Parkview Nursery School

St George’s Road, Millom, Cumbria, LA18 4JE

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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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This is a good school

 Leadership and management are strong. School leaders and governors are committed to driving forward improvements in teaching and achievement to ensure that children have a good start to their education.  The quality of teaching is good. Teachers and support staff create many purposeful learning opportunities to excite and engage children’s interests. As a result, children are very keen and eager to learn.  From their individual starting points all groups of children including, the most able and those with special educational needs make good progress in their learning and achieve well.  Good partnerships exist with outside agencies; Millom Children’s Centre and Stepping Stones Pre- school ensuring needs of children and families are effectively met.  Behaviour is outstanding and children feel very safe and secure. Children clearly understand the importance of respect. They are very kind, take turns and work extremely well with adults and each

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This is a good school

other.  Children’s spiritual, moral and social and cultural development is well promoted ensuring that from an early age they are becoming prepared for life in modern Britain.  Parents are very supportive of the school. They feel very involved in their children’s learning and would have no hesitation in recommending the school to others.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Opportunities to develop children’s interest in reading are missed as there are not enough books prominently displayed in the learning environment.  At times, staff provide children with an answer or solution to a problem without giving them sufficient opportunity to think about their response to a question posed.  On occasions, questioning is not used effectively by staff to deepen children’s understanding.  Opportunities for staff to observe best practice within the school are not developed to their full potential.  Targets set out the in school development plan are not precise or measurable to show how well the school is doing in bringing about improvement.  Although governors have a good understanding of the progress that different groups of children make, they do not analyse data independently of the headteacher. As a result, the level of challenge offered to the school is not as high as it could be.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed seven sessions within the nursery. The headteacher took part in a shared observation with the inspector.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, the deputy headteacher, who is also the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO), the staff team and two governors. The inspector also held a telephone conversation with a representative from the local authority.  The inspector looked at a number of documents including the school’s self-evaluation and improvement plan, data on children’s progress and attainment; children’s learning stories and school policies.  The inspector also spoke to parents and took account of 11 responses to the on-line questionnaire (Parent View). The inspector also took account of recent school questionnaires for parents and children.  The responses to eight staff questionnaires were also considered by the inspector.

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Inspection team

Sheila Iwaskow, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a smaller than the average- sized nursery school. Children attend on a part time basis, either mornings, afternoons or for two- and- a half days a week.  The vast majority of children are of White British heritage. A very small minority of children who speak English as an additional language also attend.  The proportion of disabled children and those who have special educational needs is below the national average.  A new headteacher and Chair of the Governing Body have been appointed since the last inspection.  The nursery school employs two qualified teachers who are the headteacher and deputy headteacher.  The nursery school is located on the same site as Millom Infant School, Millom Children’s Centre and Stepping Stones Pre-school. All of these provisions are subject to separate inspection arrangements and their reports can be found on the Ofsted website at www.ofsted.gov.uk .

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Raise the quality of teaching and children’s attainment to outstanding by ensuring that: - more use is made of the learning environment to further develop children’s interest in books - staff give children time to respond after posing a question - questioning is used more effectively to deepen children’s understanding.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve leadership and management by: - ensuring that targets set out in the school development plan are precise and measureable to show how well the school is doing in bringing about improvements - embedding systems which allow best practice to be shared within the school - further develop the expertise of the governing body by providing opportunities for them to analyse raw data independently of the headteacher to ensure that they offer the highest level of challenge to the school.

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The leadership and management is good

 The school is well led and managed by a headteacher who is relentless in her pursuit to drive forward improvements. She is ably supported by her deputy headteacher and a committed, long-serving staff team of teaching assistants. Staff are very supportive of the headteacher, work well as a team and morale is high.  Children's progress is well monitored and tracked. Staff meet regularly with the headteacher to discuss the progress of individual and groups of children. Equality of opportunity is promoted well. The school team are committed to ensuring that all children, including those with special educational needs and the more able, achieve to their full potential.  Senior leaders have a good overview of the strengths of the school and priorities for development. The school development plan, which is shared with governors, correctly focuses on raising children’s attainment and improving the quality of teaching. However, the targets set are not precise and

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The leadership and management is good

measurable to show exactly how well the school is improving.  The quality of teaching is closely monitored and improvement targets set are linked to the school’s priorities for development. Teachers’ pay is based on the progress that children make. Staff undertake regular training to ensure they have the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the school’s priorities for development in order to deliver the best possible education to the children.  Some staff have had the opportunity to go and visit other schools to observe their work. However, systems to share the best practice within the school are not yet fully embedded. As a result, opportunities are being missed for some staff to further enhance their teaching skills.  Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of all aspects of the school’s work. They especially appreciate the home visit prior to their children starting at the school and clearly understand the role of their child’s key

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The leadership and management is good

person. They value the wide range of information that is displayed in the foyer at the entrance to the school and the support they get from staff to help them in developing their children’s learning at home.  The school promotes children’s spiritual moral social and cultural development well. It is located in a predominately White British area and staff take care to ensure that children have access to a varied range of resources and activities to help them appreciate that they live in a diverse world.  The curriculum is enriched by a varied range of trips and visitors to the school. For example, children enjoy visiting a local church, pet shop and park to feed the ducks. Visits from the police officer teach children about keeping themselves safe. Local farmers bring lambs into school and talk about their work. This helps children understand the differing roles that people have within society.  The local authority provides ‘light touch’ support to this good nursery school.

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The leadership and management is good

 Safeguarding arrangements and the school website meet requirements.  The governance of the school:  Governors are very supportive of the headteacher and some are regular visitors to the school. They have a good understanding of the school’s strengths and areas for further development. The headteacher prepares regular reports which give then an overview of the progress and attainment of individual and groups of children attending the school. However, the governing body does not analyse this data independently of the headteacher. As a result, the level of challenge that the governing body provides to the school is not as rigorous as it could be. Governors are aware of their responsibility to ensure that challenging targets are set for the headteacher. These are monitored and checked on a regular basis. Procedures are also in place to ensure that teachers’ pay is linked to the effectiveness of their teaching. Governors undertake regular training and are aware of their roles and responsibilities in

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The leadership and management is good

relation to safeguarding. Finances are well managed.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of children is outstanding.  Children are very happy and highly confident because staff value the uniqueness of each child and respect them as individuals. Consequently, children not only value themselves but also respect the feelings of others.  Behaviour is exceptionally well managed by staff and the use of good manners is very well promoted. Any minor altercations are dealt with in a calm and sensitive manner.  Children’s attitude to learning is exemplary. They are keen to try new experiences and arrive at school in the morning eager to see the wide range of exciting activities on offer. They take great pride in their work and are very smartly dressed.  Most children attend on a regular basis. Effective procedures are in place to ensure that any issues relating to non-attendance are followed up in a timely manner.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding.  Children are cared for in an environment which is very safe and secure. Staff are vigilant at all times ensuring that children play and learn safely. Parents overwhelmingly agree that their children are safe and well looked after.  Children are totally trusting of adults and confidently speak to visitors, making them feel very welcome.  Children also know how to keep themselves safe. For example, they understand that they must wear safety belts when travelling in the mini bus.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff are well deployed, have high expectations of the children and a good understanding of the principles of early years education. They also understand that children learn in different ways. This leads to teaching that is consistently good. There is a good balance of focused activities where children work in small groups with their key person or engaging in their self-chosen activities.  Small-group focused sessions are used well to develop children’s mathematical skills. For example, they confidently count to 10, identify numbers randomly on a number line and calculate how many boys and girls are present.  Careful thought is given to the planning of activities to ensure the needs of all groups are met, including the most able. Children’s achievements are tracked and recorded in their ‘learning stories’. Staff take time time and care to ensure that these are informative and beautifully presented. Parents contribute to these

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The quality of teaching is good

documents and staff also share them with children allowing them to reflect on and revisit previous learning.  Children love reading. They eagerly listen to stories and take books home to share with their parents. Children hold books carefully and turn the pages correctly. Most able children can also predict what might happen next in the plot. However, although there is a dedicated and cosy book area, there are not enough incentives in other areas of the nursery for children to further deepen their interest in books.  Outdoor learning is very well promoted and children relish the time they spend outdoors. Developing the outdoor area has been an on-going project at the school for some time. The area is now attractive and well resourced which supports and enhances many aspects of children’s learning. Children also benefit greatly from regular visits to a nearby wood where they take part in productive activities. For example,

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The quality of teaching is good

during the inspection children eagerly recalled a visit they had made to the woods where they made footprints in the mud and listened to the wind whistling through the leaves. They also talked in detail about how they had seen moss all over the logs and that it felt ‘soft’. Taking part in and describing such valuable experiences significantly enhances children’s language skills and raises their awareness of the world around them.  The nursery is a calm and friendly place to learn. Some skilled staff use questioning very well to enhance and deepen children’s understanding of particular concepts. They are also adept at allowing children time to critically think and formulate a response after asking a question. However, this is not consistent practice across the nursery.  The school makes good use of technology to develop children’s learning. For example, children access stories on tablet computers, and educational programmes on computers and on an interactive whiteboard

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The quality of teaching is good

mounted on a wall at child-height.  A good range of mark making materials are available, both indoors and outside, to help children develop their writing skills.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Many children come into the nursery with skills and knowledge that are below those that are typical for their age. They make good progress and it is particularly strong in children’s physical and personal social and emotional development. Most children leave the school with skills typical for their age and some exceed these. As a result, children are well prepared for starting in a Reception class.  From the start, staff place great emphasis on developing children’s physical, personal social and emotional skills. Children are admitted to the school gradually and many had only been there for a short while at the time of the inspection. Children were observed pouring drinks, zipping up their own coats and washing out paint palettes. Others were handling small tools, such as scissors and glue sticks with increasing control. They were also observed confidently crawling through a tunnel, balancing on a wooden beam and riding

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The achievement of pupils is good

on small wheeled toys in the outdoors.  A small number of children with special educational needs attend the nursery school and they enter with skills significantly below those typical for their age. As a result of timely intervention and close partnership working with outside agencies, such health colleagues, speech and language therapists, Stepping Stones Pre-school and Millom Children’s Centre, this small group of children make good progress and achieve well in relation to their starting points.  The school is committed to ensuring that all children achieve well. Any underperformance is addressed promptly. For example in 2012-2013 boys performed less well than girls in an aspect of expressive arts and design. Training was immediately put in place to strengthen staff knowledge and resources which appealed to boys’ interests were purchased. As a result, boys’ achievement in this area of their learning

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The achievement of pupils is good

improved and has been sustained.  A very small number of children attend the nursery school who have English as an additional language. To support these children staff work well in partnership with parents to learn key words in the child’s home language. In addition, home languages are displayed around the nursery and additional resources, such as dual language books have been purchased and shared with parents. As a result, these children soon settle into school life and make good progress.  The most able children also achieve well and make good progress in their learning. After starting at the school their needs are very quickly identified by staff and more challenging work and activities are provided to develop and extend their learning. For example, in the teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) the most able children are very quickly moved on to a more challenging phase to ensure that they achieve to their full potential.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Analysis of children’s work shows that over time they make good progress in their learning. Parents agree with this judgement.

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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 112089 Local authority Cumbria Inspection number 448055

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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 3–4 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 51 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Claire Jackson Headteacher Amanda MacDonald Date of previous school inspection 3 November 2011 Telephone number 01229 772840 Fax number 01229 773909 Email address head@parkview-nur.cumbria.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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