Alumwell Nursery School

ALUMWELL NURSERY SCHOOL

Dates of inspection: 10 – 13 November 2003

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ALUMWELL NURSERY SCHOOL

Inspection carried out under section 10 of the School Inspections Act 1996 Alumwell Nursery School - 2 This report may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated.

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ALUMWELL NURSERY SCHOOL

Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the School Inspections Act 1996, the school must provide a copy of this report and/or its summary 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. Alumwell Nursery School - 3

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NURSERY

Type of school: Nursery School category: Maintained Age range of children: 3 – 4 years Gender of children: Mixed Number on roll: 130 part-time children (attending mornings or afternoons)

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NURSERY

School address: Primley Avenue Walsall Postcode: WS2 9UP

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NURSERY

Telephone number: 01922 721264 Fax number: 01922 721264

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NURSERY

Appropriate authority: Education Walsall Name of chair of governors: Mrs M Hadley

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE NURSERY

Date of previous inspection: November 1998

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CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NURSERY

This Nursery for 130 part-time children aged three and four years serves an area of socio-economic need. Numbers at the school are stable and there is a waiting list. The ethnic make-up of the children is wide and encompasses: white British, Afro Caribbean, Arabian, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and North African. The number of children who do not speak English at home is high at 41 per cent. The number of children of minority ethnic origin is high, at about half the total on roll. Five children are identified in need of support on the special educational needs register. No children are in public care. A new building, termed ALUMWELLIES , completed in May 2002 on the school’s site, provides extended day care places for children. It provides classes for parents, a lunch club, ‘wrap around’ care all day and holiday play schemes. Although broad, the standards of children on entry are below the expected levels for the age range.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Members of the inspection team Subject responsibilities 21080 Kay Cornish Lead inspector Mathematical development, Knowledge and understanding of the world, Physical development 19361 Keith Ross Lay inspector 31334 Barbara Atcheson Team inspector Personal, social and emotional development, Communication, language and literacy, Creative development

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Altecq Education Limited 102 Bath Road Cheltenham Gloucestershire GL53 7JX

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE INSPECTION TEAM

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be made initially to the inspection contractor. The procedures are set out in the leaflet ‘Complaining about Ofsted Inspections’ , which is available from Ofsted Publications Centre (telephone 07002 637833) or Ofsted’s website (www.ofsted.gov.uk). Alumwell Nursery School - 5

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY CHILDREN 8

Children’s attitudes, values and other personal qualities

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE NURSERY 11

Teaching and learning The curriculum Care, guidance and support Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

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OVERALL EVALUATION

Alumwell Nursery is a highly effective school that provides a very good education with excellent enrichment , most appropriate for children’s needs. Children’s achievement over time is good, occasionally very good, as a result of very good teaching. There is very good provision for children with special educational needs, resulting in their very good achievement. The school is very successful in the education of children from minority ethnic origin. The excellent headteacher has imaginative vision and is an outstanding innovator and purposeful leader. She receives strong support from the excellent teamwork of staff. In September 2003, the newly formed governing body received its delegated powers. It has made a good start in governance. The previous report’s key issues have been rectified most competently and improvement has been very good with excellent features. The school gives very good value for money .

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OVERALL EVALUATION

The school’s main strengths and weaknesses are:  The excellent headteacher has imaginative vision and is an outstanding innovator and purposeful leader.  She receives excellent support from her senior teacher and staff in order to consolidate initiatives, improve children’s achievement and provision.  Provision for children of minority ethnic origin is excellent, ensuring all children receive their full entitlement and are fully included in all activities.  Very good teaching, overall, and very good provision for children with special educational needs ensure all children’s good achievement.  Links with parents are excellent, promoting excellent relationships and a strong foundation for learning.  The very good breadth of the planned curriculum provides outstanding opportunities for children’s enrichment.  Despite the many good initiatives to improve children’s communication, language and literacy

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OVERALL EVALUATION

skills, their standards are below the expected levels for the age range.  Although improvements to outdoor facilities are excellent, the cramped internal accommodation lacks a separate office for the headteacher, a staff room, and large enough area for children to practise their physical activities. This creates difficulties for children’s physical development, for adults’ meetings and private consultations.  Although risk assessment is implemented and ongoing, it is not yet recorded formally for all aspects.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

Children’s achievement is at least good . Children make good improvement in their standards from when they commenced nursery, when there were wide variations in ability. A majority of children were below the expected entry level, and well below in the use of English. A majority of children should reach the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage when they will be attending the infant school. Currently, standards are at the expected levels of three and four year olds, overall. There is very good achievement in mathematics, and children are well on the way to reach above the expected level at the end of the Foundation Stage. There is excellent provision for children to understand about places, cultures and beliefs, and so they reach standards above those expected of them in these areas. Provision for children of minority ethnic origin is excellent, resulting in their very good achievement in most areas of learning. Very good provision for special educational needs

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

ensures their very good achievement so that they successfully reach their individual targets. Despite the many good initiatives to improve all children’s communication, language and literacy, their Alumwell Nursery School - 7 understanding and speaking skills in English do not reach the expected level for three and four year olds. If these good initiatives are maintained throughout the Reception class in the infant school, then it is likely that these children will reach the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED

The school’s nurturing of children’s personal qualities is very good. The school is excellent at stimulating in children a desire to learn, and is excellent at promoting racial harmony and good relationships. Children are very well behaved and have an excellent appreciation of their own and others’ cultures. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is very good.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The very good quality of education has a strong impact on children’s very good learning and good achievement over time. The quality of teaching is always at least good and, on one occasion, was seen to be excellent. The assessment of children’s achievement is very good. There is excellent use of staffing and resources to ensure a very good breadth of curricular opportunities, and excellent enrichment activities. The promotion of equal opportunities is excellent so that all children are included and focused on reaching their potential. Outdoor facilities are excellent, but the indoor accommodation is cramped and is limiting. The lack of a headteacher’s separate office and a staff room, creates difficulties for private consultations and staff’s break and lunch times. Currently the staff room is in the entrance hall and adjoins the adult toilets. When outside visitors interview children, there is no quiet, private room conducive to private consultation. The headteacher shares

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

her office with her administrator. The school lacks a large enough indoor area for dance and gymnastics. Although outdoor facilities for travelling in a variety of ways, and for climbing and balancing, are excellent, when the weather is poor, space indoors for these activities is limiting. These factors are unsatisfactory.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

The high quality of care, welfare, health and safety given to children is very good so that each child has an excellent opportunity to have a good and trusting relationship with one or more adults in the school. The excellent relationships with parents and the very good links with the community all combine to ensure a highly effective foundation for children’s learning.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION

Note: The Foundation Stage begins when children reach the age of three and ends at the end of the reception class. It is a distinct stage in preparing children for later schooling and is based on six areas of learning. These mainly refer to communication, language and literacy, mathematical development and personal, social and emotional development, but also includes knowledge and understanding of the world; physical and creative development.

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The excellent headteacher has imaginative vision and gives strong, purposeful leadership, she is

an outstanding innovator . She has successfully created a closely knit team of high quality staff, led by her senior teacher, who give excellent support in order to raise children’s achievement. The governance of the school by the recently established governing body is good. Governors’ understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school is excellent, and the long-standing commitment of the astute chair of governors brings with it a wealth of experience. A full range of recently ratified policies ensures that all statutory responsibilities are met.

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PARENTS’ AND CHILDREN’S VIEWS OF THE SCHOOL

Parents’ views have been sought, valued and acted upon with a high degree of co-operation. Links with parents are excellent and parents regard the school in the same vein . They particularly like the high quality of teaching and excellent support given to their children. In the words of one father: “This is a brilliant school”, or in the case of one couple: “We drive to this school out of the area so Alumwell Nursery School - 8 that our child can come here”. Parents appreciate the outdoor facilities but consider that the accommodation lacks sufficient space. Children like school and are happy and confident when they enter, showing true enjoyment of all their activities.

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IMPROVEMENTS NEEDED

The most important things the school should do to improve are:  Continue with the good initiatives to improve children’s understanding and speaking skills of English.  With the help of Education Walsall, enlarge the accommodation so that the difficulties and constraints caused by its limitations are lessened. Alumwell Nursery School - 9

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Standards achieved in areas of learning

Although children enter the Nursery with standards below the expected levels for the age group, there are wide variations in ability. Children’s achievement is at least good so that a majority should reach the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage when at the Infant School’s reception class. Currently, whilst children are at the Nursery, their standards are at the expected levels of three and four year olds, overall.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

 Teaching is often very good and always at least good, resulting in children’s good achievement throughout all areas of learning.  There is very good achievement in mathematics so that children are well on the way to reach above the expected level by the end of the Foundation Stage.  There is excellent provision for children to understand about places, cultures and beliefs, which enables them to reach above the expected level for this area.  About half of the children are of minority ethnic origin, and provision for them is excellent, resulting in their very good achievement.  Very good provision for children with special educational needs ensures their very good achievement.  Despite the many good initiatives to improve all children’s communication, language and literacy, their understanding and speaking skills do not reach the expected level for three and four year olds.

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Commentary

1. Staff have a very good understanding of all the areas of children’s learning in the Foundation Stage. They have a strong team approach to their work, planning thoroughly together and making very good use of a stimulating range of resources. Resources for role-play and outdoor activities are exceptional. High standards of teaching and support lift children’s achievement significantly.

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Commentary

2. The very good achievement in mathematics is largely due to the very good teaching and planning in order for children to be on course to reach above the standards expected at the end of the Foundation Stage. Children’s understanding of number is strong and is constantly reinforced through very good links with stories and the role-play activities. Through movement lessons, art, jigsaws and using the computers, children have secure learning of language for directions and position, and their ideas of shape and space are, again, strongly reinforced.

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Commentary

Footnote: The Foundation Stage begins when children reach the age of three and ends at the end of the reception class. It is a distinct stage in preparing children for later schooling and is based on six areas of learning. These mainly refer to communication, language and literacy, mathematical development and personal, social and emotional development, but also includes knowledge and understanding of the world; physical and creative development. STANDARDS are the levels of knowledge, understanding and skills that children reach compared with children of the same age nationally. ACHIEVEMENT is an assessment of children’s knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to their capability. It is a Alumwell Nursery School - 10 judgement about whether children are doing as well as they can and are working to their capacity.

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Commentary

3. Children’s literature is used most effectively to promote very good understanding about different places and cultures. The excellent use of the book Handa’s Surprise and the stimulating role-play area, in the replica of Handa’s village, raise children’s awareness of other cultures. Children play the bongo drums and the rainmakers during Choosing Time. All have tasted the exotic fruit named in the story about Handa . Their recent celebrations of the Diwali festival have further enriched their knowledge of different places. Evidence shows that children have sampled Asian foods, observed Indian dancers and played with Asian dolls and puppets. Children have visited the local Christian church for festivals. The rich, hands-on experiences for children have improved significantly children’s knowledge and understanding about different places and cultures.

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Commentary

4. The celebration of the cultural diversity of children is strong. As a result, children of minority ethnic origin are confident and have very good self-esteem. Much has been done to ensure the good learning of these children. Five hundred pounds has been spent on dual-language books in Gujerati and Punjabi for teaching assistants to help children on a one-to-one or one-to-two basis. The enthusiastic co-ordinator for the minority ethnic children has visited homes and encouraged the use of play-packs and library books at home. A parents’ group has been welcomed at school to participate in cooking/language sessions, and a crèche has been provided for younger siblings. Such very good relationships have had a positive effect on children’s learning. Much of the topics studied are very relevant to these children’s needs.

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Commentary

5. The intensive one-to-one support for children with special educational needs is highly effective. The staff assess the children in a way that reveals their precise needs so that their tasks are carefully planned to maximise their learning, which is good. The school is excellent at including fully all children in the regular routines and exciting activities. Some of these are modified in order to meet individual children’s targets. Special educational needs already successfully met by the Nursery are those of visual and hearing impairment, cerebral palsy, autistic spectrum disorders and behaviour problems. There has been excellent training of staff to meet these special needs. Outside agencies, giving good support, work on a regular basis with the school. Home visits by the co-ordinator and group leaders provide close monitoring of children and encourage further support to help their progress. Individual education plans (IEP)

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Commentary

are clearly written so that all staff are aware of the children’s needs and targets. Able children are also identified early and receive harder challenges and good support. The result of all this very good provision is the very good achievement of children with special educational needs.

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Commentary

6. Children listen carefully, and almost all children, including those with complex special educational needs, have a good attempt at communicating with each other and adults by talking, gesturing, or using visual cues. Staff provide many good opportunities to improve children’s communication, language and literacy. For example, all children’s first names and surnames are mounted on card and hung up on individual pegs. By the time they leave Nursery, a significant majority has learnt to recognise a name and is proficient in selecting it correctly from the many names displayed. Although many children give evidence through their role-play of their secure understanding of the vocabulary and sequence of the plot of a story, they find difficulty in explaining their thoughts and knowledge orally in English. One reason for this is the high proportion of children (four out of ten) who speak a different language from English

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Commentary

when at home. When using their mother tongue, they explain things well. Teachers have to work twice as hard as normal to increase children’s English vocabulary and speaking skills. They do this extremely well. However, despite all the good efforts of the teachers, the children’s English speaking skills are not level with those expected for three and four year olds, Alumwell Nursery School - 11 although their achievement since beginning Nursery is good. If the good initiatives at Alumwell Nursery are maintained throughout the Reception class in the infant school, then it is likely that children will reach the early learning goals for communication, language and literacy by the end of the Foundation Stage.

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Children’s attitudes, values and other personal qualities

Children’s attitudes, behaviour and personal development are very good . Other aspects of personal development including spiritual, moral, social and cultural development are also very good. Attendance and punctuality are satisfactory.

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Children’s attitudes, values and other personal qualities

 The children have very good attitudes to learning because lessons are interesting, staff are enthusiastic and encouraging and the provision is rich and varied.  The school’s promotion of good relationships including racial harmony is excellent as a result of the example set and consistently reinforced by all staff.  The school constantly emphasises high expectations for children’s conduct. School expectations are widely known and children and staff live up to them.  As a result of the continual insistence on personal responsibility and encouragement by all staff, children understand the consequences of their actions and show respect for people, living things, property and the environment.

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Commentary

7. The children are really pleased to come to school because they feel valued and secure. The children respond enthusiastically as their nursery nurses help them sequence what they plan to do for the day. Each child takes a turn at being the special person for the day. This involves taking registers to the office, helping to serve snacks and giving the signal to tidy up. When children hear this signal they all take part and quickly tidy their area. All adults are very good role models. They consistently project positive attitudes, foster very good relationships and support mutual respect. As a result, children are self-assured and confident as they come into school leaving their parents and guardians.

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Commentary

8. Playtimes are exciting as the children have a very rich outdoor provision. Each area has a member of staff who ensures that whilst the children have the opportunity to have free choice and play in a relaxed atmosphere, the very good attitudes and behaviour are maintained in a very positive way. Throughout the day, staff listen carefully to children’s views and children listen attentively to the staff. Lessons are interesting and staff are enthusiastic and encouraging. A good example of this was seen when a child expressed real delight on completion of a collage. This promoted a real sense of self worth plainly visible in his facial expression and body language. Children have such good attitudes to learning, and they are capable of responding positively to self-chosen challenges when given free choice. They sustain concentration because activities are interesting and they feel settled and secure enough to

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Commentary

9. Behaviour in and around school is very good. As a result of very effective support, all children move around the school, inside and out, with a good degree of self-control. Over enthusiasm is diplomatically discouraged and lots of positive reinforcement ensures that when children move independently, rather than in a group, they take on this self-control. Alumwell Nursery School - 12 10. The school makes very good provision for children’s spiritual development. The staff value children’s ideas and encourage them to develop feelings of self worth. Very good planning supports children as they develop values and beliefs, providing children with opportunities which foster curiosity and build on interesting experiences.

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Commentary

11. The school is a very diverse community and as a result, children have respect for each other’s feelings, values and beliefs. Breeding butterflies and looking after the giant land snails teach children a respect for living things.

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Commentary

12. The school’s provision for moral development is very good. The highly effective role-models of the staff support children as they develop a moral awareness and begin to take full responsibility for themselves and their own actions. All children are responsible for their own behaviour. Through constant positive reinforcement, persistence and insistence, by staff, children learn that anti-social behaviour is not acceptable.

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Commentary

13. Provision for children’s social development is very good. Relationships between all members of the school community are excellent. Children like and trust their teachers and are confident in asking for help if they need it. Boys and girls of all ages and ethnic backgrounds work and play well together and care for one another. They are particularly caring and patient towards children with physical disabilities. They undertake jobs and responsibilities, learning to take turns and share equipment. The manner in which these very young children take full responsibility for themselves and their actions is excellent.

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Commentary

14. The school enhances its own rich diversity of cultures by giving children a wealth of experiences in other cultures. Appreciation of their own and others’ cultural traditions is excellent. They take part in the Global Citizenship Project through art and learn about Africa through their role-play in the Handa’s village. African music and a wealth of artefacts including musical instruments enhance their understanding. Religious festivals from all major religions are celebrated. Visitors bring music and dance from other cultures into the school. Bus rides to town and visits to the art gallery, church and museum widen children’s understanding of the local cultural heritage.

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Commentary

15. The school’s action to promote regular attendance is good. Registers are promptly completed and help children to recognise their own names on cards.

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Commentary

Ethnic background of children Exclusions in the last school year

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Commentary

Categories used in the Annual School Census No of children on roll Number of fixed period exclusions Number of permanent exclusions White – British 62 0 0 Mixed – White and Black Caribbean 8 0 0 Mixed – White and Asian 5 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Indian 13 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Pakistani 31 0 0 Asian or Asian British – Bangladeshi 1 0 0 Black or Black British – Caribbean 2 0 0 Black or Black British – African 2 0 0 Any other ethnic group 2 0 0 Alumwell Nursery School - 13 The table gives the number of exclusions, which may be different from the number of children excluded.

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QUALITY OF EDUCATION PROVIDED BY THE NURSERY

The very good quality of education has a strong impact on children’s achievement . Teaching and learning are very good in all six areas of the Foundation Stage. There is excellent use of staffing and resources. The assessment of children’s achievement is very good. The promotion of equal opportunities is excellent. Outdoor facilities are excellent, but the indoor accommodation is cramped. The high quality of care, guidance and support given to children, the excellent links with parents, and the very good links with the community, all combine to ensure a most effective education for the school’s children, with outstanding enrichment.

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Teaching and learning

Very good teaching has a strong impact on children’s very good learning and their good achievement over time. The quality of teaching is always at least good and is often very good. One lesson was excellent. This is a very positive picture and an improvement from the previous inspection, when teaching was good.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

 All staff work very hard as a cohesive teaching team, under the outstanding leadership of the headteacher, to provide interesting and stimulating lessons.  Staff’s expertise in all aspects of the six areas of learning for the Foundation Stage is very good, and there is excellent use of resources, teaching assistants and all adults, in order to support fully children’s learning.  The promotion of equal opportunity for all children is excellent.  The thoroughness of assessment usefully informs weekly or fortnightly units of work and helps monitor children’s progress carefully.  Although teachers recognise the need to provide indoor opportunities for children to climb and balance on large apparatus, to travel widely in a variety of movement, and to use fully extra space in dance, the lack of appropriate accommodation constrains their planning for these activities.

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Commentary

Summary of teaching observed during the inspection in 22 lessons

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Commentary

Excellent Very good Good Satisfactory Unsatisfactory Poor Very Poor

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Commentary

The table gives the number of lessons observed in each of the seven categories used to make judgements about lessons.

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Commentary

16. Very good teaching predominates in the school. Staff meet regularly to plan the units of work during the term. Planned, well-linked activities are relevant and meaningful to young children, as, for example, when children act out a story in the replica African village. Staff are very successful as a team, supporting each other in preparing sessions, and trying hard to provide children with interesting activities, resulting in their very good learning. Their firm, kindly patience and high standards for behaviour ensure that children have positive attitudes and that they concentrate and behave well.

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Commentary

17. The headteacher has ensured that all staff have very good professional training. Staff have attended relevant courses to improve their expertise. In the past three years, staff have Alumwell Nursery School - 14 continually updated and improved their skills, particularly for supporting children with special educational needs. As a result, staff are very experienced in working with children with a wide range of special educational needs. In addition, the school provides extra support for children whose spoken language at home is not predominantly English and staff are often well qualified to do so. For example, an assistant helping two minority ethnic children to follow a story in a dual-language book, has a degree from Gujerati University, speaks and writes Gujerati, Hindi, speaks Punjabi, and is fluent in English. This provides high quality appropriate teaching to ensure very good learning takes place. Excellent outdoor resources are used regularly to

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Commentary

improve children’s physical and creative development. Indoor resources are used imaginatively to maintain children’s concentration. Resources are of very good quality and are chosen to promote equality and diversity in learning. There is a high number of computers, used fully to promote good achievement in ICT skills.

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Commentary

Example of Outstanding Practice Driving from Junction 10 of the M6, one is soon at the Nursery and entering into a brightly coloured sanctuary of learning. The contrast is significant. The centre of the Nursery’s building has been changed into a replica African village with two temporary huts, a variety of ethnic instruments, utensils and traditional costumes for children to dress up in. Having tasted the exotic fruit described in the story of Handa’s Surprise , a few children enact the story’s sequence, using small puppets and material ‘fruits’ to represent the animals and fruits of the tale. Children practise walking as Handa does, with a basket balanced on her head, accompanied by the taped music and singing from Africa, and two boys beating enthusiastically on their bongo drums. They look every inch the African child. This excellent linking of role-play with an appropriate and well-loved story spills over into mathematics lessons, art, extra language activities and knowledge about

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Commentary

other cultures. For these young three and four year olds, of whom a half are of minority ethnic origin, learning has become significantly relevant and exciting.

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Commentary

18. The promotion of equal opportunity for all children is excellent. The children are from many different backgrounds and cultures, with a range of abilities and needs. The school aims, and succeeds to give the children meaningful experiences to develop their skills and knowledge. The ethos of the school and the carefully planned curriculum promotes the value of all children and adults. Clear policies state that racial harassment or racism will not be tolerated and staff work very hard to implement good practice. When necessary, staff withdraw children in need of extra support to develop their skills in English. Children of higher ability receive good challenges and are encouraged to extend their learning in many ways, as, for example, recording numbers in mathematics, or attempting to make marks resembling words on a page.

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Commentary

19. The assessment of children’s achievement is regular, thorough and very good. All staff use assessment as a natural part of their teaching. Learning observations are very effective in diagnosing children’s strengths and helping them to overcome their weaknesses. Children are encouraged to comment on their work. Assessment is used very well to inform planning and children’s progress is under constant review. Individual completed portfolios with photographic evidence and children’s own work are excellent. Although they are very young, children know that making mistakes is inevitable and they learn from sorting them out because they are so well supported by all staff.

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Commentary

20. The lack of appropriate indoor accommodation for physical development constrains staff’s planning for these activities. During good weather, children benefit greatly from the excellent outdoor amenities to help them climb, balance and travel widely using different apparatus. The room used for the development of gross motor skills in wet weather is very small and this limits children’s experiences.

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The curriculum

Alumwell Nursery School - 15 Curriculum provision is very good and meets all statutory requirements.

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Main strengths and weaknesses

 The school provides a rich and varied programme of experiences of exceptional quality for all children. Visits by a wide range of experts are well established and beneficial.  Equality of opportunity and personal, social and health education are highly developed and are strengths of the school.  The support staff work together as an extremely efficient team. Their highly effective experience and training contributes positively to the high standards of the curriculum.  The lack of a headteacher’s separate office, of a staff room, and a large enough room for indoor gymnastics and dance, creates difficulties for private consultations, public meetings and provision for children’s physical development.

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Commentary

21. The imaginative curriculum is broad and balanced and carefully constructed from the stepping- stones for the early learning goals in order to promote high achievement. The assessment of children on entry shows that communication, language and literacy is the area that is weak on entry. In order to raise standards, this area is the main focus of the long-term plan. Personal, social and emotional development is also a strong focus and is based on the stepping-stones.

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Commentary

22. Planning of tasks is based upon the prior learning of the children and is skilfully implemented by the teacher, nursery nurses and support staff deployed to each family group of about 13 children aged three to four years old. The family group acts as a sound base for children to develop personally and begin to understand the basics of living in a community. The school ensures that children are happy, secure and well adjusted so that they can maximise on the learning planned. When planning themes, the school ensures that there is no repetition for children who stay in the nursery for two years. Individual education plans for children with special educational needs are separate but are taken into consideration when short term planning. Similarly, the needs of minority ethnic educational children are built into the school’s planning.

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Commentary

23. The school has a large number of children whose spoken language at home is not English, and a proportion of children with special educational needs. The school’s induction procedures and subsequent support for children who are learning English or have special learning and behavioural needs is very good indeed. So much so, that during the inspection, it proved difficult to identify children from either group.

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Commentary

24. Personal, social and health education is very good. A strong programme of learning is planned and delivered through all areas of learning to match the needs of all children. Citizenship in the form of being responsible for one’s actions is promoted through the excellent whole ethos of the school.

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Commentary

25. Opportunities for enrichment activities are excellent. The free time that children receive outside of lessons is spent in taking part in the broad, rich range of experiences and activities outside. These range from digging in a garden, to riding wheeled toys, role-play in a real boat, streamers to wave in the wind and logs and apparatus to extend climbing and balancing skills. Each area has a member of staff who extends and supports children in their chosen activity. The curriculum provides extensive opportunities for visits ranging from a visit to Cannock Chase to fetch the Christmas tree, to Shugborough farm, the Sea life Centre, the new Art Gallery in Walsall and different places of worship. Visitors such as the Rain Forest Man, Afro Caribbean percussionists, storytellers, Punjabi dancers, and an artist have provided children with a very rich insight into the outside world. Alumwell Nursery School - 16

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Commentary

26. The school makes the very best possible use of all its available resources to achieve the highest possible standards for all its children. The teacher, nursery nurses and support staff including those who work with children with special educational needs and those for whom English is an additional language have a wealth of expertise in teaching the Foundation Stage. Good practice is shared and all staff are continually updating and improving their knowledge, skills and understanding to ensure that all children are given a wide range of opportunities, including children with special educational needs.

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Commentary

27. The school building is very clean and well maintained. There is a very clear emphasis on creating an environment where children and adults are happy to work, giving a positive impact on how people feel about the school. When funding has been limited, the headteacher has sought additional funding through donations and grants. This has bought extra provision such as outside play equipment to develop children’s physical achievement and the ALUMWELLIES ‘wrap around’ nursery which supplements the main school. The present accommodation is well organised into sections, one for each area of learning. These sections however are small. It is only through the school’s creative use of space that somewhere has been found for listening to audiotapes. Necessary storage takes up limited space. The headteacher has no separate office for confidential meetings. The entrance hall also serves as a staff room, creating difficulties for meetings. The room used for the development of gross motor skills

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Commentary

in wet weather is very small, limiting children’s activities. As it stands, the accommodation does put very real limits on what can be achieved and is unsatisfactory. The headteacher and governors have planned how the building could be further developed to rectify its shortcomings.

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Commentary

28. All areas of learning are supported by a great number of good quality and well-chosen resources, easily accessible, in order to encourage children’s good independence. There is also a very wide range of pictures, three-dimensional objects and artefacts. The school’s provision for information and communication technology (ICT) is very good. Seven computers, a large digital camera and a wide range of programmable toys give children a very good start in learning information technology skills.

p.16

Care, guidance and support

Procedures for ensuring children’s care, welfare, health and safety are very good . The support, advice and guidance the school gives to its children are also very good. Processes for seeking children’s views are satisfactory.

p.16

Main strengths and weaknesses

 All staff provide a very high level of care in every aspect of the school’s activities.  Child protection procedures are very good.  Although risk assessment is implemented and ongoing, it is not yet recorded formally for all aspects.  Induction arrangements are very good and strongly appreciated by the parents.  Support for children with English as an additional language is excellent and enables the children to make very good progress.

p.16

Commentary

29. The school has very good procedures for child protection and all staff are aware of their responsibilities and duties if they feel a child is at risk. Children have excellent opportunities to build up good and trusting relationships with one or more adults in the school.

p.16

Commentary

30. Although risk assessments around the school are carried out, they are not yet recorded formally for all aspects. The school has identified this as an area to be completed. Procedures for helping children to settle in the nursery are very effective and ensure that children soon get used to routines and enjoy coming to school. Individual records of achievement books are kept with Alumwell Nursery School - 17 photographs and examples of children’s work which show developments in a child’s learning. These are excellent. They are given to the family when a child leaves the nursery as a record of a special time in their lives.

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Commentary

31. The school’s provision for supporting children whose spoken language at home is not English is excellent. Children are well known by all staff, and several staff speak the same language as the children do at home. Children receive help in small groups and very good support is given. This support, together with home visits, plays a very important and effective part in the school’s efforts to ensure children settle well, that any problems are identified and addressed early and that there are no barriers to their learning.

p.17

Partnership with parents, other schools and the community

There are excellent links with parents who think very highly of the nursery school. Links with other schools and the community are very good .

p.17

Main strengths and weaknesses

 The school has formed excellent links with parents and involves and works with them at every opportunity, seeking, valuing and acting on their views.  Support for parents of children with English as an additional language is excellent.  Parents are very relaxed about approaching staff with any concerns and are confident they will receive good advice.  The school provides relevant courses and training to meet the requests and needs of parents.  The many visitors to school from the community and a range of educational visits add to the richness of the curriculum.  Very good links with other schools benefit children’s learning.

p.17

Commentary

32. The school has an open door policy and provides a friendly welcoming environment. Staff make regular home visits to promote play, regular attendance, very good home/school communication and to discuss any concerns. The school ensures that parents see something of their own culture in school. Welcome messages are shown in different languages, and the OFSTED questionnaire was sent home in six different languages. A note in school bags also gives advice in different languages for supporting children. This is supplemented by well received home visits to reassure parents and listen to any concerns. Parents are very appreciative of this support. A wide range of courses and training are provided by the school in partnership with the infants school. These courses are reported as being well attended and enable parents to build the vocational skills and to support their children’s education well. Very good links with other schools, educational visits and visitors in the community add another

p.17

Commentary

important dimension to children’s learning as well as enhancing their social and personal development. The school’s link with ALUMWELLIES in providing wrap around care is excellent.

p.17

LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT

Until the end of August 2003, the school was maintained and managed by a committee from Education Walsall. In September 2003, the newly formed governing body was ratified by the local Council, the school and registered with OFSTED. The governing body will receive its first delegated budget on 1 st April 2004. The headteacher was appointed in 2000, having commenced at the school as a nursery teacher in 1986. The governance of the school is good . The leadership of the Alumwell Nursery School - 18 headteacher and of key staff is excellent . All key issues at the time of the previous inspection have been successfully rectified.

p.17

Main strengths and weaknesses

 The governance of the school is good. The astute chair of governors has a long history of supporting and governing local schools.  The excellent headteacher has imaginative vision and gives strong, purposeful leadership – an outstanding innovator.  The headteacher receives excellent support from her senior teacher and staff in order to consolidate initiatives and improve children’s achievement and provision.  The management of resources, including finance, is excellent.  Although risk assessment is implemented and ongoing, it is not yet recorded formally for all aspects.

p.18

Commentary

33. No financial figures have been included because the school does not receive its delegated budget until 1 st April 2004. The total expenditure for 2002/2003 was £236,609.

p.18

Commentary

34. The governors’ understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the school is excellent, despite being a newly formed governing body. Many governors have a long-standing commitment to the Nursery and bring with them a wealth of experience. This is particularly relevant in the case of the astute chair of governors, who knows the staff well and who has served many years in the local educational field. The governing body is good in fulfilling its statutory responsibilities and in promoting excellent opportunities for the inclusion of all children. During its preparation year before the ratification of the governing body, all policies were updated and, as a result, the school complies fully with Acts for Race Relations, Disability and Sexual Discrimination. There is a shared, honourable intention for improvement. The school’s image in the community has been raised significantly. The excellent ethos of the

p.18

Commentary

school is strongly reinforced through very good respect for individual differences and cultures. Governors have been very supportive of the headteacher in the positive management of change, as, for example, in the formulization of the new governing body, and in the building of an additional unit to provide additional full-time day care for children. They have already identified that risk assessment, although implemented and ongoing, is not yet recorded formally for all aspects.

p.18

Commentary

35. The headteacher has imaginative vision and gives excellent, purposeful leadership. She is an outstanding innovator. All issues of the previous inspection report have been rectified successfully. The headteacher has excellent, clear vision to bring about educational change and for advising and informing the newly formed governing body. The headteacher has been the driving force in obtaining grants to fund a new additional building in the school’s grounds, and staff, to provide full-day cover for children needing ‘wrap around’ care. ALUMWELLIES , as the additional Nursery is termed, is highly successful. [See comments in Additional Features of this report]. Due to the cramped accommodation, the main Nursery provides spaces for only 65 children in the morning and 65 in the afternoon. As a result, most children attend for three terms only. The headteacher’s vision is to expand this provision, so that each child has six

p.18

Commentary

terms in the Nursery before attending the infant school, compared with the three terms currently. The headteacher has inspired an excellent team of staff for the school, by providing them with excellent professional development. Alumwell Nursery School - 19 36. The excellent delegation of managerial responsibilities to staff is expertly managed. Monitoring of teaching and learning is firmly established by the headteacher and her senior teacher. Group leaders work very hard to implement the school’s curriculum plans and aims for the children in their care. Staff assess and record children’s progress daily and thoroughly. They work extremely well together as a closely knit team, demonstrating very good expertise for the wide range of children’s ability evident in the Nursery. The high quality of staff support has been significant in raising standards and it is based on rigorous self-evaluation.

p.18

Commentary

37. The day-to-day finances are managed very well and monitored carefully by the headteacher and a very competent administrator. Daily routines are efficient and unobtrusive. The tenacity of the headteacher has enabled excellent links with a very good number of local and national initiatives to grant fund the school’s projects, such as ALUMWELLIES . The school has been successful in its bids: Grant 55 money of £120,000, £29,000 of National Opportunities Fund money, plus a further £11,000 in the following year to equip ALUMWELLIES , the school’s fencing and outdoor play equipment. A thousand pounds has been gained from the Early Years Development Partnership (EYDCP), and £13,000 from Sure Start to provide assisted places for one year. In addition, Social Services and National Children’s Homes have contributed towards assisted places for children with special needs. The school has established very good links with

p.19

Commentary

the new Education Walsall, as well as with local educational colleges and schools. The school now ‘leads the field’ in its provision for children of minority ethnic origin, for children with special educational needs, and for children of all abilities. The school is truly inclusive.

p.19

OTHER SPECIFIED FEATURES

The provision for other Specified Features is most effective and ensures excellent opportunities for all children to participate in a full range of activities.

p.19

OTHER SPECIFIED FEATURES

An additional building (termed ALUMWELLIES ) on site, provides extended day care places for 24 Nursery children. In addition, a high percentage (51%) of children come from minority ethnic backgrounds and a total of 41% of these children do not speak English as their first language at home.

p.19

Main strengths and weaknesses

 Provision for children whose first language at home is not English is excellent.  Provision for children of minority ethnic origin is excellent.  ALUMWELLIES provides an excellent, valuable service to the community and meets an identified need.

p.19

Commentary

38. Funding from EMAG (Ethnic Minority Authority Grant), Social Services, National Children’s Homes and Education Walsall is very good. Additional visiting staff follow and support the educational themes currently taught in the school and the aims of the teaching. Local educational consultants give very good help and advice and ensure excellent provision for the minority ethnic children. Relevant workshops are given by the educational consultants in order to support staff. Support services work very hard to improve provision and children’s standards. The partnership with families, initiated by the nursery nurse at school, who is responsible for children with English as an additional language and for those of minority ethnic origin, is excellent. So far she has visited 70 per cent of families and each week she does a few home visits, receiving a very good welcome. She takes a box of toys for a child to

p.19

Commentary

choose from, sees the child in the home situation and discusses any problems. Sometimes, she is accompanied by a translator. The school has arranged group meetings for mothers to attend classes. A recent theme for a meeting, which was very popular and well attended, was the making of a traditional Christmas cake. The festivals of Eid and Diwali are celebrated at school and are well attended. Alumwell Nursery School - 20 39. Provision of ‘wrap around’ full-day care at ALUMWELLIES is excellent. Children are housed in a new, purpose-built building and very close links with the nursery school are maintained for children who attend part-time either mornings or afternoons, but have a packed lunch at ALUMWELLIES as part of their whole-day care. Staff are enthusiastic and expert in their knowledge of educating young children. Activities are well planned with relevant links and based on the six areas of learning for the Foundation Stage. Full use is made of the extensive

p.19

Commentary

outdoor provision of the main nursery. The number of staff to support children is excellent, and several are familiar to children because they are with the children part-time in the main nursery. Children are confident, happy, familiar and secure with the ALUMWELLIES routines. Parents speak highly of the excellent provision. ALUMWELLIES provides a valuable service to the community and meets an identified need. Alumwell Nursery School - 21

p.20

AREAS OF LEARNING IN THE FOUNDATION STAGE

Provision for children in the nursery is very good . There are strengths in the excellent features for understanding about places, cultures and beliefs and for outdoor physical activities. All children have a rich variety of experiences to help them to improve their communication, language and literacy skills. Children’s difficulties with speech and language development for English are identified at an early age, and staff work very hard to help these children.

p.21

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Provision in personal, social and emotional development is very good .

p.21

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 Achievement is very good because very effective teaching ensures that children are encouraged to take responsibility for their own actions at an early age.  As a result of a well-planned curriculum, children are in line to reach the standards expected for their age by the end of the Foundation Stage, even though standards were below average when they started.  The very good role models set by all staff ensure that children have a positive approach to all activities and experiences.

p.21

Commentary

40. Achievement is very good and children are on course to reach the early learning goals in this area of learning by the end of the Foundation Stage. The quality of teaching and learning in this area of learning is very good. The teacher, nursery nurses and teaching assistants ensure that the children learn quickly the appropriate way to behave. Children feel safe and secure; and are quite happy to leave their parents and guardians before confidently carrying out the self-registration routines that they have learned.

p.21

Commentary

41. When needed, staff correct the children firmly but gently, supporting the development of their self-esteem. For example, when two three year olds were both wanting the same basket, the nursery nurse intervened in a very sensitive, positive way saying ‘this is what we do, we share’. All staff expect the children to be responsible and take every opportunity to encourage this. Numerous examples were seen during the inspection where children worked unsupervised for extended periods, behaving sensibly and sharing resources. For example, a boy and a girl sustained concentration as they worked together with the same piece of play dough, taking turns to cut and to make impressions in the dough, communicating with each other with visual signs but with indistinct speech.

p.21

Commentary

42. The children walk sensibly when moving as a group from one area to another in a line. They take turns to be ‘The Special Person of the Day’, with responsibility for taking the register to the office and helping in the classroom.

p.21

Commentary

43. All adults encourage the development of social skills in a variety of ways. For example, children were encouraged to take turns when acting out Handa’s Surprise in the role-play area and when using the computers. Snack time is a very happy, settled time where relationships are very good and staff reinforce social skills such as taking turns and saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’. Children learn the need for hygiene as they wash their hands after going to the toilet. Alumwell Nursery School - 22 44. Children with special educational needs are well integrated and receive very good support. They, and others, are helped to maintain concentration by the stimulating nature of the activities offered. As a result, even at this stage, the majority of children maintain attention and are confident to try new things. The standard of achievement of all children is very good and children are in line to achieve the early learning goals in this area of learning by the end

p.21

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Provision in communication, language and literacy is good .

p.22

Main strengths and weaknesses

 Current standards are below the expected levels despite the good provision. However, children’s achievement is good so it is likely that they will reach the early learning goals for this area by the end of the Foundation Stage when at the infant school’s reception class.  All staff take every opportunity to develop the children’s language skills.  Communication, language and literacy is planned across all areas of learning.  The range and quality of books to support this area of learning are very good.

p.22

Commentary

45. Children enter the Nursery with a wide range of communication skills, but a significant majority of children have very low English language skills. A proportion of children with special educational needs have difficulties relating to hearing, speech and language. Children’s difficulties with speech and language development for English are identified at an early stage and staff work very hard to enhance children’s vocabulary and encourage them to talk. As a result, children’s achievement is good, although currently their standards are below the expected level for three and four year olds. It is likely that children will reach the early learning goals for this area of learning by the end of the Foundation Stage when they are in the infant school.

p.22

Commentary

46. Teaching is good and children achieve well. Staff are adept at helping children to develop their language. They use a mixture of commentary, visual cues and questioning to good effect. Open-ended questions posed to young children with delayed language, challenges them to say more than “yes” or “no”. Most children are willing to try to communicate but many lack sufficiently refined English vocabulary to express themselves fully in English as in line for the age range. Children with little English vocabulary make good progress in using either visual cues or signs, as well as “please” and “thank you” in order to make their needs known. All enjoy the role-play activities, using finger puppets, and tasting exotic fruit. Their vocabulary is, therefore, reinforced and understood.

p.22

Commentary

47. Staff plan many worthwhile activities which are linked carefully across different areas of learning. Most children are at the early stages of mark-making. Staff encourage children to draw in order to express ideas, resulting in children developing the skill at holding a pencil correctly, and some higher achieving children being able to trace their names accurately. Very good relationships help children to have the confidence to talk since all adults are genuinely interested in what the children have to say. Staff take every opportunity to extend children’s vocabulary, one example being the excellent use of the story book Handa’s Surprise to encourage knowledge of a different culture, names of exotic fruit, awareness of African animals and the chance to talk about them all. Alumwell Nursery School - 23 48. Children are attracted to books by the imaginative use of high quality resources. Extra books

p.22

Commentary

for dual language purposes have been purchased and these are used well. Children enjoy books and listen attentively when a story is read to them. There are many times when children can look at books themselves, handling them with care and good concentration. Although many children use only single words or phrases to describe what they understand, their real enjoyment of books is genuine. Higher achieving children are most competent at re-telling a familiar story in sequence.

p.23

Commentary

49. To conclude, all children have a rich variety of experiences to help them improve their communication, language and literacy skills.

p.23

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Provision in mathematical development is very good .

p.23

Main strengths and weaknesses

 Teachers plan a wide range of activities to support children’s very good learning and very good achievement.  Children receive excellent opportunities to participate in a wide range of closely linked activities that reinforce children’s mathematical development.  Very good staffing levels and resources provide strong support for children to learn.

p.23

Commentary

50. Teaching and children’s learning are very good. Children are already at the level of four year olds, and older. They are well on the way to reach above the expected level by the end of the Foundation Stage. A significant majority is below the expected level when they enter Nursery at three to three and a half years. Their achievement during the time at Nursery is very good.

p.23

Commentary

51. The majority of children successfully count objects up to seven, and a few can count accurately to 10. Many children correctly say one number name for each item. Higher achieving children recognise and write numerals to seven. They can all add objects to a given set to reach the bigger number requested by the teacher. For example, during a lesson linked to the story of Handa’s Surprise , at least half the children in the group could tell and show how many more tangerines needed to be added to the basket so that there were seven in total. A significant proportion recognise different exotic plastic fruits for sorting, and can successfully pick out five of the same, as, for example, five small bananas.

p.23

Commentary

52. Children observe and use language for direction and position most competently. A significant majority recognises a circle, square and triangle. During movement lessons, many children are very successful in using their large, round plastic coloured discs, termed rabbit holes , for moving forwards, backwards, to the side of and jumping over them. They make clear patterns from printing painted halves of fruit on to paper. Jigsaws, depicting exotic fruit, are completed quickly and correctly. When using computer programs during mathematical sessions, children successfully match pairs of images and understand the terms of short and long .

p.23

Commentary

53. Staff plan together a broad range of interesting mathematical experiences and these are backed up with very good mathematical resources and staff support. Very good links are made with other areas of learning for the Foundation Stage, and to include the full range of minority ethnic children and also those children with special educational needs. Mathematical links have been Alumwell Nursery School - 24 made to topics such as the Three Bears, Handa’s Surprise , with its African theme, and Diwali. Such activities are very appropriate for the children’s ages and stages of development, and result in children sustaining interest and enthusiasm, whilst a breadth of ideas and counting skills are reinforced. In addition, staff use songs and rhymes well for children to practise and extend their counting.

p.23

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Provision in knowledge and understanding of the world is good with excellent features for understanding about places, cultures and beliefs.

p.24

Main strengths and weaknesses

 A full range of interesting activities is planned to promote children’s good learning and achievement.  Staff plan close links between areas of learning in order to reinforce knowledge of the natural world, manufactured items, and places.  Children’s literature is used most effectively to promote very good understanding about different places and cultures.

p.24

Commentary

54. The quality of teaching and children’s learning is good, with some excellence. Children enter the Nursery with standards below the expected levels for three to three and a half year olds. Their achievement is good so that a significant majority are well on the way to reach the expected level by the end of the Foundation Stage. Staff provide a rich programme of hands on experiences. They enable the children to observe, explore, investigate and use different tools and materials. They encourage the children’s natural curiosity and interest in new things, and teach new skills in order to raise children’s challenges.

p.24

Commentary

55. A strength in the provision is the raising of awareness of other cultures, as is evident in the role-play area. This has been transformed into a replica African village, as depicted in the story called Handa’s Surprise . Children dress in African traditional costume and practise walking as Handa does, with her basket of tropical fruit balanced on her head. They are accompanied by the taped music of African culture, and they attempt their own playing of bongo drums and rainmakers . All children taste the exotic fruits mentioned in the story. Their recent celebrations of Diwali have further enriched their knowledge of different places. Evidence shows that children have sampled Asian foods, observed Indian dancers and played with Asian dolls and puppets. The celebration of the diversity of the background of all the minority ethnic children in the Nursery has been most exciting and stimulating.

p.24

Commentary

56. Daily routines help children to develop a secure sense of time, as, for example, when they are reminded about the rhythm of the Nursery timetable when a child rings the bell periodically to remind others to clear up, to choose activities independently, to have snack time, story time, and home time. Children enjoy their outdoor activities and learn a lot from the Nursery’s fenced garden , where they can be seen with their ‘wellies’ and spades, digging and preparing the soil for planting. They are well informed about the changes in the seasons and weather and their effects on plant growth and activities.

p.24

Commentary

57. Children have regular access to computers and everyday technology. The use of ICT is an integral part of language and mathematical activities. Many children use a mouse confidently to Alumwell Nursery School - 25 click the cursor on screen and to reinforce their knowledge of colours. Children are taught effectively to use simple equipment. Cameras and telephones are available for them to touch, explore and investigate. They are taught patiently how to operate on and off buttons on a tape recorder and are encouraged to listen to stories on a tape.

p.24

Commentary

58. Children are taught new skills well, such as joining different materials, or how to use screws and bolts when building with construction toys. They show a lively interest in their activities and give good help and support to other children with special educational needs, or to extend the English of minority ethnic children. Children have excellent opportunities to be included in all the stimulating activities on offer to increase their knowledge of the world. Despite the lack of English vocabulary of a significant minority in order to explain in English their full comprehension in this aspect, when questioned, and asked to show their awareness in other ways, children demonstrate a secure understanding of their world.

p.25

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Provision in physical development is excellent for outdoor activities. Outdoor amenities compensate for the indoor limitations of the building for developing children’s gross motor skills. Overall, provision is satisfactory .

p.25

Main strengths and weaknesses

 Good teaching and learning ensure that children’s achievement is good.  Excellent and imaginative outdoor provision helps to develop good standards in children’s physical skills for climbing, jumping, riding and running.  During unsettled weather, cramped indoor facilities limit children’s opportunities to develop good gross motor skills.

p.25

Commentary

59. Good teaching means that children are likely to exceed the expected standards at the end of the Foundation Stage. Children’s current standards for outdoor physical development already exceed the expected levels.

p.25

Commentary

60. Staff work very hard to build children’s confidence by providing challenges and imaginative ways of developing skills. Gentle persuasion by staff ensures that all children, including those with special educational needs, persist until they succeed.

p.25

Commentary

61. From an early stage, children are effectively taught the necessary co-ordination skills to manipulate small tools and equipment. Staff expect children to learn to do things for themselves as soon as they enter Nursery. There are many opportunities to paint and print patterns on paper, to mould dough and to mount cut-out paper on to sheets using glue in order to complete their African animal pictures. Children become expert at building and creating items from small apparatus, such as when they place out a wooden railway train track or create small plastic cranes in order to fill the train’s trucks.

p.25

Commentary

62. Two outdoor large grassed areas allow for an excellent range of activities and plenty of space for running, jumping, hopping and skipping. Children use logs, ropes and balancing bars confidently, jumping off correctly, and landing with a good bend of the knees and outstretched arms to balance their bodies. The miniature wooden chalet house, with its fenced garden for digging and planting, and the full size boat and tunnel, encourage imaginative play and physical Alumwell Nursery School - 26 strength. Children handle the large number of wheeled toys skilfully, moving trucks, trolleys, buggies and wheelbarrows deftly on the tarmacadam and gently sloped grassy banks. They pedal bikes adeptly, showing good awareness of space, rarely bumping. Safe climbing apparatus offers good scope for building children’s strength in the shoulders and legs as they pull and climb. Activity bags contain a variety of surprise items which children eagerly choose,

p.25

Commentary

such as brightly coloured ribbons on sticks for waving. Many of these activities help children in their spiritual and social development.

p.26

Commentary

63. Indoors, teachers take full advantage of the ‘gross motor room’ to provide activities for developing co-ordination, such as jumping to the tap, tap, tap of a drum. There is also a selection of soft fabric climbing and tunnelling apparatus for use in bad weather. However, the room is not large enough for running, skipping and dancing for a full group, the limited space restricts these activities. Unfortunately, the school lacks a small indoor hall to accommodate children’s physical activities during poor weather.

p.26

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Provision in creative development is very good .

p.26

Main strengths and weaknesses

 Good teaching encourages children, with the correct amount of support and extension, to achieve very pleasing results.  Staff constantly share children’s delight in what they have created, promoting confidence and self-esteem.  A rich variety of activities successfully support the planned learning objectives.  A wide range of good quality resources and equipment is readily available to enable children to make choices and resource themselves.

p.26

Commentary

64. Teaching in this area of learning is good overall, with some very good teaching observed. In particular, children’s imaginative play is very well promoted. Children are on course to achieve the early learning goals in this area of learning by the end of the Foundation Stage. There are three distinct areas in which children can practice and extend their creativity. A richly resourced role-play area became an African Village at the time of the inspection. African music playing in the background inspired children to experiment with the instruments provided. Two boys took great delight in listening to the noise of the rain sticks, repeating the sound many times. All staff are very accomplished at entering into children’s play and encouraging role-play. They encourage children to dress up as Handa , using available resources to act out the story.

p.26

Commentary

65. Displays show that children are beginning to experiment with different textures. The single colour collages use a wide variety of materials. Recorded descriptions of the children’s own words such as ‘sparkly-soft, scratchy, tangles round your hand’ show very good cross-curricular links with communication, language and literacy.

p.26

Commentary

66. In a focused activity on printing, using fruit cut vertically and horizontally, a nursery nurse used very good direct teaching to reinforce skilfully mathematical concepts of numbers and halves, knowledge and understanding of the outside world and the plot of the story, Handa’s Surprise.

p.26

Commentary

67. When painting, most children make vertical lines painting one colour over another. Whilst the majority know the names of the primary colours, lower achieving Children still do not know Alumwell Nursery School - 27 their colours. Higher achieving children paint recognisable faces. Children take good care to keep colours clear and well matched as, for example, when they use yellow to print with lemon halves, and orange and red for printing oranges and apples. Their achievement is good when choosing paper prints to create collages of different African animals. Staff constantly interact with children, posing very good questions, which help children to have the language in order to think about their actions.

p.26

Commentary

68. Musical activities are well-prepared and fun. The children enjoy group sessions during which they sing familiar nursery rhymes and songs and explore the sounds made by percussion instruments. Evidence from a video of a concert by the school shows that children have confident knowledge of melody and words, good pitch and diction and accurate entry of percussion alongside the singing of songs. Alumwell Nursery School - 28

p.27

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The overall effectiveness of the nursery 2 How inclusive the nursery is 1 How the nursery’s effectiveness has changed since its last inspection 2 Value for money provided by the nursery 2

p.28

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Overall standards achieved 3 Children’s achievement 3

p.28

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Children’s attitudes, values and other personal qualities 2 Attendance 4 Attitudes 2 Behaviour, including the extent of exclusions 2 Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 2

p.28

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The quality of education provided by the nursery 2 The quality of teaching 2 How well children learn 2 The quality of assessment 2 How well the curriculum meets children’s needs 2 Enrichment of the curriculum, including out-of-nursery activities 1 Accommodation and resources 4 Children’s care, welfare, health and safety 2 Support, advice and guidance for children 2 How well the nursery seeks and acts on children’s views 4 The effectiveness of the nursery’s links with parents 1 The quality of the nursery’s links with the community 2 The nursery’s links with other schools and colleges 2

p.28

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

The leadership and management of the nursery 2 The governance of the nursery 3 The leadership of the headteacher 1 The leadership of other key staff 1 The effectiveness of management 1

p.28

PART D: SUMMARY OF THE MAIN INSPECTION JUDGEMENTS

Inspectors make judgements on a scale: excellent (grade 1); very good (2); good (3); satisfactory (4); unsatisfactory (5); poor (6); very poor (7).

p.28