St Werburghs Park Nursery School

School report St. Werburgh’s Park Nursery School Glenfrome Road, Bristol, BS2 9UX

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Overall effectiveness

Previous inspection: Outstanding 1 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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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Children settle quickly into the school and make good progress.  The headteacher leads a strong team of staff who are committed to developing their skills in order to give children the best start they can.  Teachers and early years practitioners have a good understanding of how children learn. They plan activities that build on children’s interests and help them learn well.  Members of the governing body understand the strengths of the school. They ask questions about improvements and are closely involved in recruitment to ensure children receive the best care and education.  Parents are very welcome in the school. They speak very highly of the care and support their children receive.  Children play and work extremely well together. They thoroughly enjoy the range of activities provided and how they can explore and develop their own interests.  Children are kept very safe. Leaders and managers ensure the safety of the site and resources.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

Children learn to look after each other and play safely.  Curriculum leaders work well together to ensure that children make good progress in all areas of learning.  The school is a very cohesive community where different cultures and faiths are celebrated.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Not enough children make the best possible progress.  Information on children’s progress is not sharp enough to help the teachers or governors make sure children always achieve their very best.  Leaders are not yet ensuring that the best practice evident across the school is followed consistently in all classes.

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Information about this inspection

 Inspectors observed 13 sessions, including adult-led and child-intiated activities. They were accompanied by the headteacher and senior leaders in nine of the observations.  Meetings were held with staff, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.  Inspectors observed children engaged in reading activities. Inspectors looked at the school’s development plans and monitoring files, the headteacher’s leadership files and arrangements for the management of staff performance. They also looked at safeguarding documentation and the governing body minutes. They looked at the school’s records of pupils’ progress and evaluated children’s learning diaries.  Inspectors considered the 19 staff questionnaires that were returned.  There were insufficient responses to the online questionnaire Parent View for results to be analysed. The school provided paper copies and 111 parents responded. These results were analysed. The inspectors

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Information about this inspection

held informal discussions with parents who were present at different times of the day.

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Inspection team

Jenny Batelen, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 St. Werburgh’s Park Nursery School is an 80 full-time equivalent place nursery.  Children attend part time.  The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds, including those who speak English as an additional language, is high.  There are 15 per cent of children in the main school who are disabled children and those who have special educational needs.  The school manages a breakfast and after-school club.  There is also a holiday club, and day care provision for two year olds neither of which formed part of this inspection.  The school’s designation changed in September 2014 and it now has specialist provision for six children aged two to five years with severe and complex learning difficulties. This is integrated within the provision for two year olds.  St. Werburgh’s was designated as a National Teaching School in April 2013 and works as part of the Bristol Early Years Teaching Consortium. Senior leaders provide training and consultancy to other schools.

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Information about this school

 There has been a significant change of staff since the previous inspection. All senior leaders apart from the headteacher are new.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching to outstanding and increase the proportion of children making high rates of progress by:  ensuring that senior leaders and governors improve the systems for monitoring and reporting on children’s progress so that it provides a clearer picture of their achievements  making better use of this information to identify when children should be helped to make further progress  ensuring that best practice is shared across the classes so that there is greater consistency in the provision for all children.

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The leadership and management are good

 The headteacher has maintained a positive culture of learning in the school, despite the many changes that have occurred since the previous inspection. All staff engage in further education and training. Through reflecting on their work they make improvements to their practice in the classroom. As a result, the school has the capacity to make further improvements.  The thorough induction process for all new staff ensures that there is consistency in the way children are helped to manage their emotions and play well with each other.  Senior leaders encourage staff to use a variety of ways to make checks on children’s progress and attainment. However, the many different types of checks do not give a clear enough picture of children’s achievement for staff. Although their progress is good, this lack of clarity is stopping children making the best possible progress.  Teachers and early years practitioners value the support they receive from senior and curriculum leaders.

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The leadership and management are good

They have clear targets to improve the outcomes for the children and understand how this links to pay progression.  Curriculum leaders lead teams effectively to ensure that all areas of learning are covered, resources are in place and that any specific areas for development have a plan for improvement. For example, the children now make better use of information and communication technology. They are now confident users of cameras and also enjoy exploring and understanding battery-operated toys. They make good use of computers when possible.  The school works very successfully to foster good relationships between children and adults. Children understand and value differences and similarities. They are helped to explore and celebrate the different faiths and cultures represented in the school and more widely in modern Britain. The school ensures that there is equality of opportunity for all children and there is no discrimination.

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The leadership and management are good

 The school promotes children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well. Their exploration of the wider world creates moments of wonder and intrigue, as when a group of children discussed how to free some animals frozen in the ice. Children enjoy many opportunities to explore music and dance from different cultures and to create their own works, which staff display and value. This helps the children learn to appreciate art in all its forms. The school works extremely well with parents. Staff openly welcome them into school at the beginning of sessions to observe, join in and share learning diaries or a book with their child. The school provides many workshop opportunities which help parents understand how their child learns and how they can help them. Parents speak very positively of how they feel welcomed and helped.  Effective management of the specialist provision helps children settle quickly and make good progress.

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The leadership and management are good

Parents speak highly about how the provision supports them as a family and their children. .  Parents value the good-quality breakfast club and after-school care that supports families’ work patterns.  The school works closely with a range of professionals to ensure that children with specific needs have correct, high-quality support.  Good links with the different schools that children move on to, ensures they are able to settle quickly into their Reception classes.  Safeguarding policies meet statutory requirements. Policies and procedures are very thorough and regularly reviewed. All staff and relevant governors are well trained so that they provide an extremely safe environment for the children.  The local authority gives effective support to the school. It was closely involved with setting up the new specialist provision and ensuring that it provides a good quality of education and care.

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The leadership and management are good

 The governance of the school: - The governing body ensures that its membership reflects the community the school serves as well as having a range of skills to support the school. They have supported the headteacher well through the period of change and in making key, high-quality staff appointments. Governors receive regular reports from senior staff about the work of the school. They ask questions to clarify their understanding and to help the school make further improvements. Sometimes, these reports are not clear enough about the progress children are making. Members of the governing body know about the quality of teaching in the school. They know how any underperformance is dealt with and how pay awards are made. They manage the headteacher’s performance with external advice. Governors, along with leaders, are diligent in accessing further funding and ensure that they monitor how well this money is spent, so that children receive maximum benefit.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of children is outstanding. They play extremely well together, learning to share and to help each other.  Children are very curious about their world. They explore activities available for them and develop their own interests. This was clear when a group chose to damp down the shed after learning about fire prevention from the forest school leader.  Children concentrate for long periods of time and use their imagination in a range of activities such as making balsa wood aeroplanes or exploring the texture of shaving foam.  Children are helped to respect and listen carefully to adults and to each other. They understand when it is their turn to speak and when they must listen.  The consistent approach deployed by adults to help children manage their feelings is effective. Upsets are sorted out through focusing on the behaviour and the effect this has on others. Signing to represent

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Behaviour

emotions also helps children, including those who speak other languages, to understand how others are feeling. As a result, activities continue without any disruption.  The school’s focus on celebrating differences and similarities ensures that children quickly become a very cohesive group where they thoroughly enjoy each other’s company.  The school shares the importance of regular attendance with parents and works with families who find this difficult.  Parents are very confident that their children behave extremely well.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep children safe and secure is outstanding.  Policies and procedures are adhered to across the school and children’s health and safety is rigorously monitored.  The school environment is very safe with secure systems to monitor who comes in and out of the building. Gates, which only adults can operate, help children stay in their area of the school. Staff rigorously monitor play equipment to ensure that there are no hazards as children play.  The specialist provision is a very safe and calm space enabling staff to respond to children’s complex and specific needs.  Risk is carefully assessed and children learn how to keep themselves safe in a range of situations, including when walking to forest school along a busy road and using the tools during woodwork. They move very safely and sensibly between activities.  The school carefully monitors the use of information and communication technology equipment, including

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Safety

the use of mobile phones, to ensure the safety of the children.  Children’s excellent behaviour means that they play very safely together, both in the classroom and outside.  Parents are very confident that their children are kept safe and secure.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teachers and other adults have high expectations of what children can achieve. They have an excellent understanding of how children learn and this helps them plan activities that engage and motivate the children.  Adults are well deployed to help children who speak English as an additional language develop their communication skills and confidence with spoken English.  Constant checks on how well children are learning are recorded with photographic evidence in the children’s learning diaries. Sometimes, it is not made clear, in the diaries, how much progress the children have made.  Checks on how well children are doing, along with the children’s particular interests, are shared across the team on a daily basis and used to help plan future activities to improve children’s attainment. Where children show an interest, for example in a current film, adults quickly adapt themes to include this.  Children who need support to develop particular skills are given specific planned activities to help them

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The quality of teaching is good

make progress.  The most-able children who show particular aptitude in certain areas, such as mathematical development, are enabled to make greater progress through working with an adult on more challenging activities.  Adults ensure there are plenty of books available to read in school and also to take home and share with parents. The skilled teaching of phonics (the sounds that letters make) is effective and helps children with their early reading skills.  Mark making is celebrated and children enjoy ‘writing’ in their first language as well as in English.  The school offers a broad range of activities, both indoors and outdoors. Children are able to work with adults and also initiate their own activities. They develop skills, such as woodwork, through working with a specialist. They help design and build new areas, such as the mud kitchen, for the outside space.  Examples of good practice are evident in many classrooms. These are in areas such as learning targets for

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The quality of teaching is good

children and information for parents and visitors. However, these examples are not shared well enough so that they can all be used in all classrooms in a consistent way.  The environment and activities provided in the specialist resource area are extremely suitable for the children. Staff are well trained and supported by other professionals so that they are able to plan for the children’s particular needs.  Parents are extremely positive about how the adults in school help their children to make progress.

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is good

 All children, including those from the many different ethnic groups, make good progress from their different starting points, in all areas of learning.  Children who join the school with skill levels that are below those typical for their age catch up quickly and the majority leave well equipped to enter the Reception classes at their primary schools.  Early reading skills are well developed. Books are readily available and children enjoy sitting with a friend and sharing a book.  Improvements to the phonics teaching plan and proving successful. Children are becoming increasingly confident recognising and using initial sounds and letters when reading out loud the stories they know.  Children’s writing skills are developed alongside their phonic ability. Children’s mark making is valued and the introduction of letter shapes is helping them refine these marks. As a result, progress in writing is

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is good

improving.  Children’s mathematics development is good. Teachers focus on children’s use of mathematical language, encouraging them to use this accurately. For example, when children were learning to pair up socks, they used the words ‘same’ and ‘different’ and also ‘pair’. This extended their understanding as they thought of more ‘pairs’ and learnt what made a pair.  The most-able children share and develop their thinking well. Children are encouraged to use correct language and to speak out confidently to the whole class.  Disabled children and those who have special educational needs have very specific plans linked to their needs. Parents are involved with the school in setting targets for improvements and, as a result, these children make at least good progress and many make rapid progress.  Children who speak English as an additional language make very good progress in gaining spoken English

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is good

because of the range of languages spoken by staff and the use of signing to help their understanding.  Children develop useful day-to-day skills, for example serving themselves breakfast and snacks. They are keen to help tidy up.  Children using the specialist provision are able to settle quickly. Progress is particularly apparent in their happiness, involvement in activities and relationships with the adults and other children.  Parents are confident of the good progress their children make.

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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 108902 Local authority Bristol City of Inspection number 448098

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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 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 151 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Richard McKinley-Price Headteacher Liz Jenkins Date of previous school inspection 13–14 March 2012 Telephone number 0117 903 0323 Fax number 0117 377 2363 Email address stwerburghsn@bristol.gov.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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