Maples Children's Centre

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T 0300 123 4234 www.gov.uk/ofsted

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Mrs Linzi Leigh Headteacher Maples Children’s Centre East Churchfield Road Acton London W3 7LL

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

Following my visit to the school on 27 June 2018, I write on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills to report the inspection findings. The visit was the first short inspection carried out since the school was judged to be good in October 2013.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. You and your new leaders have evaluated the effectiveness of your school accurately. Together with your governors, you have a clear understanding of strengths and next steps for whole-school development. You are making sure that the school is continuing to improve. Teaching and learning have improved since the previous inspection. As a result, activities are better matched to the children’s needs than at that time. Children, including those who have special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities, continue to make good progress from their starting points.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

You and your leaders are monitoring teaching and learning robustly. You can demonstrate where improvements have been made. For example, planning is now sharply focused on the different needs of individual children, so that activities are designed to provide challenge for all abilities.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

You have made sure that there is a calm and purposeful atmosphere indoors and outside in your attractive and fragrant outdoor area. Children especially enjoy learning about the world around them. They are keen to explore your many natural resources such as the flowers and vegetables they are growing.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

Children behave well and concentrate on their tasks. You and your staff have clear expectations for behaviour and use praise to encourage children to try hard and to persevere. For example, the two-year olds took great care when watering the plants and were patient when trying to open their pea pods. Parents and carers are very positive about the school. They typically make comments such as, ‘Everyday, there are different activities’, and ‘The children are learning so much.’

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

While we were in class, we noticed that opportunities were missed to strengthen children’s vocabularies and use of language. You have identified this as the next area you need to tackle. Your information on how well the children are learning also shows this to be a comparative weakness this year.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

You are in the process of improving your website and were unaware that certain information, that is currently missing, must be included.

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

The leadership team has ensured that all safeguarding arrangements are fit for purpose, and records are detailed and of high quality. You make sure that all adults working with children have been checked for suitability. There is a comprehensive training programme to ensure that members of staff are clear about their responsibilities in caring for the children and in keeping them safe. Parents make positive comments about safety, such as, ‘The carers really care about the children’, and ‘They look after the children well.’

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Short inspection of Maples Children’s Centre

Children feel safe and well supported. They are confident and know that an adult will help them if they are unable to resolve a problem for themselves. They learn how to stay safe on the busy road next to the school. They are aware of the need to help each other to keep safe by working together harmoniously.

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Inspection findings

 I met with you at the start of the inspection and we agreed four key lines of enquiry for my visit. First, we decided to look at how well members of staff are meeting the needs of the most able children. This group of children did not always make enough progress at the time of the previous inspection.  We found that your assessment information, examples of the children’s work and our observations in lessons demonstrated that these children are learning well. You and your staff provide plenty of activities that stimulate the children’s interest and challenge them to extend their learning. For example, they were counting accurately beyond 10 and counting in tens to 100. They were learning about the flags of countries that are competing in the World Cup and were independently constructing their own flags.  Next, we agreed to look at the impact of you and your new leaders on developing teaching and learning. At the time of the previous inspection, improvement points

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Inspection findings

for teachers were not followed up well enough. Your monitoring of teaching and learning is detailed and evaluative. You were able to show me how teachers have improved the rigour of their planning. During our observations of learning, we could see that members of staff are focusing on the interests and next steps of individual children effectively.  Next, we decided to look at how well disadvantaged children are progressing. There is no information on your website to show how you spend the specific funding for these children or to show the impact of your work on their progress. There are only a small number of these children in each class, but you have individual plans that ensure that they are given the right support. You were able to show me how you spend this funding and how you are helping the children to make good progress.  Finally, we looked at how well your website provided information about your

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Inspection findings

Nursery. When I looked at the website prior to my visit, I could see that some information was missing. You explained that the website was in the process of being reviewed. You agreed that the mandatory information about the pupil premium grant, complaints procedures, curriculum and behaviour policy, although available in the school, should be added to your website.

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Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

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Next steps for the school

 opportunities for children to develop their vocabularies and use of language are strengthened  the school website includes all the information it should publish online.

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Next steps for the school

I am copying this letter to the chair of the governing body, the regional schools’ commissioner and the director of children’s services for Ealing. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

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Information about the inspection

 The inspector observed teaching and learning during several learning walks with the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.  Discussions were held with leaders, other members of staff and governors.  The inspector held informal discussions with several parents. There were too few responses to the Ofsted questionnaire, Parent View, to be considered.  Samples of children’s work were scrutinised.  A range of information supplied by the school was checked, including the school’s information about how well children are doing. The inspector also evaluated the school development plan, self-evaluation and records related to safeguarding.

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