Comper Nursery School

School report Comper Foundation Stage Nursery School Hertford Street, Oxford, OX4 3AJ

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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 vision shared by the interim headteacher and governors has enabled the nursery to maintain its good provision since the previous inspection.  Teaching is good. All areas of learning are effectively promoted, which enables children to achieve well.  Children’s learning journeys show the good progress children make in all areas; they also identify targets for further improvement.  The curriculum is effectively planned and suitable for children of this age. Spiritual, social, moral and cultural development is extremely well promoted. This prepares children very well for life in modern Britain.  Children’s behaviour is good because adults have high expectations and children quickly learn how to behave in the different settings they find themselves in during each day.  Relationships between everyone, adults and children, are trusting and secure. There are good procedures in place to keep children safe.

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Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

 Through formal and informal observations of their teaching, the interim headteacher gives teachers and early years workers many opportunities to develop their practice.  Governors, along with the headteacher, have secure arrangements in place to safeguard children. They have focused on developing productive partnerships with parents. Parents are overwhelmingly confident that their children are safe and making good progress.

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It is not yet an outstanding school because

 Activities, particularly those planned for the outdoor area, do not always take full account of the needs of all groups of children, across all areas.  Information about how well children are achieving is not analysed deeply enough to identify the extent of progress in all areas of learning.  Governors receive general information to allow them to understand how children’s progress is measured and how well children are achieving. However, it is not always analysed sufficiently for them to see how groups are performing or whether progress is good across all areas of learning.

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Information about this inspection

 This two-day inspection was carried out with half a day’s notice.  The inspector observed children’s learning in seven parts of sessions taught by one teacher and five early years workers.  Discussions were held with the headteacher, staff, children, two members of the governing body and a representative from the local authority.  The inspector looked at a range of documents which included the school’s self-evaluation, school improvement planning, teachers’ planning, minutes from governors’ meetings, safeguarding and curriculum document, children’s learning journeys and information relating to the progress and achievement of the children.  The views of staff were considered through the scrutiny of four completed staff questionnaires.  Many parents were spoken to but there were too few responses to Parent View, the on-line survey, to be analysed.

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Inspection team

Nina Bee, Lead inspector Additional Inspector

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Information about this school

 This average-sized Nursery forms part of the Comper Foundation Stage School and East Oxford Children’s Centre. The interim headteacher has been in post since January 2015. He also oversees the Children’s Centre and Child Care provision. These were not included in this inspection.  Children receive either part-time or full-time provision during term time. Wrap Around Care is also available.  Most children come from a wide range of different ethnic backgrounds, with no one group predominating. A small minority of children come from White British families.  The proportion of children who speak English as an additional language is above average.  The proportion of children who are disabled or have special educational needs is below average.  Very few children are disadvantaged. The school has not yet received the early years pupil premium for these children. The early years premium is additional government funding for children eligible for free

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Information about this school

school meals or those who are looked after.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Build on existing strengths in teaching and raise children’s achievement by making sure that:  all planned activities, especially those for outdoor learning, take full account of the learning needs of all groups of children, across all areas of learning  when children work in small groups, adults check that all children understand what they are learning.  Strengthen leadership and management by:  making sharper use of performance information that is collected for each child as they move through the Nursery to identify where improvements are needed  sharing this information with governors more fully so that they are gain a better understanding of how well children are achieving over time.

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The leadership and management are good

 Strong leadership has maintained the Nursery’s good provision while governors focus on finding a new permanent headteacher. Since his recent appointment, the interim headteacher has made a strong contribution to ensuring that teaching is at least good. He has successfully focused on improving staff morale and developing his team. This is particularly the case with middle management with the appointment of a permanent teacher.  Middle management consists of the teacher who oversees planning and the work of the early years workers. There is also a special needs co-ordinator. The contribution of both is effective.  Self-assessment is accurate. Priorities have been identified and the impact of these, particularly in relation to improving the focus of the development of reading, writing and number skills, is evident during observations. Issues related to the previous inspection have been successfully addressed. Teaching is at

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The leadership and management are good

least good and parents are now more involved by contributing to children’s learning journeys.  The Nursery has adopted the local authority’s system for tracking children’s performance. However, information is not always sufficiently analysed to show the progress of groups in all areas of learning. The local authority has provided very good support to the governing body, particularly in relation to recruitment and leadership. For example, governors were advised of personnel on the local authority approved provider list and then successfully appointed the interim headteacher.  The Nursery has not yet received the early years pupils premium. Very few children are identified as being entitled to this funding.  Spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is promoted very well in all the children do. Children are offered many opportunities to develop creative and physical skills. Personal and social development is

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The leadership and management are good

continuously promoted throughout each day, particularly during snack time and when eating lunch.  Leaders have successfully created a caring environment where children are very well prepared for life in modern Britain by learning about the lives of others through celebrating festivals such as Diwali, Eid, Christmas and other world celebrations. Consequently, children from many different backgrounds play happily together as they learn.  Everyone, including the governors, works effectively together to fulfil all statutory duties so that children are kept safe. Safeguarding arrangements are well organised and secure.  The governance of the school:  Governors effectively carry out their responsibilities. They have a good range of skills, particularly related to early years education. They understand that teaching needs to be at least good. They speak knowledgeably about performance management and the link between teachers’ pay and performance.

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The leadership and management are good

 Governors are fully aware of the school’s self-review process, the school development plan, and the need to ensure that policies are known by all and regularly reviewed.  Governors are aware of the system that is used to track children’s performance. However, they acknowledge that they need to be better informed of how this works and how well individual children and groups are achieving.

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Behaviour

 The behaviour of pupils is good. Much excitement was observed as children learned as they played both in the outdoor area and inside. Children enjoy their time in Nursery and attendance is good.  Children demonstrate positive attitudes to learning and appreciate the activities that are on offer. Most stay focused for acceptable periods of time but one or two wander, at times, and need guidance to focus on an activity.  Many children are keen to share their success and work well in small groups or pairs, while some choose to play alone. Children were observed playing with cars, on a mat map of a town, and were keen to identify where the hospital was and identify the colours of the cars.  All adults have high expectations of the behaviour that is expected and this approach is consistent throughout. As a result, very little behaviour was observed that was less than good.  There are good systems in place to record any poor behaviour and very few incidents occur. No children

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Behaviour

have been recently suspended. Adults work consistently well together to ensure that children build trusting relationships and learn to respect each other’s differences. Adults were seen listening carefully to children and helping them to develop a growing understanding of their feelings in the classroom area, outside and while they ate their lunch. As a result, children will confidently ask an adult if they need additional support.  Discussions with many parents confirm that they have no issues regarding behaviour or safety.

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Safety

 The school’s work to keep pupils safe and secure is good. Home visits are available if requested and a new induction booklet, which includes information related to safeguarding, has been recently developed to enable parents to become familiar with nursery procedures and practices. Governors spoke of their involvement in developing this informative booklet.  Young children quickly learn how to share and be kind towards one another because the adults who work with them are good role models. This helps to make sure that children are safe from any unkindness or bullying.  Staff devise risk assessments for various activities and for when they take the children on visits outside. Attention to safety is generally thorough but very occasionally it could be more rigorous, for example with regard to sun safety and the need to consistently wear sunhats.

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The quality of teaching is good

 Teaching is good. Children have many opportunities to learn independently as they make marks on paper and develop reading and writing skills both inside and out. Many children were seen confidently using felt tip pens to colour between lines. Others proudly showed that they could write familiar letters such as the ones in their names and higher attaining children confidently and correctly name letter sounds. Each morning, children pick out their name, by identifying its shape or initial letter or by confidently reading the whole word. They then confidently fix it to their photograph. Most of the children can expertly do this.  During many activities, teacher promote the use of number skills. For example, children were seen counting the number of children who were in their group and confidently using numbers up to 20. Learning was developed further as the adult pointed to the number line to ensure that the children could

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The quality of teaching is good

match the spoken number to its written form. As children play as they learn, they identify shapes confidently. Many have a good understanding of basic two-dimensional flat shapes, such as circles, rectangles and squares.  Children have many opportunities to learn in the outdoor area. It is organised to support all areas of learning but particularly supports children’s understanding of how plants grow. Children were seen proudly looking after the plants they had grown by carefully watering them. Some of the outdoor resources, for example the home corner, are tired looking. However, there are plans to improve the outside environment before the start of next term.  Adults generally give due consideration to children’s different abilities when planning each activity; however, this is not always so. For example, not all activities, particularly those planned for outdoors, take full account of the learning needs of all groups of children.

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The quality of teaching is good

 The way teachers question children to reinforce and develop understanding is usually good and enhances learning. However, particularly, when children work in small groups, adults do not always ask questions to determine that everyone understands what they are learning. This results in a few children, at times, not contributing to, or being part of, the discussion.

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The achievement of pupils is good

 Children achieve well in the Nursery in relation to their starting points, which vary but are below levels typical for their ages. By the time they are ready to leave the Nursery, most children reach levels that are at least typical for their age. Observations during the inspection show that a few reach higher levels, particularly in their development of writing, reading and number skills.  Achievement is good for all children because adults know the children well and so understand the difficulties that some children have with their learning. Adults were seen giving additional support to some children, for example those with special educational needs, to enable them to achieve as well as their classmates.  Similarly, children who are identified as higher attainers are usually well supported to enable them to develop appropriately.  Higher attaining children confidently use felt tip pens to write sounds and letters that are relatively well

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The achievement of pupils is good

formed when they attempt to write their names. They accurately draw lines and shade in between lines. This group use scissors expertly and cut along designated lines. For some, their ability to count and recognise numbers using one-to-one correspondence is accurate to at least 20; some need a little help.  Children who have been identified as disabled or as having special educational needs are effectively supported and receive additional support to enable them to achieve well.  Those children who speak English as an additional language are sensitively supported and language is promoted well to extend their vocabulary. This was clearly seen during a storytelling session when the adult specifically reinforced the meaning of a few words for the children who may not have understood.  Most children achieve particularly well in the development of their personal and social skills. Almost all children speak confidently to the adults who help them. A few really confident children approach visitors

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The achievement of pupils is good

in the classroom and inquisitively ask questions such as ‘What are you doing?’ and ‘What is your name?’

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School details

Unique reference number 122967 Local authority Oxfordshire Inspection number 449493

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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 64 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Rosemary Knagg Interim Headteacher Chris Warner Date of previous school inspection 1–2 February 2012 Telephone number 01865245768 Fax number 01865241807 Email address Head.1005@comper.oxon.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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