Bedworth Heath Nursery School

Bedworth Heath Nursery School and Early Years Teaching Centre Glebe Avenue, Bedworth, CV12 0DP

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Outstanding leadership and management, by all staff and governors, have ensured the school has maintained high standards of teaching and achievement since the last inspection.  The headteacher provides an excellent role model for staff and children. She ensures that everyone concentrates on children’s achievement and well- being when making decisions about their practice.  Governors and staff are continually reviewing their work with a view to making the school even better.  During many recent changes, including the move to a federation with another nursery, leaders have continued to improve the school’s provision for the benefit of the children.  The school ensures that all children, whatever their background or ability, make excellent progress in their learning and their personal skills.  Exceptionally high quality provision for disabled children and those with special educational needs means they do extremely well in the school.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 All the adults keep a close check on how children are getting on as they work and play. They ensure that the activities children are given consistently interest and engage them. As a result, the children make exceptionally good progress.  Adults are particularly skilled at making sure children learn as much as possible from any activity they undertake. They talk to them to develop their communication skills, and ask sharply focussed questions that help them to make rapid gains in their understanding.  Children greatly enjoy their time in school. Their attitudes to learning, behaviour and concentration are outstanding for their age.  The school’s rigorous attention to keeping children safe means they feel secure. Their very positive relationships with the staff and other children, particularly in the ‘family’ group, mean the children feel happy and safe at school.  The school maintains very good relationships with

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

parents and takes every opportunity to involve them in their children’s learning. Parents are extremely positive about the support they and their children receive.  Through its role as a teaching centre, the school provides strong support to other settings catering for young children in the local authority. Leaders recognise the need to build on this support and also to develop its work with the other school in the federation. 2 of 10

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Information about this inspection

 The inspector observed four lengthy sessions when all the children in the Nursery were involved in a variety of activities. He also saw three sessions when children worked with adults, in groups according to their ability, and he spent time in the school’s lunch club. The inspector also spent time observing the provision made for children who have high levels of special educational needs in the inclusion unit that the school has set up this term in their ‘quiet room’. A number of these sessions were observed with the headteacher or another member of the senior leadership team.  A variety of documentation was checked, particularly that relating to children’s progress, safeguarding and the curriculum. Evidence from displays and in books was analysed.  There were not enough replies to the online questionnaire (Parent View) for these to register as part of the inspection. The inspector took account of 38 replies to the school’s own questionnaire of parental

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Information about this inspection

opinion that took place last month. He also spoke individually to seven parents who asked to give their views.  Discussions were held with a representative of the local authority, representatives of the governing body, and a number of staff. The inspector also spoke to a member of the local authority’s integrated disability service, about the school’s provision for disabled children and those with special educational needs.

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Inspection team

Steven Hill, Lead inspector Additional Inspector 3 of 10

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Information about this school

 The school currently provides for 59 children aged 3 and 4 on a part-time basis. Another group of children will join the school in January. These two points of entry mean that children spend either three or five terms in this Nursery School. Children usually attend in the morning or in the afternoon. The school is broadly average in size for a Nursery.  Most children are White British, with a few from a range of other ethnic heritages. Very few children speak English as an additional language.  The school also hosts separately registered provision for children aged two years. This provision is managed by the governing body, and by the school’s headteacher and senior leadership team. These children are completely integrated with the older children in the school, including when operating within the ‘family’ groups. These groups include children aged three and four on the school’s roll, as well as two-

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Information about this school

year-olds from the other early years provision on the site. The provision for these younger children will be inspected and reported upon separately.  The school operates an ‘inclusion unit’ which it has established this term to provide for a group of children with particularly high levels of need.  About one in six of the three- and four-year-old children is disabled or has special educational needs. This is above the national average. Several of these children have particularly high levels of need.  The school is officially designated as an Early Years Teaching Centre, charged with providing support and training to other settings for young children in the local authority.  At the time of the previous inspection, the school’s governors and headteacher also managed a children’s centre, whose provision was closely integrated with that of the Nursery. Changes in the local authority’s policy mean that the children’s centre is now run separately, by a private organisation.

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Information about this school

 The school has recently formed a federation with Atherstone Nursery School and Early Years Teaching Centre. The two schools share a governing body, an executive headteacher and a senior leadership team, as well as some administrative support.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Increase the excellent work undertaken with partner organisations by:  giving staff in the two schools in the federation more opportunities to work together and share expertise, in line with current plans  extending, in liaison with the local authority, the work done to support other early years providers so that the staff’s high levels of expertise benefit more children beyond this school. 4 of 10

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The headteacher, senior leaders and the governing body have done an excellent job in guiding the school through some extensive and time-consuming changes over the last year. Throughout this time, leaders have never lost sight of the importance of maintaining the achievement and well-being of the children as the central goal of the school. Staff work together as an extremely effective team and ensure this goal is met well. Consequently, the children’s behaviour is excellent and they are very keen to learn.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders have maintained positive links with the nearby children’s centre to maximise the school’s ability to give good and continuous support to families. The introduction of the new arrangements for the integration of two-year-olds on site with the school’s three- and four-year-old children has been managed smoothly. Staff have successfully used the presence of the very young children as an opportunity to develop the self-confidence and personal skills of the older children.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The federation with another nursery has been managed very well, without disrupting in any way the excellent education provided for children in the school. A good start has been made in sharing expertise between the schools, particularly in the area of special educational needs. Plans are being made to share ideas and training on a much wider scale in the future.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Leaders, including governors, keep a very careful eye on the quality of teaching and provide effective feedback to staff to help them refine their practice and maintain the excellent progress made by children over time. The formal arrangements to manage the performance of staff back up this process well, with staff having clear targets that help everyone to contribute to achievement and implement the school’s priorities. Results are used to ensure that performance is properly related to pay. As a result, high quality teaching and learning have been maintained since the previous inspection.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school is extremely successful in ensuring equal opportunities for every child, through making sure that their academic, social and personal needs are understood and addressed. This is illustrated by the excellent progress made by all, and by the exceptionally good provision made for disabled children and those with special educational needs.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s assessment arrangements, to check on the attainment and progress of children, are extremely effective. Staff use results carefully to provide children with experiences that match their needs and help them make rapid progress. The close checking of overall results by leaders means that they quickly spot any problems in the progress made by groups or individuals, and ensure that action is taken to address them.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 All leaders look continually to refine the school’s provision. This term, they have responded imaginatively and effectively to the presence in the school of several children with unusually high levels of need, particularly in language and communication. A classroom space, with its own outside area, has been developed for these children, and highly skilled staff have been allocated to work with them. The children are making extremely good progress as a result.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 Most of the staff in the school are ‘middle leaders,’ in that they have their own areas of responsibility, where they check on provision and support and advise their colleagues. This they do very well across the school. The role of these leaders has been expanded since the school’s move to federation status. As senior staff may frequently be in the other school, other leaders have had to take on additional responsibilities and make decisions independently. This delegation has been successful in improving staff confidence, and helping to maintain the high quality of education.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school provides an exciting curriculum that really enthuses children and maintains their interest and involvement throughout the day. The ‘Christmas’ theme, that was being explored during the inspection, for example, helped children to concentrate and to make excellent progress in many areas of learning. In the precise way they were encouraged to set about decorating trees, they were able to increase their mathematical understanding as well as their fine motor skills. A key to the success of the curriculum is the way that staff skilfully adapt activities, so that they challenge and interest individuals and groups, and fully 5 of 10

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The leadership and management are outstanding

reflect adults’ regular assessments of the children’s attainment.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The provision for children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is excellent. Children are continually reminded about routines and enjoy being responsible. They provide a good example to the two-year-olds in their ‘family’. They are successfully encouraged to be kind to each other and to follow the rules. They learn about a wide range of cultures, and take part in a variety of celebrations and events, including Remembrance Day, Diwali and the Chinese New Year. They are well-prepared for their move into primary school, and for their future lives in modern Britain.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The local authority has provided high quality support to the school in managing the change to a federation. The local authority’s integrated disabilities service provides extremely useful help and support, as well as drawing on the school’s own good practice to provide models of good management and support for disabled children and those with special educational needs for other settings.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school pays very close attention to safeguarding the children and supporting them and their families. Systems are checked and updated regularly and meet government requirements. Governors take a full part in ensuring that procedures are of high quality.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The school’s exceptionally strong systems to support children and their families are greatly appreciated by parents, who are overwhelmingly positive about the school and what it does for their children. Many praise the particular support given to meet their own child’s individual needs, and the support given to other families experiencing difficulties.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 In its role as a teaching centre, the school has provided a wide range of support to early years providers in a variety of local schools and other settings. This work is greatly appreciated by these settings and is valued by the local authority. The local authority is keen to build further on the school’s expertise now the federation is fully in place, and the school is considering how this can best be accomplished.

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The leadership and management are outstanding

 The governance of the school: Governors have excellent systems to understand how the school is doing and play a strong part in helping set its strategic direction. They draw on a wealth of relevant experience and knowledge of members to provide staff with an effective balance of challenge and support, that helps drive forward improvements. Governors are fully aware of the quality of teaching through their use of performance management systems. They ensure these are used to reward good performance and address any issues. They have a good understanding of the data showing how the children are doing, and this means they can contribute meaningfully to the school’s development. They have ensured that all statutory requirements are met, including those regarding keeping children safe, and are active in testing the effectiveness of systems.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of the children is outstanding. Many children struggle to settle and show appropriate behaviour when they first start in the school but quickly improve in response to the excellent support they receive from staff and the very close relationships they develop with adults. They respond well to the adults’ firm direction, high expectations, unfailing kindness and positive example. Once they have settled into school life, they display high levels of concentration and are fully involved in activities throughout the day. This explains the rapid progress they make.

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Behaviour

 Children quickly learn the school’s routines and take a pride in following them. They enjoy being in the Nursery and this, along with the actions of the school to discourage absence, has helped to improve their attendance. Parents report that their children miss the Nursery on days they do not attend.

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Behaviour

 Children are polite, friendly and treat each other kindly. They are very accepting of each other’s foibles and difficulties, and will try to help each other when they can. Many are developing very good collaborative skills, for example when sharing computers, building a tower together with plastic bricks, or making up stories with toy Santas and reindeer. 6 of 10

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Behaviour

 Children follow routines very well and respond well to adults’ gentle reminders when they forget something, such as to put away a dirty plate after snack time.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding. Procedures are thorough, are followed rigorously, and are monitored strictly by governors. As a result, children feel very safe in school and parents are very confident that their children are looked after well.

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Safety

 The children who have special educational needs who spend time in the quieter environment of the ‘inclusion unit’ greatly benefit from the sense of calm there; consequently, they feel relaxed and happy and are able to learn.

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Safety

 Children quickly learn how to contribute to their own and others’ safety, for example by washing their hands before snack time, or taking care when moving around the accommodation. Outdoors, they respond well to adults’ continual reinforcement of the need to assess risks, when climbing or riding on trikes, for example, and are considerate of others as they play.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 A major factor in the high quality of teaching and learning is the way adults keep a very sharp watch on children as they play, and intervene extremely effectively to boost their learning. Through careful questioning, they get children to think hard about what they are doing and this increases their understanding. Any child who appears at a loss, or to be ‘drifting,’ is quickly identified by an adult and encouraged to join an activity or to talk about what they want to do.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Adults make exceptionally good use of their knowledge of individuals’ interests and progress to help them learn. The questions they direct towards individual children are challenging, but adults take care not to make them unduly daunting so children grow in confidence. Adults ensure all activities build on children’s particular interests so that they become fully involved in what they are learning.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Several times during each week, children work together with others of similar ability on specific tasks chosen by the adults. These sessions are very effective in developing children’s speaking and listening skills, as well as building their understanding of the topics that the adults talk to them about. A group of children made excellent progress in their understanding of tall, long, short and medium, for example, as the teacher illustrated these ideas imaginatively though the use of lengths of tinsel, building very effectively on children’s current enthusiasm for Christmas.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Teachers similarly enhance children’s speaking, listening and other communication skills during the many conversations they have with them during their play. Teachers look constantly to extend and reinforce children’s vocabulary and encourage them to explain their thoughts clearly and in detail.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 The teaching of early literacy and reading skills is very effective. Children enjoy the many opportunities they have to write and make marks, for example when writing a letter to Father Christmas. They gain a good understanding of story and are starting to make up their own stories as they play with the many exciting toys around the setting. They have lots of opportunities to share books, and enjoy looking at them and talking about what is happening.

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The quality of teaching is outstanding

 Early mathematics skills are taught extremely well, with adults taking many opportunities to reinforce children’s skills during their play, by counting bricks for example. Activities that are closely directed by an adult are well-planned and organised. For example, when children were asked to match different lengths of baubles to the different parts of a cardboard tree, they made exceptional progress because they all had the chance to experiment with the materials. Guided by the teacher, they made rapid progress in their understanding. 7 of 10

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Children start in nursery with skills that are often below what is typical of their age, particularly in aspects of communication and personal development, and in their early literacy and mathematical skills. A few children start with skills which are much lower than those typical of their age. By the time children leave for primary school, they have made excellent progress, and most have skills and understanding that are similar to those typically seen in children entering Reception. They are very well-prepared for primary school.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The school ensures that all children make rapid progress. The minority of children from minority ethnic groups and those who speak English as an additional language achieve well. Boys and girls achieve as well as each other.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The most-able children do extremely well and build effectively on their relatively strong initial starting points. This is because they are challenged by the well-designed early literacy and numeracy activities adults set for the individual small groups that children work in at various times during the week. Adults are equally careful that their conversations with the most-able children continue to be just as demanding when they choose activities for themselves, and they encourage them to think hard; consequently, the most -able children learn a lot.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 Disabled children and those who have special educational needs usually make faster progress than their classmates. This is because the school is very quick to identify any problems or difficulties that might be holding them back, and provides specific help for individual children, which is aimed at overcoming these problems. In addition, when these children are playing, adults keep a careful eye on what they are doing, and talk to them frequently, directing their questioning and explanations to provide help at just the right level for the child’s individual needs.

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The achievement of pupils is outstanding

 The children who have special educational needs who spend time in the ‘inclusion unit’ progress very well from their very low starting points. A variety of specifically designed equipment is provided for individuals. For example, staff have built their own ‘sensory room’ in a small shed in the playground that is helping these children to explore how their senses work, in a safe, welcoming environment. Many of these children have major communication difficulties, and the high level of adult support provided in the unit, as well as the careful use of learning activities that are designed to meet each individual’s specific problems, are helping children make great progress in this aspect of their learning. 8 of 10

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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. 9 of 10

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School details

Unique reference number 125486 Local authority Warwickshire Inspection number 448114

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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 59 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Dean Wainwright Executive headteacher Amanda King Date of previous school inspection 30 January 2012 Telephone number 02476 364188 Fax number 02476 364188 Email address admin1002@welearn365.com 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

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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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