Rubery Nursery School

Rubery Nursery School Leybrook Road, Rednal, Birmingham, B45 9PB

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Good 2 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 school is well led and managed. Attention to improving teaching and children’s learning has led to good achievement for all, in all areas of learning.  Leaders make accurate assessments of children’s learning. Systems to track children’s progress have improved since the previous inspection.  Achievement is good overall and is outstanding in speaking and listening because staff use training very successfully to engage children in discussing their learning.  Leaders’ rigorous monitoring of all aspects of provision has ensured that staff have a common understanding of how to improve their practice and that teaching is consistently good.  Governors hold the staff to account and contribute well to whole school self-evaluation. They ensure that the children are kept safe and that they learn in a well-equipped environment.  Children’s behaviour is good. Relationships throughout the school are outstanding and children

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

thrive in an atmosphere that values each individual.  A wide range of learning opportunities supported by visits and visitors, such as a storyteller, contributes well to children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.  Parents are delighted with the progress that their children make and value the informative workshops that the staff organise in helping them to be fully involved in their children’s learning.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Children are not always encouraged to apply new skills learned in ‘hello time’ to their work and play in the rest of the day.  Too often teachers encourage the more able children to write without showing them how to form their letters correctly.  Teachers do not always explain the links between the visual representation and the numbers they learn about.  Children are not encouraged enough to think about and reflect on their learning.

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector spent two days in the school and completed 13 observations of teaching. The inspector was accompanied by the headteacher during most of the inspection.  The inspector observed the full breadth of the school’s indoor and outdoor activities available on the days of inspection and talked to children at work and play.  The inspector met with a group of parents and carers to seek their views on the quality of education. In addition, the 11 responses to the online questionnaire, ‘Parent View’, were analysed.  The inspector analysed the responses to 15 completed staff questionnaires.  Discussions were held with the Chair of the Governing Body, the vice-chair and the chair of finance. She held meetings with two representatives from the local authority.  The inspector looked at a range of documents, including the school’s own data on children’s progress, school improvement planning, leaders’ monitoring of teaching and learning, minutes of meetings of the

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Information about this inspection

governing body and records and policies relating to safeguarding and attendance.

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Inspection team

Bogusia Matusiak-Varley, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This is a larger than average school of its type. The nursery school provides places for 78 full-time equivalent two, three-and four-year-old children.  Part-time children attend morning, afternoon and 2 and a half day places.  Most children are White British with others from a wide variety of ethnic minorities. Five per cent of children speak English as an additional language.  About a tenth of the children are disabled or have special educational needs. Most of these children have speech and language difficulties or autism spectrum disorders.  Half of the children are eligible for pupil premium funding.  Rubery Out-of-School Club is managed by the governing body. It provides before and after school care every weekday for children up to the age of 8 and was included in this inspection.  The nursery has received support from Kings Norton nursery school.  The headteacher has taken up the post since the previous inspection.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve teaching by ensuring that teachers:  ensure that children are enabled to apply new skills they learn to other activities in the nursery  insist on correct letter formation in writing activities especially for the more-able children  promote more links between written numbers and their meaning to enable faster progress in numeracy  ensure that children think about and reflect on what they have learnt.

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The leadership and management are good

 The effective leadership of the headteacher has led to acceleration in children’s progress. Consequently, all the children make consistently good progress and achieve well in relation to their low starting points.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher, governors and senior staff have ensured that all groups of children are given equal opportunities to succeed. Thorough and accurate checks on the progress of different groups of children have ensured that appropriate help and intervention is given to disadvantaged children and those with disabilities and special educational needs. This ensures that they are given opportunities to catch up with their peers.

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The leadership and management are good

 The leading of teaching and learning is very thorough and leads to training to improve. The most recent focus on developing adults’ interactions with children has led to outstanding progress made by all children in speaking and listening.

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The leadership and management are good

 Staff performance management is rigorously monitored and governors have a clear idea as to the impact that senior staff have on accelerating children’s progress. Staff value each child’s uniqueness and involve parents as true partners in learning.

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The leadership and management are good

 The rich learning opportunities offered both indoors and outdoors contribute to children’s love of learning and their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. This in turn contributes to children’s high levels of self-esteem and good attitudes to learning. The well thought out curriculum prepares children well for life in modern Britain. Good learning opportunities focus on developing British values of tolerance, respect, equality and the importance of rules, resulting in the school being a harmonious environment.

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The leadership and management are good

 Self-evaluation is accurate and the school improvement plan has identified all the correct areas for development.

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The leadership and management are good

 Safeguarding arrangements are thorough and regular risk assessments are carried out. Security has improved since the previous inspection and parents say that their children are safe and well looked after.

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The leadership and management are good

 The local authority supports this good school appropriately. The school seeks advice from nurseries that are deemed to be outstanding in the area in its quest for continuous improvement.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school:  Governors fulfil their statutory duties ensuring that staff are suitably checked and trained in child protection. Regular health and safety checks are carried out, and risk assessments are undertaken to ensure safety for all.  Governors have a broad range of experience and ensure that they can offer both support and challenge. Finances are well-managed, governors know how staff salaries relate to effectiveness and receive good quality information on the quality of teaching. They know what is done to tackle any weaknesses in teaching and check the impact.  Governors have undertaken a skills’ audit to see that they have the right experience to carry out their duties and have sought appropriate training to ensure that they have the skills to execute their duties.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of children is good. They play effectively together, share toys and treat all resources with respect. Children leave their parents without any fuss on entry, and settle to their daily activities, showing delight to be among friends and caring staff. Children tidy up without a fuss and the ‘special helpers’ undertake their duties with gusto.

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Behaviour

 Children develop good attitudes to learning. They are curious and independent. The enabling environment encourages children to find things out for themselves such as the structure of holly and autumn leaves and comment on their colours and shapes.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour policy is consistently applied and this enables all children to feel secure in learning.

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Behaviour

 Parents appreciate home visits, the use of ‘wow’ vouchers which celebrate success both at school and at home, and the fact that children enter the nursery already familiar with their key people.

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Behaviour

 Children develop good learning behaviours such as concentrating when they undertake activities and paying attention to detail when they adorn their Christmas cards with glitter. However some more able children do not always apply themselves rigorously when their attention wanders.

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Safety

 The school’s work in keeping children safe and secure is good. Parents say that all children are friendly and that there is no name-calling or any racist incidents.

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Safety

 Risk assessments are undertaken daily for any new activities. Children are taught how to take small risks such as sawing wood, manoeuvring obstacles in outdoor play and digging in the large sandpit. They are consistently supported in all of their undertakings by staff.

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Safety

 Procedures for checking adults who work with children are secure and the school’s safeguarding policy is understood by all. All safety checks on visitors to the school are undertaken. Since the previous inspection, arrangements for keep children secure when they are between classrooms have improved.

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Safety

 Parents are fully aware of all procedures relating to child protection. They appreciate the courses that the nursery staff have run on keeping children safe at home.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The consistently good teaching has a positive impact on the learning of all groups of children and this, along with the strong leadership of teaching, has led to children’s good achievement.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Staff talk to children about their learning and the questions that they use to deepen their understanding. This has a positive effect on developing children’s thinking skills because they are always encouraged to explain what they are doing.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers are vigilant and always help any child who might be struggling. For example, when children were making shapes out of dough the teacher showed them how to roll the dough flat so that the cutters could be used more effectively.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Well-targeted help and support arrangements enable children who struggle with learning to make good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers keep accurate assessments of children’s learning and correctly identify the next steps in learning. They share information regularly with parents. The introduction of ‘discovery bags’ (activities that can be undertaken at home) to help children reinforce their learning at school, are very popular and used regularly and this consolidates children’s good progress.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers teach early reading, writing and mathematics well because there is consistency of practice across all key groups. Staff are in charge of learning in different areas on a fortnightly rota. This keeps learning fresh for the children, and they are encouraged to constantly improve on their past performance.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Group time is well led and engages the children fully in learning, such as retelling the story of the Nativity to help children understand the meaning of Christmas. However, there is less planning evident to ensure that children put into practice what they have learnt, such as sequencing facts, and this slows down learning.

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The quality of teaching is good

 All teachers and practitioners know their children well and have excellent relationships with them. Children listen attentively to instructions but at times are not involved enough in thinking about what they have learned.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers model speaking and listening well but are not so adept at insisting on correct letter formation for the most able children in writing activities, and to help them make connections between the number and its corresponding symbol.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children enter the nursery with skills and knowledge generally below those typical for their age. All groups of children make good progress in all areas of learning. Three quarters of them achieve the expectations typical for their age in all areas of learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Achievement is good overall but in speaking and listening it is outstanding for all groups of children. This is because the recent training undertaken by staff has enhanced their teaching in this aspect. Current progress of all groups of children has increased since the previous inspection in all areas of learning. The youngest children settle in quickly with caring staff and this helps them prepare confidently for their next stages in learning.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Disabled children and those with special educational needs achieve well. They make consistent small steps in learning due to well-designed help that helps them to make progress. Their good progress is the result of the strong impact of work with other agencies such as speech and language therapists. Disadvantaged children are given support at all levels and monitor their progress, making sure that they have full access to all on offer.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 School data over time show that there has been a year-on-year improvement in levels of progress for all groups of children since the previous inspection. All the children become effective learners.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 All groups of children achieve well in their personal, social and emotional development. This is due to the well-planned learning opportunities, caring staff who know how to develop and sustain children’s interest levels through the use of exciting learning opportunities and good quality resources.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children achieve well in early reading, writing and mathematics. This is due to the wide range of rhymes that they learn, books that are read to them and the opportunities that they have to engage in practical mathematical activities such as estimating and measuring both indoors and outdoors.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 The most able children make good progress in all areas of learning. However, progress is not outstanding because not enough is done to ensure that children form letters correctly and sometimes they are not given enough help to understand how written numbers relate to quantity.

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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 103131 Local authority Birmingham Inspection number 447914

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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 99 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Bev Archer Headteacher Deborah Jones Date of previous school inspection 12 January 2012 Telephone number 0121 464 2158 Fax number 0121 464 3327 Email address enquiry@ruberyn.bham.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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