Crigglestone Nursery School

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

p.1

Mrs Joanne Gogarty Headteacher Crigglestone Nursery School High Street Crigglestone Wakefield West Yorkshire WF4 3EB

p.1

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

Following my visit to the school on 10 July 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 2014.

p.1

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection. Based on the evidence gathered during this short inspection, I am of the opinion that the school has demonstrated strong practice and marked improvement in specific areas. This may indicate that the school has improved significantly overall. Therefore, I am recommending that the school’s next inspection be a section 5 inspection. You effectively put in place successful actions to address the recommendations from the previous inspection. Your ethos of continuous improvement is reflected across the school. You know your school exceptionally well and have pinpointed the areas for improvement that will have the most impact on outcomes for children. You have created a dedicated team and are well supported by the knowledgeable deputy headteacher and the rest of the staff. All staff have excellent access to professional

p.1

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

development opportunities, which means that their practice is always improving. You use your expertise and knowledge of early years, and that of your staff, to support other professionals. You positively influence early years delivery across the consortium of eight schools in the locality and more widely across the local authority. You have high expectations for the children who attend your school. The development of the outdoor area is impressive. This year, the extension of this into a forest school area, along with the refurbishment of the indoor learning environment, has successfully focused on improving the exciting opportunities for learning across all areas of the curriculum. This has secured rapid improvements in progress and attainment for all children. Governors know the school well. They challenge and support you effectively, to ensure that there are no differences in progress between different groups of children.

p.1

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

All the staff know the children and what they are interested in. They follow these interests to engage children in learning. They use observations and assessments astutely to plan learning. When they are directly teaching, they make sure that children who may need a bit more adult attention are secure and that the work and challenge are accurately pitched. You have developed a wealth of resources, meaning children are able to apply and practise the skills and knowledge they have been taught, across the wider school, both indoors and outside. This means that children progress rapidly in their understanding. The teaching of phonics, reading and writing is highly effective, and opportunities to develop mathematical understanding are embedded within all activities. Children are confident because of the secure relationships staff develop with them. Parents’ comments often refer to the caring and nurturing environment you have

p.2

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

created. Children listen to each other and work well together. They know the routines to follow and the high expectations for behaviour you and your staff hold. Attendance is very high because children enjoy coming to school. You successfully promote healthy lifestyles and personal hygiene. Children are regularly reminded to wash their hands, and parents are effectively supported to develop their children’s toileting habits.

p.2

Short inspection of Crigglestone Nursery School

You ensure that the building is safe. You have redesigned and extended the entrance area to ensure that adults cannot have unsupervised access to children. Staff have regular training on safeguarding, so are very aware of any signs or behaviours that may indicate a concern. You securely hold detailed, high-quality records and paperwork on the few children who have social work involvement. These plans are focused on improving outcomes for the child, such as ensuring they feel secure. You ensure that the school is represented at every meeting and diligently check to ensure that agreements are actioned by other professionals. Governors take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously, auditing files and other records to ensure they meet requirements and checking that staff training is up to date. You effectively teach children how to keep safe, for example through the risk assessments you and the children make when they are playing outdoors.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Staff are exceptionally aware of when to intervene and when to step back and allow learning to take place. You have ensured that they have developed their skills through commissioning high-quality training which has secured this improvement in practice. They engage in children’s play to enhance the quality, with learning opportunities to the fore. In one observation, a member of staff introduced large gravel as money during shop play in the willow tree house and then used this to prompt children to count to 20. In another observation, children were exploring the properties of running water. Staff knew that the best intervention was to support a child who has special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities in their language development, repeating the phrase ‘splash, splash, splash!’ every time a boat hit the water. The child listened to this and began to repeat the pattern, showing a development in language acquisition.

p.2

Inspection findings

 Your self-evaluation identifies exactly the right areas to improve learning, based on the new, more accurate and robust assessments of children’s learning and progress. You have set challenging, measurable targets in some areas, such as in outcomes. However, this is not reflected in all areas of the development plan. You are aware of this and are already working on more precise targets for the coming academic year.  Middle managers are exceptionally well supported to develop their management skills, and to deliver improvements in their curriculum areas. This can be seen in mathematics, where many children achieve levels of understanding above those typically seen for their age. Due to the effective curriculum audit, mathematics is now embedded across all areas of learning and planning now encompasses purposeful play. This ensures that children can practise and secure their knowledge and skills.  Governors know the school extremely well. They are extremely diligent in their

p.3

Inspection findings

roles. They challenge you, regularly, around any gaps in attainment between groups and progress within different areas. Not only are they looking increasingly closely at the outcomes for disadvantaged children, but also for those most vulnerable and those who may have an education, health and care plan. Any differences in rates of progress and attainment levels, year on year, can largely be ascribed to the differing starting points of the cohorts.  Last year, a large proportion of disadvantaged children entered school with skills well below those typical for their age. Many children had care plans in place, for example for toilet training and speech delay. So, while they made progress, it was not as rapid, due to these barriers. This year, 80% of these children have made accelerated progress because the individual plans and interventions have been effective in breaking down any barriers to learning. You have given

p.3

Inspection findings

additional input for their families to help them better understand how their children learn and how they can help them at home. Focused sessions have also successfully supported rapid progress in the children’s speech and language skills. You closely monitor the progress of these children and put in further support if required to mitigate against any slowing of progress. For example, changing patterns of sessions, extending sessions or closely liaising with foster parents through communication booklets to support learning.  The vast majority of children in your care make substantial progress from their different starting points. The most able children leave the school able to read and write, using phonic skills above those usually seen at this age. They can successfully add two-digit and single-digit numbers up to 20 and count confidently towards 100. All children are exceptionally well-prepared for the next

p.3

Inspection findings

stage in their education. The school’s own tracking of children’s progress shows that nearly every child who has attended this school achieves a good level of development by the end of the early years foundation stage.  Communication with parents is exemplary. In discussions with the inspector, parents talked enthusiastically about receiving the ‘Newsflash’, a detailed observation of their children in an activity. They said how it effectively helps them to know the sort of activities their children are doing and how well they are doing them. Regular information slips are sent home, to let parents know what their children can do, and how they can help at home to support their progress further. Staff also regularly and informally let parents know how their children are doing. They give support and guidance on how parents can further help their children. There are the more formal, six-monthly, consultations. Parents also said

p.3

Inspection findings

how impressed they were with the communication between staff. Any information parents give, say at dropping off time, is swiftly shared with all staff members. This means that any issues a child may have are known by all staff and ensures that children’s welfare is addressed as a priority. This gave parents confidence that their children are safe. Records of governors’ meetings are readily accessible for parents in the public areas of the building. As one parent told me, ‘I genuinely feel like I have been part of my child’s education.’

p.4

Next steps for the school

Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that:

p.4

Next steps for the school

 targets set in the development plan are consistently measurable in all areas for improvement to better demonstrate impact.

p.4

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 Wakefield. This letter will be published on the Ofsted website.

p.4

Information about the inspection

The focus of the inspection was to check whether the good standards identified at the previous inspection had been maintained and to find out how well children were progressing. I held a variety of meetings with you and your staff. I observed adult- supported learning, jointly with you, in the school. I considered a range of evidence including the school improvement plan and leaders’ self-evaluation. I also reviewed other documentation. I met with three members of the governing body and spoke with the school improvement adviser. I considered the responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the school’s own parent survey and spoke with five parents. I also took account of the responses to Ofsted’s online staff questionnaire.

p.4