Derby Street Nursery Unit

Derby Street Nursery Unit Inspection report

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Age group 3–5 Inspection date(s) 3–4 July 2012 Inspection number 377291 Unique Reference Number 105761 Local authority Rochdale Inspection number 377291 Inspection dates 3–4 July 2012 Lead inspector Sarah Drake

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This inspection of the school was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. The registered childcare provision, managed by the governing body, was inspected under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006.

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Type of school Nursery School category Community Age range of pupils 3–5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 68 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Louise Wileman Headteacher Kath Leigh Date of previous school inspection 28 January 2009 School address Derby Street Heywood OL10 4QJ Telephone number 01706 369889 Fax number 01706 627 379 Email address kleigh@derbystreet.rochdale.sch.uk

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Registered childcare provision Derby Street Neighbourhood Nursery Number of children on roll in the registered childcare provision Date of last inspection of registered childcare provision June 2006 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.

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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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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 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.

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Introduction

This inspection was carried out with two days' notice. The inspector observed three teachers and four teaching assistants deliver eight lessons and shorter sessions in the nursery unit, and also observed four sessions of day-care provision. She held meetings with members of staff, the Chair and three other members of the Governing Body, the leader of the children’s centre, and the School Improvement Partner. The inspector also spoke informally with several children, parents and carers. She observed the school’s work and looked at a range of documentation relating to children’s progress and school management, including assessment information, development planning, and policies such as for safeguarding and equality of opportunity. The inspector also took into account the responses to the inspection questionnaires completed by school staff and by 32 parents and carers.

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Information about the school

The nursery is broadly average in size compared to similar schools. Most children are of White British heritage but increasing numbers are of minority ethnic heritage and speak English as an additional language. The proportion of children who are supported at early action plus or have a statement of special educational needs is broadly average. The nursery provides flexible access to 15 hours maintained education a week plus the opportunity for parents and carers to purchase extra hours provision for their children. Numbers increase throughout the year as children may join the nursery in the term after their third birthday. The nursery has twice achieved the Golden Grin award.

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Information about the school

The nursery is also registered on the Early Years Register to provide day care for up to 65 children in the Early Years age group of whom not more than 27 may be under-two-years at any one time. The day-care provision is open from 8 am to 5.45 pm five days a week for 50 weeks of the year.

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Information about the school

A new assistant headteacher was appointed in September 2010 and an experienced teacher reduced her hours to half-time in October 2010. During the current year both the nursery and the registered childcare provision have experienced unsettled staffing due to long-term absence and sickness.

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Information about the school

The school shares its site with Derby Street Sure Start Children’s Centre. The centre did not form part of this inspection but a report of its quality is available on the Ofsted website. Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms

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Key Findings

 Derby Street Nursery Unit is a good school. It is not yet outstanding because the quality of teaching is not always consistently good or better and middle leaders are not taking on enough responsibility for sustaining the quality of provision and contributing to whole-school improvement.

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Key Findings

 Children achieve well. They quickly settle into nursery routines and form good relationships with adults and other children. They make good progress in all areas of learning and leave nursery well-equipped to join their Reception classes in other schools.

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Key Findings

 Teaching is of good quality overall. All adults successfully build good relationships with children and help them to grow in confidence. Some are highly effective at helping children to think about what they are learning and to extend their skills as they explain their thoughts. Not all practitioners are so skilled at maximising opportunities to promote children’s learning. Planning is not linked closely enough to adults’ observations of individuals’ achievements.

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Key Findings

 Behaviour is good and children have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe. Teaching and support staff act as good role models and promote children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well so that they understand the fairness of taking turns and are keen to help others.

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Key Findings

 Good quality leadership and management by the headteacher are guiding the nursery and day-care provision successfully through a very unsettled period. Staff mainly work well as a team. They have maintained the good quality provision so that children continue to achieve well and experience little impact from the many changes of supply staff. However, currently, middle leaders in both the nursery and day-care setting are not taking sufficient responsibility for managing performance, improving teaching and driving forward improvement.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of teaching so that it is consistently of good or better quality by ensuring that all staff: - use observations effectively to inform planning and provide high levels of challenge - question children in a way that encourages them to think and articulate their thoughts - make the best use of opportunities to maximise children’s learning.

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What does the school need to do to improve further?

 Improve the quality of leadership and management by: - as a matter of urgency, conducting a staffing review across the provision - increasing the effectiveness with which leaders other than the headteacher drive forward improvement - increasing the rigour with which the quality of teaching is monitored.

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Achievement of pupils

Most children join the nursery with skills that are below those expected for their age. Their early reading, writing and calculation skills are often well below those of similar-aged children. In response to the good care and flexible approach provided by nursery staff, children quickly become used to routines, settle well and make good progress. By the time children reach the end of their time in nursery, the great majority have developed skills that are broadly as expected for their age. Although their reading, writing and calculation skills still lag somewhat behind those in other areas, the nursery’s work to promote these areas ensures that children generally make as much progress over a year in these as in other areas. A real strength is children’s personal development as they grow in self-confidence, independence and social skills. Boys and girls achieve equally well. The progress of disabled children

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Achievement of pupils

and those who have special educational needs is also good in response to the patient, positive and well-targeted guidance offered, particularly by support staff. Parents and carers are pleased with their children’s achievement. For example, one specifically commented that her child’s ‘reading is coming along well’, and others referred to the positive impact that extra support is having on their child’s speech.

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Achievement of pupils

Children enter the nursery with glee at the start of sessions, keen to meet their friends and to choose which activity they will play with. They willingly settle for registration with their keyworker and happily participate in a short, focused activity, such as a number-recognition game with a large dice or a rhyming-word game, before setting off to explore what else is on offer. Children confidently move from one room to another or to the outside area and show self-possession as they independently walk along a bench, taking care to land safely, or concentrate hard as they hammer nails into wood and then see if their ‘boat’ floats. They know the names of different numbers, shapes and colours. Some can identify India and the United Kingdom on a wall map in the ‘travel agents’ and know that it would take a long time to fly from one country to the other. Children handle books carefully and thoroughly enjoy a story, joining in with familiar words and showing good recall skills

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Achievement of pupils

even after only one reading of a new book.

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Quality of teaching

All adults provide a warm welcome at the start of sessions which sets the tone for the good relationships and regular use of praise that are evident throughout the nursery. The overwhelming majority of parents and carers agree that their children are taught well. Typical of their comments is that, ‘All staff genuinely care for my child and support her education and development in every possible way.’

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Quality of teaching

Most, but not all, staff skilfully lead children’s learning forward through asking open- ended questions that encourage them to think about what they are doing. For example, adults’ well-focused questioning in the ‘ice-cream parlour’ prompted some children to write down customers’ orders while others set up separate negotiations between themselves such as, ‘Excuse me, can I have a chocolate one please?’ to which another child swiftly replied, ‘You’ve got to pay!’ Outside, one staff member quickly noticed a child having difficulty on the climbing frame and gently talked him through how he could work out the best way to help himself down, leading to much self-satisfaction on the part of the child. However, another adult in a similar situation just lifted a child to the ground, missing the opportunity to help him develop his own awareness of how to keep safe. Staff make good eye-contact with children and

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Quality of teaching

consistently encourage the development of good looking and listening skills. They use visual clues effectively to help all children, particularly those with special educational needs, to remember routines and expectations. Teaching and support staff are particularly effective at promoting children’s personal development through their emphasis on fairness, teamwork, offering support to others and enjoyment of the natural world, as demonstrated in children’s exuberant paintings of bluebells.

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Quality of teaching

Early screening of children’s communication skills provides a firm foundation on which staff build effectively, leading to children’s good progress. Adults record their observations of individuals’ achievements and use these as evidence to track their progress. Weekly plans indicate the main learning intentions and key vocabulary for different activities, with a broad outline of possible extension or adaptation, and are evaluated at the end of each week. However, there is insufficient precision about the next steps necessary to ensure individuals make even better progress and the learning intentions sometimes miss opportunities to extend skills in a range of areas. For example, the boat-making activity only related to handling tools with control, there was no suggestion that children draw a design, link this to their finished product or consider any possible improvements.

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

Parents and carers unanimously agree that behaviour is typically good at nursery. Through children’s positive attitudes at the start of sessions and confirmation that they have enjoyed themselves at the end, they, too, demonstrate that they expect to have a happy time, without any unkindness, at nursery. Children form good relationships with each other and adults, and understand the importance of politeness and good manners. Those of different ethnicity and ability fully accept each other’s differences and talents. They take pleasure in tidying up, prompted by the playing of music, and respond positively to adults’ consistent behaviour management strategies. Those charged with offering round drinks take great care to ensure that others have time to make their choice and all children show good patience when waiting for others to make decisions. Children understand the need, for example, for safety gates to be kept shut and they take care when pedalling

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Behaviour and safety of pupils

vehicles or playing chasing games through the trees. They also understand the importance of regularly washing their hands and drinking water in order to keep themselves safe and healthy. There are no recorded incidents of racism or bullying. The great majority of children attend nursery regularly unless prevented from doing so by illness.

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Leadership and management

The nursery’s aims and objectives provide a clear and ambitious vision for its children which the headteacher, members of the governing body and most staff work hard to achieve. Accurate self-evaluation underpins whole-school development planning and the actions taken lead to good improvement, demonstrating the nursery’s good capacity to improve further. For example, the efforts made over the past two years to improve boys’ attainment have had, and continue to have, a positive impact so that there is no consistent difference now between their skill levels and those of girls. Equality of opportunity is promoted well with all children fully included in activities and making similar, good, progress from their starting points. A high priority is placed on safeguarding, the arrangements for which meet requirements.

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Leadership and management

Staff have suitable access to training, such as that held recently to improve their promotion of children’s problem-solving and reasoning skills, or to update welfare requirements. However, monitoring of the quality of provision, particularly teaching, is not sufficiently widespread or rigorous to drive improvement. Other than the headteacher, staff whose roles include an element of leadership are not providing enough direction and support for others. Members of the governing body take an active part in monitoring provision and holding the nursery’s leaders to account. They are fully aware of the staffing difficulties and, with the support of the local authority, are taking appropriate steps to resolve them.

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Leadership and management

Good partnerships enhance the curriculum which is well-organised to promote children’s progress and enjoyment in all areas of learning. For example, access to the sensory room which is housed in the adjacent children’s centre greatly supports the progress of disabled children and those who have special educational needs. Similarly, visitors, such as firemen or those who bring exotic animals to nursery, broaden children’s experiences and help to allay their fears. Parents and carers hold very positive views of the nursery although some say that they would appreciate receiving more information about how to support their children’s learning at home. They greatly appreciate the ready access to staff at either end of sessions and say that they find very useful the more formal meetings to discuss their children’s progress.

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childcare provision

The provision is of good quality, offering children a happy and supportive environment in which to experience a wide range of different opportunities and develop their skills. Staff are sensitive to children’s needs and do their best to help them feel settled and grow in confidence. For example, permanent staff attend to the requirements of those children who indicate anxiety should a temporary staff member attempt to change their nappy. Consistent routines in the baby room, toddler room and nursery help children to grow used to expectations and to behave well. For much of the day, older children join those in the nursery for continuous play activities and staff take good care to help babies and children move confidently from one room to the next as they show they are ready for a different level of activity. Toddlers, including one who had only recently graduated from the baby room, happily took turns as they engaged in an animal and sound recognition game and

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childcare provision

then identified the different fruits available for snack. Afterwards, the youngest child made sure the visitor took notice of how well he could roll out three lumps of playdough and carefully stow the equipment, including the chairs round the table, once he had finished! Adults engage children well in talk and use praise highly effectively to build their self-esteem. They make excellent use of visual clues to support those with disabilities. Adults make focused observations of children’s skills development and review them regularly to ensure the provision is well adapted to their individual needs. They pay good attention to all aspects of children’s welfare, providing access to healthy food, plenty of water and opportunities for rest. The leadership of the headteacher is effectively ensuring that the children experience as little disruption as possible during staff absence. However, the current arrangements

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childcare provision

for leadership by those next in line to the headteacher are hampering the ability of the childcare setting to improve the quality of provision further. Parents and carers are highly satisfied with the normal childcare provision but some did express concerns about the recent unsettled staffing.

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childcare provision

These are the grades for the Early Years Foundation Stage of the registered childcare provision, inspected under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006

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childcare provision

Overall effectiveness of the Early Years Foundation Stage Taking into account: Outcomes for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage The quality of provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage The effectiveness of leadership and management of the Early Years Foundation Stage for the registered provision

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Grade Judgement Description

Grade 1 Outstanding These features are highly effective. An outstanding school provides exceptionally well for all its pupils’ needs. Grade 2 Good These are very positive features of a school. A school that is good is serving its pupils well. Grade 3 Satisfactory These features are of reasonable quality. A satisfactory school is providing adequately for its pupils. Grade 4 Inadequate These features are not of an acceptable standard. An inadequate school needs to make significant improvement in order to meet the needs of its pupils. Ofsted inspectors will make further visits until it improves.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Nursery schools 54 42 2 2 Primary schools 14 49 32 6 Secondary schools 20 39 34 7 Special schools 33 45 20 3 Pupil referral units 9 55 28 8 All schools 16 47 31 6

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

New school inspection arrangements have been introduced from 1 January 2012. This means that inspectors make judgements that were not made previously.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The data in the table above are for the period 1 September to 31 December 2011 and represent judgements that were made under the school inspection arrangements that were introduced on 1 September 2009. These data are consistent with the latest published official statistics about maintained school inspection outcomes (see www.ofsted.gov.uk ).

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

The sample of schools inspected during 2010/11 was not representative of all schools nationally, as weaker schools are inspected more frequently than good or outstanding schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Primary schools include primary academy converters. Secondary schools include secondary academy converters, sponsor-led academies and city technology colleges. Special schools include special academy converters and non-maintained special schools.

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Type of school Outstanding Good Satisfactory Inadequate

Percentages are rounded and do not always add exactly to 100.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Achievement: the progress and success of a pupil in their learning and development taking account of their attainment.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attainment: the standard of the pupils' work shown by test and examination results and in lessons.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Attendance the regular attendance of pupils at school and in lessons, taking into account the school's efforts to encourage good attendance.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Behaviour how well pupils behave in lessons, with emphasis on their attitude to learning. Pupils' punctuality to lessons and their conduct around the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Capacity to improve: the proven ability of the school to continue improving based on its self-evaluation and 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

Floor standards the national minimum expectation of attainment and progression measures

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Common terminology used by inspectors

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

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Learning: how well pupils acquire knowledge, develop their understanding, learn and practise skills and are developing their competence as learners.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Overall effectiveness: inspectors form a judgement on a school's overall effectiveness based on the findings from their inspection of the school.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Progress: the rate at which pupils are learning in lessons and over longer periods of time. It is often measured by comparing the pupils' attainment at the end of a key stage with their attainment when they started.

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Common terminology used by inspectors

Safety how safe pupils are in school, including in lessons; and their understanding of risks. Pupils' freedom from bullying and harassment. How well the school promotes safety, for example e-learning.

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to share with their children. It describes Ofsted's main

findings from the inspection of their school.

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Inspection of Derby Street Nursery Unit, Heywood, OL10 4QJ

Thank you for making me so welcome when I visited your nursery recently. I enjoyed meeting you, playing with you and chatting with you. It was particularly good to see how well you all behave and get on with each other. I was impressed by how much care you take when offering other children drinks and how good you usually are about taking turns.

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Inspection of Derby Street Nursery Unit, Heywood, OL10 4QJ

Derby Street is a good nursery which helps you to learn lots of new things. The adults take good care of you and help you to grow full of self-confidence. I could see how sensible and adventurous you are about playing in the ‘forest’. The youngest children who use the day-care provision also have a good time. They move from one room to the next without any trouble because the adults judge very well when they are becoming a bit more independent. The older ones have plenty of chances to get used to nursery because you all play together for much of the time. Most of the adults who play with you are good at asking questions that make you think and learn rapidly. I have asked the leaders to make sure that everyone does this and provides you with activities that are at just the right level of difficulty for you.

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Inspection of Derby Street Nursery Unit, Heywood, OL10 4QJ

Your parents and carers are very happy with how much progress you make at nursery. They like the warm welcome that adults give you at the start of sessions and that it is always easy to discuss any concerns with them. The leaders have good ideas about what could be even better and have made many improvements. I have asked them to make sure that you almost always have staff looking after you that you know and who know you well.

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Inspection of Derby Street Nursery Unit, Heywood, OL10 4QJ

I hope you continue to enjoy learning as much as you do now.

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Inspection of Derby Street Nursery Unit, Heywood, OL10 4QJ

Sarah Drake Lead inspector procedures set out in the guidance 'Complaining about inspections', 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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