Rosemary Lane Nursery School

Age group Published Reference no. Inspection report Rosemary Lane Nursery School

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Unique Reference Number 113989 LEA Durham

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Inspection number 269350 Inspection dates 23 - 25 November 2004 Reporting inspector Neil Sortwell HMI

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Inspection carried out under section 3 of the School Inspection Act 1996, and was deemed section 10 under the same act.

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Type of School Nursery School address School category Maintained Age range of pupils 3-5 Rosemary Lane Easington Village Peterlee County Durham SR8 3BQ Gender of pupils mixed Telephone number 0191 5271 168 Number on roll 44 Fax number Appropriate authority The governing body Chair of governors Gavin Humphreys Date of previous inspection 15-16 June 1999 Headteacher Gillian Parker

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3 - 5 December 2004 269350 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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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 free of charge to certain categories of people. A charge not exceeding the full cost of reproduction may be made for any other copies supplied.

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Introduction

The inspection was a pilot of the new arrangements for inspection announced by Ofsted in its consultation paper of February 2004. It was carried out with the support and co-operation of the staff of Rosemary Lane Nursery school and of the local education authority. At the same time, a Children Act Part X A inspection to the National Standards for Day Care and Childminding was carried out. A copy of this report is attached.

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors, a contracted inspector and a childcare inspector.

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Description of the school

Rosemary Lane Nursery School is located in Easington village and provides part-time nursery education for children between the ages of 3 and 5. There are currently 44 children on roll. On entering the nursery, the majority have skills below those expected for children of their age. The school is part of the Easington and Seaham Education Action Zone. (EAZ) There are seven children identified with special educational needs. There is one child from a minority ethnic background. No children have English as a second language. The school provides a broad range of extended care and family services through its own family centre.

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Key for inspection grades

Grade 1 Outstanding Grade 2 Good Grade 3 Satisfactory Grade 4 Inadequate

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Overall effectiveness of the school

The school provides highly effective education for its children. It modestly judges its effectiveness as good. Nearly all children make very good progress and some with special educational needs (SEN) make exceptional progress. This is because of the high quality of teaching and care. Children enjoy learning and flourish because their work is very well planned to meet their needs. Nearly all leave the school with skills which are in line with expectations and in the case of their personal, social and physical development, above expectations. The school is very well led and managed but governors are too reliant on the headteacher for information. There is scope to further improve the leadership’s monitoring of teaching and learning. The school provides very good value for money.

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Improvement since the last inspection

The school has made very good progress in developing the minor points for improvement identified at the time of the last inspection. It has developed very good work with parents and extended its care provision for children from birth. The quality of the teaching and pupils’ achievement have improved.

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Capacity to improve

The school’s self-evaluation is too cautious but identifies appropriate improvement areas. Despite its very good progress, the school is never complacent. Clear vision about raising standards, inspired leadership and the willingness of able staff to test new ideas indicate that the school has very good capacity to improve.

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What the school should do to improve further

When considering leadership roles to raise standards the school should:

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What the school should do to improve further

• ensure governors and staff evaluate the impact of school initiatives • improve existing systems for monitoring teaching and learning

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Achievement and standards

Children achieve very well in their language and communication skills, their personal, social and physical development and their knowledge and understanding of the world. Achievement is good in mathematical and creative development. Children are on target to reach the standards expected for their age when they leave the nursery school. Children identified early on as ‘failing to achieve’ receive outstanding support and do very well.

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Achievement and standards

Some children start in the nursery with well developed skills but the great majority have skills which are below those expected for their age, particularly in speaking and listening and personal development. The school’s emphasis on developing language skills enables children to become effective listeners and learners. They acquire skills for reading familiar words and books and re-tell stories using words they have recently been introduced to. Their early attempts at writing are good and they make pencil marks that closely resemble letters and simple words. Children enjoy listening to the stories read to them and are beginning to sequence instructions correctly. They can also count sequences of numbers, match and pair animals in the play farmyard and they know names of familiar shapes.

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Achievement and standards

Children’s creative skills develop very well because they are given time to explore materials which include paint, sand, water and construction materials. They develop very good balance and co-ordination in dance and when using play equipment. Outstanding learning results from using a computer linked whiteboard, where children draw and print pictures.

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Personal development and wellbeing

Children thrive in the nursery and enjoy learning. Parents say that their children feel safe and are happy to come to school. This is reflected in good attendance overall. Over half of the children have attended care sessions provided by the family centre. As a result they feel at home in the school and have established very good relationships. Staff know them very well, ensuring that this very positive experience is built upon.

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Personal development and wellbeing

Children’s personal development is outstanding. They work and play together very well showing very good concentration, consideration for others and a willingness to take turns. Opportunities to share food, distribute drinks and hand out equipment encourage children to take responsibility. They are encouraged to recognise what is right and wrong and most do. Behaviour is very good overall.

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Personal development and wellbeing

The strong emphasis placed on health, exercise and active learning ensures that children’s physical development is given high priority. Children learn to become self- assured and confident through the very good use made of outdoor learning, dance and music. They are also encouraged to wonder at what they see in quieter moments and as a result their spiritual development is good. Children know about the local community through visits and talks with visitors. They are made aware of different cultures through imaginative role play.

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Teaching and learning

The school cautiously judges teaching and learning to be good. Inspectors judged it to be outstanding. Teaching has improved strongly since the last inspection.

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Teaching and learning

Staff emphasise active learning to promote skills of speaking, listening and social contact with other children and adults. A clear strength is the patient consideration shown for children to learn at their own pace, allowing them to enjoy learning and complete tasks. Staff are particularly skilled at using open-ended questions to encourage thinking. They value children’s ideas, listen carefully to them and are adept at understanding what they say, including those with early speech. This has a great impact on the children’s language, learning and confidence.

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Teaching and learning

Very well planned activities and resources enable the children to show initiative and develop confidence. Encouraging independence is a strong feature of the teaching. Open praise for the achievement of even the smallest learning step encourages and motivates children to take risks and try new things. All teaching, right across the curriculum, results in at least effective learning and a desire to learn more. This is because activities are purposeful, engaging and fun. Staff know the children very well and check regularly to see that they are making progress in all areas. In doing this they work very well with parents and carers.

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Curriculum and other activities

The school’s curriculum is outstanding. It meets all children’s needs exceptionally well, and is rich and varied. Very good planning takes full advantage of the spacious and stimulating accommodation. Strong emphasis on personal, social and language development ensures that the basic skills needed for children to become good learners are established early. Staff go to great lengths, to provide breadth and depth to the curriculum. They include swimming trips, country walks, visiting artists and musicians and many other excellent learning experiences which help to bring learning alive. There are very good links with volunteer “community friends” who bring additional talents to the school and engage children. Links with the EAZ have helped to enrich what is provided, including the creation of an extensive library of high quality story sacks and activity packs which children use at home. The award winning outdoor play areas make a significant contribution to the very good learning

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Care, guidance and support

The quality of care offered in the school is outstanding. It is a place where every child really does matter. The quality of the registered childcare in the family centre is of the highest standard and meets all fourteen of the national standards for day care and child minding. The school is leading work in this area with other local child care providers.

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Care, guidance and support

Staff review children’s progress weekly and use ‘recall’ sessions to follow up any who are causing concern. Staff use what they know about the children well to extend their learning. More able children are well provided for. Children who are likely to fail to achieve are identified early and small teaching groups are provided to promote their development particularly in speech and language. The school’s work with children who have special educational needs is outstanding and the school has been chosen to manage outreach support for pupils with special educational needs in other nursery schools.

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Care, guidance and support

The school works very effectively with a wide range of other agencies and ensures that procedures are in place to support the most vulnerable children. Governors have ensured that all health and safety procedures are in place including those which relate to child protection. The school is very well maintained and great care is taken to make the environment safe for learning.

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Leadership and management

The school is cautious in its own evaluation of leadership and management but describes its team as “excellent”. This was the case at the time of the last inspection and remains so now. The headteacher provides very strong and inspired leadership through the example she sets in her own teaching and the encouragement she offers to others to develop new ideas. Her insistence that the school should promote high standards through imaginative teaching influences all aspects of the school’s work. The school judges its success by the very good progress children make. The headteacher acknowledges that she needs to further develop the monitoring of teaching but informal procedures are effective.

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Leadership and management

Equality of opportunity is rigorously promoted. The school does all it can to remove barriers to pupils’ learning. It is a lead partner with the EAZ, using its additional resources wisely and well. Links with parents are exceptionally good. Their views are regularly sought and they are helped to develop their children’s learning. Unsurprisingly parents are the school’s staunchest supporters.

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Leadership and management

The school embraces innovation and has established its own ‘not-for-profit’ company to deliver family services. This work is having a significant impact. The school manages finances very well. It is very well resourced and generously staffed. Despite considerable efforts, the school has struggled to recruit governors and there are vacancies. Those in post are kept very well informed and most are regular visitors to the school. The governing body provides adequate support but it is too reliant on the headteacher for information and governors do not undertake their own evaluations of the information presented to them. Very smooth management of the school is a strong feature of its success. It’s a place where everyone works together very well.

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Grade: 1

procedures set out in the leaflet 'Complaining about HMI-led Ofsted inspections', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk.

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Grade: 1

part, for non-commercial purposes, provided the source and the date are acknowledged. This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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INSPECTION DETAILS

Inspection Date 23/11/2004 Inspector Name Noreen Elizabeth Appleby

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SETTING DETAILS

Day Care Type Full Day Care Setting Name Rosemary Lane Family Centre Setting Address Rosemary Lane Nursery School Rosemary Lane Peterlee County Durham SR8 3BQ

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ORGANISATION DETAILS

Name Rosemary Lane Family Centre This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public of the quality and standard of day care. When making judgements, inspectors have regard to how well the provider meets the National Standards for under Eights Day Care and Childminding. A list of these is attached. The report identifies strengths and areas for improvement.

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

This inspection report must be made available to all parents.

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Information about the setting

Rosemary Lane Family Centre opened in 2003 and operates from premises within Rosemary Lane Nursery School, in Easington Village. The group runs in conjunction with the nursery school. Children use the 'Rainbow Room' for specific group activities, as well as some children being integrated into the main nursery rooms. A maximum of 32 children may attend the day care at any one time. The facility is open each weekday from 08:00 to 18:00 during term time only. It mainly serves the needs of the local community, although some children come from a wider catchment area.

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Information about the setting

There are currently 35 children, in total, on the Family Centre roll: these comprise sixteen children aged from two to under five years on the day care roll, nine children aged from two to under eight years on the breakfast club roll and ten children aged from two to under eight years on the after school club roll.

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Information about the setting

Eight members of staff are employed to work in the facility, five of whom (including the manager) hold appropriate early years qualifications. One other member of staff is presently working towards a recognised childcare qualification. The setting receives support from Sure Start, County Durham.

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How good is the Day Care?

Rosemary Lane Family Centre provides good quality care for children. The facility is committee-run and there are good systems in place to ensure staff are suitable for their individual roles, although staff working in the out of school hours groups have not yet completed playwork training. Comprehensive recording systems are well maintained in line with the requirements of the 'National standards for under eights day care and childminding'.

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How good is the Day Care?

Premises are well-organised and spacious. Furniture, equipment and resources are very well set out to meet children's needs and to provide a warm and welcoming environment. The operational plan is well used to devise regular daily routines and effective procedures, thus ensuring children are well cared for at all times.

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How good is the Day Care?

Staff are aware of health, safety and hygiene issues and take positive steps to This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 ensure children are safe indoors, out of doors and on outings. Relevant good practice is promoted with children i.e. tidying up, hand washing and personal hygiene etc. Catering arrangements are discussed with parents. Children receive regular drinks and a variety of nutritious meals and snacks suited to their individual dietary needs.

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How good is the Day Care?

Staff provide a broad range of interesting play and learning opportunities, suitable for children's ages and stages of development. Activities are very well organised to promote 'free choice' and independence. Play and learning opportunities provide interest and enjoyment across all areas of learning, as well as providing for quiet activities and rests. Staff interact positively with the children providing advice, encouragement and praise.

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How good is the Day Care?

Sound working relationships are maintained with parents. Formal contracts and agreements are maintained and there are very good opportunities for parents to be kept up to date with relevant issues about their child. Comments received from parents indicate that they hold staff in high regard and are very happy with the quality of care provided.

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What is being done well?

• Partnership with parents is excellent. Staff are committed to sharing information effectively with them and encouraging them to be actively involved with their child's learning and development. As a result, parents enjoy activities with their child at home, are kept fully informed of any relevant issues and children's needs are continually well met.

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What is being done well?

• Staff's enthusiasm and commitment towards the group is evident. Some have completed relevant training since the initial registration i.e. Birth to Three Matters and first aid. There are other courses planned for the future. Staff aim to improve their knowledge and skills, to further develop their child care practice.

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What is being done well?

• Premises are very well set out to provide an interesting, child-friendly environment where children can move around freely and explore with interest, thus enabling them to gain confidence and independence.

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What is being done well?

• The broad range of equipment and resources provides effective play and learning activities for children. Very good use is made of 'story sacks' and the 'treasure box' provides rich opportunities for heuristic play. Staff aim to provide a sensory room in the near future to further enhance children's experiences.

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An aspect of outstanding practice:

This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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What needs to be improved?

• the lost child policy, to include the procedure for uncollected children • the child protection policy statement, to identify the procedure regarding an allegation being made against a member of staff • arrangements for identifying the named deputy qualified to act in the absence of the manager • procedures for ensuring staff working in out of school hours facilities complete relevant playwork training.

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Previous Complaints

(This section applies only to inspections carried out from 1 November 2004. The complaint record relates to complaints from the last inspection or 1 st April 2004 whichever is later). There are no complaints to report.

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CONDITIONS OF REGISTRATION

All registered persons must comply with all conditions of registration included on his/her certificate of registration. As a result of this inspection conditions of registration have been imposed / varied / removed and a new certificate of registration will be issued.

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recommendations by the time of the next inspection

Std Recommendation 2 Improve the lost child policy statement to include the procedure for uncollected children. 2 Improve the operational plan by identifying the named deputy qualified to act in the absence of the manager. 2 Ensure staff working in out of school hours facilities complete relevant playwork training. 13 Improve the child protection policy statement by making reference to the This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000 procedure regarding an allegation being made against a member of staff. This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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STANDARD 1 - SUITABLE PERSON

Adults providing day care, looking after children or having unsupervised access to them are suitable to do so.

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STANDARD 2 - ORGANISATION

The registered person meets required adult: child ratios, ensures that training and qualifications requirements are met and organises space and resources to meet the children’s needs effectively.

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STANDARD 3 - CARE, LEARNING AND PLAY

The registered person meets children’s individual needs and promotes their welfare. They plan and provide activities and play opportunities to develop children’s emotional, physical, social and intellectual capabilities.

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STANDARD 4 - PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

The premises are safe, secure and suitable for their purpose. They provide adequate space in an appropriate location, are welcoming to children and offer access to the necessary facilities for a range of activities which promote their development.

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STANDARD 5 - EQUIPMENT

Furniture, equipment and toys are provided which are appropriate for their purpose and help to create an accessible and stimulating environment. They are of suitable design and condition, well maintained and conform to safety standards.

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STANDARD 6 - SAFETY

The registered person takes positive steps to promote safety within the setting and on outings and ensures proper precautions are taken to prevent accidents.

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STANDARD 7 - HEALTH

The registered person promotes the good health of children and takes positive steps to prevent the spread of infection and appropriate measures when they are ill.

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STANDARD 8 - FOOD AND DRINK

Children are provided with regular drinks and food in adequate quantities for their needs. Food and drink is properly prepared, nutritious and complies with dietary and religious requirements. This inspection was carried out under the provisions of Part XA of the Children Act 1989, as inserted by the Care Standards Act 2000

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STANDARD 9 - EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

The registered person and staff actively promote equality of opportunity and anti-discriminatory practice for all children.

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NEEDS AND DISABILITIES)

The registered person is aware that some children may have special needs and is proactive in ensuring that appropriate action can be taken when such a child is identified or admitted to the provision. Steps are taken to promote the welfare and development of the child within the setting in partnership with the parents and other relevant parties.

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STANDARD 11 - BEHAVIOUR

Adults caring for children in the provision are able to manage a wide range of children’s behaviour in a way which promotes their welfare and development.

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CARERS

The registered person and staff work in partnership with parents and to meet the needs of the children, both individually and as a group. Information is shared.

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STANDARD 13 - CHILD PROTECTION

The registered person complies with local child protection procedures approved by the Area Child Protection Committee and ensures that all adults working and looking after children in the provision are able to put the procedures into practice.

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STANDARD 14: DOCUMENTATION

Records, policies and procedures which are required for the efficient and safe management of the provision, or to promote the welfare, care and learning of children are maintained. Records about individual children are shared with the child’s parent.

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