Denby Dale Nursery School

Age group 2-5 Inspection date(s) 10-11 March 2009 Inspection number 324603 Denby Dale Nursery School Inspection report

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Unique Reference Number 107594 Local Authority Kirklees Inspection number 324603 Inspection dates 10–11 March 2009 Reporting inspector Lesley Clark

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This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005 under pilot arrangements; it was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act . The registered childcare, managed by the governing body, was inspected under section 49 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Type of school Nursery School category Maintained Age range of pupils 2–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number on roll School (total) 88 Government funded early education provision for children aged 3 to the end of the Early Years Foundation Stage Childcare provision for children aged 0 to under 3 years Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Mr Robert Allen Headteacher Mrs Cheryl Mortimer Date of previous school inspection November 2005 Date of previous childcare inspection April 2006 School address Wakefield Road Denby Dale Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD8 8RX Telephone number 01484 222915 Fax number 01484 222965 Email address head.denbydale@kirklees-schools.org.uk Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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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.

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Introduction

This pilot inspection was carried out by an Additional Inspector. The inspector visited seven lessons, and held meetings with governors, day care and education staff and talked to children. She observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documentation including the school’s tracking to check children’s progress, a selection of children’s profiles including special support given to individual children, the school improvement plan, documents relating to the ‘Listening to Children’ project and 39 parental questionnaires.

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Introduction

The inspector reviewed many aspects of the school’s work. She looked in detail at the following:

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Introduction

 the way different groups of children, especially boys, learn and make progress in their physical development, problem solving, reasoning and number skills and whether the more able are sufficiently challenged  children’s independence, responsibility for their own actions and decision making and the way the Nursery prepares them for their future lives  the way in which staff question and listen to children and the impact this has on children’s learning and development  how assessments are used to plan the next steps in learning for each child and whether these are challenging.

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Information about the school

Denby Dale Nursery offers integrated education and day care throughout the year with flexible options for parents to choose morning and/or afternoon sessions with or without extended day care. During education sessions, day care staff are part of a fully integrated team working with all children. There are 8 places for two-year-olds and up to 16 full time year-round day care places for three to five-year -olds. Most day care children attend all year round. Most children are White British and come from within the local rural catchment area. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities or who are vulnerable is below average but their needs are complex. An increasing number of children need extensive speech and language support when they first join the Nursery.

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Information about the school

The acting headteacher is on secondment for a year from September 2008 – August 2009 while the local authority and governing body review leadership and organisational options for the school. The acting headteacher manages both the day care and education provision. The school works closely with the family support worker who is based in the on-site children’s centre which opened in August 2008.

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Inspection judgements

Grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory, and 4 is inadequate

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Main findings

This is a good Nursery with some outstanding features. The day care provision is outstanding. Parents and carers commented on both that ‘the warm supportive environment encourages both learning and social skills’ and view the Nursery as ‘an excellent stepping stone to school.’ Both settings are well led and managed. The acting headteacher sets an excellent example and has created an active ambitious staff team who are highly motivated.

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Main findings

Outstanding support, guidance and care result in children’s outstanding personal, social and emotional development, and communication, language and literacy skills. All groups of children quickly become independent, confident, responsible learners who are able to make healthy choices, achieve happily and safely and are extremely well prepared for their future lives. Outstanding safeguarding procedures mean that children feel safe and secure, settle very quickly and do not worry when their parents and carers leave. However, parents do not receive much information about the curriculum and how they might help their children at home. Routines are well established and children’s interests and preferences are taken into account at all times. This contributes successfully to the full integration of children with complex learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those who are vulnerable, who achieve similarly to their friends.

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Main findings

Good teaching and regular checks on how well children are learning help staff to plan the next steps in their learning and development. Recent changes to the curriculum are strengthening cultural provision. Throughout the day, children move freely between indoors and outside choosing activities that interest them. Activities cover all aspects of learning, but those designed to promote three-to five-year olds’ ability to solve problems or to use small tools and equipment, especially outside, are more limited.

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Main findings

Both the school and day care provision have made good improvement since they were last inspected. More able children are now challenged well and governors play a fuller part because they are more closely involved. The school has improved on its previously good performance because of effective self-evaluation and accurate and regular checks on children’s progress. It has good capacity for continuous improvement because of this systematic and child-centred approach.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Develop ways to promote three to five-year old children’s skills in problem solving and using small manipulative tools by: - providing more open-ended activities which encourage children to think, develop their own ideas and take part in extended play - providing activities which develop fine movement and coordination skills especially outdoors.  Develop more effective ways to communicate with parents about the curriculum by:  giving parents more regular information about what their children are learning  suggesting to parents what they might do to further support learning at home.

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2

Children come eagerly into school, hang up their outdoor things and quickly make themselves at home. Day care children are exceptionally well settled. All children clearly feel extremely safe and secure because they leave their parents and carers quite happily and instantly start playing. During the key worker sessions children were very pleased to be together, listened and behaved well throughout the brief 15 minute session. Similarly, they are very eager to get back to their own activities, especially those who have short attention spans due to learning difficulties and/or disabilities or vulnerability. Children move confidently between indoors and outdoors, putting on coats or plastic aprons without being reminded. They have friends with whom they choose to work and they understand why it is important to take turns. They show a mature appreciation of each other’s feelings, showing concern for each

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2

More able children have plenty of scope to develop their ideas and consequently sustain concentration for long periods of time. They make good progress because they set their own challenges. For example, a child drew and cut out three different sized bones; explained he was a dog and proceeded to set up two chairs covered with a large silk scarf as his kennel. Part of the game he played in his head and then he turned into a dog again, loudly munching his bones. Later on he developed this further, joining two large pieces of paper together so as to make bigger bones. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are similarly focused and also make good progress. With adult support they spend quite long periods enjoying repetitive activities, such as, pouring water or putting pebbles into buckets.

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2

All groups of children enjoy playing together and with adults who set up different activities to interest them. Sometimes these do not sustain the three to five- year- olds interest for very long because they are limited in scope, especially outdoors. As a result, children’s progress in solving problems or their skills in using many different small tools or manipulating objects can be restricted. By contrast, children’s capacity to make independent choices and take responsibility for their own actions and make decisions is exceptionally good for their age. They show high levels of independence and capability, with children as young as two serving themselves successfully at mealtimes. Children eat healthily without question because they are provided with nutritious snacks and meals and are willing to try different foods. They contribute to decision making, for example, the new slide and are currently giving their views on

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2

developing the garden. In these ways they develop extremely good skills to stand them in stead for their future lives. They have a good sense of right and wrong, are sociable and experience delight and wonder through making discoveries. Through celebrating different festivals such as Eid and the Chinese New Year children learn about different customs and cultures.

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2

Children make outstanding progress in their personal, social and emotional development and in their communication, language and literacy and good progress in all other areas of learning. Progress is less marked in problem solving and aspects of their physical development. The two days’ observations and the school’s assessments confirm there is no marked difference between the progress of boys and girls. Different groups of learners learn equally well and from broadly average starting points their attainment exceeds expectations by the age of five.

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2

These are the grades for children’s outcomes How good are the outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage? 2 Children’s attainment 1 2 The quality of children’s learning and their progress 2 The quality of learning for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and their progress How well do children achieve and enjoy their learning? 2 To what extent do children feel safe? 1 How well do children behave? 2 To what extent do children adopt healthy lifestyles? 1 To what extent do children contribute to the school and wider community? 2 Children’s attendance 3 How well do children develop skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being? What is the extent of children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development?

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The quality of the school’s work

Teaching quality is good throughout the Nursery with some outstanding practice. Much of the teaching is done through staff interacting with small groups or individual children. Typically, adults oversee a particular activity and children come and go,

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The quality of the school’s work

1 Grades for attainment are: 1 is high; 2 is above average; 3 is broadly average; 4 is low participating for as little or as long a time as they choose. Skilful questioning successfully challenges children to think and talk; time is given to enable children to do this. More able children learn well when they are asked to explain their thinking, puzzling out why they have chosen to do something in a certain way. Equally, those who have limited language respond well to simple questions and repeated words and phrases. However, staff do not use sign language consistently to help children with specific language problems and this sometimes slows their learning. Staff are less successful at offering a wide range of opportunities for three to five-year-old children to solve problems or to use a wide range of small or manipulative tools, especially outside, because activities are generally not sufficiently open-ended. For example, a

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The quality of the school’s work

lively outdoor activity involved children bringing cars with problems to a garage. This developed their communication, language, literacy and number skills well as they explained what was wrong, wrote down details and paid with imaginary money. It also aided their physical development as they careered off at speed down the slope. However, opportunities were missed for children to take charge and actually mend the cars. While the use of imaginary tools had merits, it restricted developing other aspects of children’s physical development and problem solving skills. This was not the case with the two-year-olds who concentrated for over an hour as they poured water down sloping guttering and then pretended to be builders stopping the flow at various points with sand, the game becoming more adventurous and elaborate as it went on.

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The quality of the school’s work

Staff assess children’s progress well. Frequent observations of children’s progress are noted and used to plan activities to help children make the next steps in their learning. The fortnightly programme of assessments works well and parents and children like the ‘interest board’ which helps staff to plan activities related to children’s particular preferences. The curriculum is good and offers full scope to children to follow their own interests.

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The quality of the school’s work

Children are known as individuals and they and their families show absolute confidence in the school’s ability to look after their needs. This is very evident in the sensitive, caring support for vulnerable children and families facing challenging circumstances and the tireless support for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Extremely well targeted support for all groups of children enables them to make the best of the opportunities offered at all times of the day. Staff make sure that children who stay all day have sufficiently varied experiences, with visits out of school or different activities in the community room and respect and provide for children’s individual sleep and rest requirements. Parents commented on ‘the warm supportive environment’ which ‘encourages both learning and social skills’ viewing the Nursery as ‘an excellent stepping stone to school.’ As a result, children flourish,

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The quality of the school’s work

These are the grades for the quality of provision What is the quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage? 2 High quality teaching and purposeful learning 2 Effective assessment 2 An appropriate curriculum which meets children’s needs, including, where relevant, provision through partnership with other organisations Support, guidance and care 1

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How effective are leadership and management?

The acting headteacher is singularly successful in creating an integrated team of day care and education staff who work effectively together to provide good learning experiences for all groups of children. She inspires the school community towards meeting ambitious aims. Morale is very high and a strong belief in the school’s success and its sustainable future runs through the whole staff and governors alike. Self-evaluation is thorough and accurate, based firmly on the assessed outcomes for children. Equality of opportunity is promoted well and concerted action to ensure that more able children, for example, make good progress, is successful. The school uses the information it has about different pupils very effectively to ensure that their individual needs are met well.

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How effective are leadership and management?

Safeguarding is an outstanding aspect of leadership and management and lies at the heart of the way the day care and educational provision are managed. All statutory requirements are met. The school actively promotes the safety and well-being of all children. Daily safety checks, stringent hygiene practices, full dialogue with parents and carers about incidents, accidents and medication, as well as working closely with other agencies, ensure children are extremely safe. In addition, staff teach children safe practices from the earliest age and so they learn to behave responsibly. Governors ensure that children and staff are safe. They are well informed, actively involved and supportive.

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How effective are leadership and management?

The school has a very good relationship with parents, carers and child minders who all speak highly of the Nursery and day care provision. This contributes well to children’s happy enjoyment and good learning. Most parents consider that they are kept well informed, but a very small number would like more information about the curriculum in terms of what areas of learning are being covered and what they might do at home to help. This is a valid suggestion because currently, although there is good liaison through parents’ meetings and individual discussion times with staff, information about the curriculum is limited. Links with external agencies for example, the family support worker are good and especially effective in supporting vulnerable children or those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities.

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How effective are leadership and management?

The school has a clear understanding of what is required to promote community cohesion. The impact as yet is inconsistent. It has strong and effective links with the local community with a clear impact seen in children’s confidence and independence. It is currently developing links with communities outside school so that children can have more direct experience of others from different ethnic, religious and other backgrounds.

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How effective are leadership and management?

The school uses all the resources at its disposal well, with outstanding day care and good educational provision. These are the grades for leadership and management How effectively is the Early Years Foundation Stage led and managed? 2 Communicating ambition and driving improvement 1 Promoting equality of opportunity and tackling discrimination 2 Ensuring that safeguarding procedures are effective 1 Ensuring that the governing body provides effective challenge and support so that weaknesses are tackled decisively and statutory responsibilities are met Promoting the school’s relationship with parents and carers, including their involvement in decision-making about matters relating to learning and well-being Developing partnerships with other providers, organisations and services 2 Ensuring the school contributes to community cohesion 3 Deploying resources to achieve value for money 2

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Views of parents and carers

Thirty-nine parents and carers returned questionnaires, representing over half the parents who use the Nursery and day care services. Their views were absolutely positive, with two-thirds expressing complete satisfaction with the school and the rest in agreement as to its many merits. The slight criticisms regarding curriculum information were made constructively. The inspector agrees this is an area for improvement and it is dealt with in the main body of the report. Parents, carers and child minders, many of whom have had long associations with the Nursery, were keen to express their appreciation of all the school does for their children.

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its children’s needs. In 2007-8, 15% of schools were judged to be outstanding. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its children well. In 2007-8, 49% of schools were judged good. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its children. In 2007-8, 32% of schools were judged satisfactory. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement to meet the needs of its children. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves. In 2007-8, 5% of schools were judged inadequate.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the children’s work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which children are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the children’s attainment at the end of a Key Stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: an overall measure of the children’s success in their academic learning. The term combines attainment and progress. Children might make good progress, for example, but if their attainment remains low, inspectors may judge that their achievement is only satisfactory.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving. Inspectors base this judgement on what the school has accomplished so far and on the quality of its systems to maintain improvement.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Leadership and management: the contribution of all the staff with responsibilities, not just the headteacher, to identifying priorities, directing and motivating staff and running the school. 12 March 2009

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

Thank you for making me so welcome. I really enjoyed meeting you. I loved seeing you play so well together. You go to a good Nursery and some parts of it are extremely good. These are the best things:

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

 your teachers and key workers are kind and help you to learn well  you have lots of interesting things to do both inside and outside  mealtimes and snack times are superb because you are so grown up  you look after yourselves and each other extremely well  you talk and listen very well to your key workers and each other  you have a lot of fun with your friends.

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

This is what I have asked your key workers to do next:

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

 give you some different activities that give you more to think about and work out for yourselves and more times for you to use small tools outside  tell your parents more about what you are doing so they can play with you at home in just the same way.

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

I hope you carry on having a good time in your Nursery.

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Inspection of Denby Dale Nursery, Wakefield Road, Denby Dale

Lesley Clark Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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