors have a broad range of skills which result in their good understanding of the quality of teaching. – They are able to analyse information on children’s progress, and use this to arrive at well-informed conclusions. They are ambitious for the children’s achievement. – Governors know about the quality of teaching and how underperformance is tackled. They make sure that teachers’ annual targets are closely linked to the children’s progress. They apply a pay policy which recognises good performance by teachers. – They work closely with the school’s leaders and managers to ensure that arrangements for safeguarding meet statutory requirements. – Governors keep themselves up to date with relevant national changes in education.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. They are eager to learn, and enjoy showing their work off to each other, and to staff and visitors.  They know how to share; for example, some of them can already set a timer independently to make sure they take turns fairly. In their imaginative games, the children practise being kind and caring, and play well with each other.  The children behave well in all circumstances. They listen to and follow the instructions of the football coach. They are polite and respectful to each other at snack time, and in the lunch club.  Some of the children who arrive at the school without previous experience of an educational setting find behaving well difficult. However, the school is good at helping them to improve their behaviour. Children, therefore, do what they are told and follow routines. For example, they take their coats off and change their shoes unaided, and tidy up after each session.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Children do many exciting things at the school, and teachers always make them aware of how to keep safe. For example, they can explain how to ride a tricycle safely.  Parents feel that the school is a safe place for their children. They like the way the outdoor play area is set out and designed, giving the children lots of things to do, but keeping them safe at the same time.  Attendance at both the morning and afternoon sessions has improved. Parents report that children are eager to come to school, being delighted when they get a sticker because their whole class has attended.

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The quality of teaching is good

 As a result of consistency in the quality of teaching, all children achieve well. Children have positive relationships with adults and work effectively with both teachers and additional staff.  Children learn well from one day to another because staff plan their lessons well, basing the activities on continuing assessment of the children’s achievements each day.  Children get lots of opportunities to explore stories, gaining a thorough understanding of how to create their own stories. They make good progress in their reading skills through developing their understanding of letters and the sounds they make. Staff encourage them by using the children’s own ideas to design exciting activities, for example dressing up as witches and getting their peers to drop letters into a cauldron and sound them out at the same time.  The children benefit from all kinds of stimulating materials, chalks, pens, charcoal and paint with which to

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The quality of teaching is good

practise writing. They have a wide range of facilities, surfaces, walls, floors, tarmac, clip-boards, and easels on which to write.  Children enjoy making numbers and shapes as part of all their games. For example, when children were building a rocket, they counted the buttons, the seats, and the time until lift off. Teachers do not always check how well the children are doing in their numeracy sessions or make appropriate adjustments to address their changing needs.  Key workers provide very good support for disabled children and those who have special educational needs. They have a deep understanding of how each child learns, and provide appropriate resources that rapidly develop children’s knowledge and skills.  Children learn very well in the outdoor provision because staff organise the equipment and activities to match the children’s physical development. When it was raining, for example, children immediately put on

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The quality of teaching is good

their boots and practised seeing who could jump the highest in puddles.  The school provides lots of opportunities to develop the children’s personal, social and emotional skills. For example, in their creative play, children acted as vets who were kind to animals, as telephonists who were polite, and as bears who forgave Goldilocks.  The staff are skilled in teaching children how to look after themselves. Children can confidently pour their own drinks, cut up their own fruit and vegetables, and wash up their own plates at lunchtime.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The level of skills and knowledge which the children have on entry to the school varies over time, year on year, and from term to term. For the last two years, children’s personal, social, emotional and literary skills have tended to be below those typical for their age. Those arriving in September 2014 had numeracy knowledge below that typical for their age. The physical skills of half of them were typical for their age.  Children settle in quickly and make good progress overall. This is because teachers build on their knowledge and skills when they first arrive in school, for example encouraging their reading by finding stories that they really love.  In literacy, those who arrived in 2013 made outstanding progress by the time they left in 2014, as compared with only good progress in numeracy. This is because progress measurements in literacy are used more effectively.  Children work with a variety of materials to improve their recognition of different sounds, helping their

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The achievement of pupils is good

understanding of the relationship between letters and the sounds they make. The children achieve well, and some improve rapidly.  Disabled children and those with special educational needs make outstanding progress. As soon as staff have diagnosed any problems these children have with learning, they bring in experts from outside the school to provide effective support.  Children from different ethnic groups, and those who have English as an additional language achieve well. They are assisted by staff who speak the children’s home languages and help the children to access the activities and learning materials as well as their peers. They are encouraged to work with equipment, materials and texts which reflect their different backgrounds.  The most-able children also do well at the school. Teachers give them exciting homework which builds on the learning they have done in class. For example, they are helped by the provision of ‘language bags’

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The achievement of pupils is good

which children say they cannot wait to open when they get home.  Staff are skilled at organising equipment to develop children’s physical strength and resilience, and some make outstanding progress with their physical development as a result.  Sometimes, children who stay at the nursery for the full five terms do not make as much progress as they might. The school has refined the system to measure children’s progress more accurately. However, staff have only just started to identify more accurately where the progress of these children is likely to dip, and consequently steps to address areas of decline in performance are too recent to show marked improvement.

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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 109762 Local authority Slough Inspection number 448975

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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 3-4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 144 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Susan Arthur Headteacher Ruth Clark Date of previous school inspection 13 November 2012 Telephone number 01628 661506 Fax number 01628 559839 Email address head@cns.slough.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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