Greenacre Community Nursery School

Inspection Report Greenacre Nursery School

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104848 Unique Reference Number Sefton LEA 277234 Inspection number 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 Inspection dates Mr Frank Carruthers CfBT Lead Inspector Reporting inspector

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This inspection was carried out under section 5 of the Education Act 2005.

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Province Place School address Nursery Type of school Bootle Community School category Merseyside L20 6PJ 3 to 5 Age range of pupils 0151 933 9115 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 0151 933 9115 Fax number 74 Number on roll Mr C Skidmore Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Lesley Utley Headteacher 20 March 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 277234 10 May 2006 - 3 to 5 11 May 2006 Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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Further copies of this report are obtainable from the school. Under the Education Act 2005, 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 carried out by an Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

Greenacre Nursery School caters for up to 80 children aged three and four, the vast majority of whom attend part time. Almost all children are white British and have English as their first language. Since the time of the last inspection, the school has become resourced to take up to four children with more complex special needs and currently has 16 children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities on roll, which is twice as many as before. The area served by the school is among the most deprived in the country. Attainment of the majority of the children on entry to the school is low. The school is part of a number of local partnerships, including an Education Action Zone, and has the Basic Skills Agency Quality Mark.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006

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Grade: 2

This is a good school with some outstanding features and gives good value for money. The judgements of the inspection agree closely with the views of the school. Parents hold the school in the highest regard. One commented, 'It is our own happy haven.' Provision is good and children make very significant strides in their personal, social and emotional development as well as their physical development. They achieve well in communication, language and literacy, mathematical development, their knowledge and understanding of the world and in their creative development. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities make similar progress. Children love coming to school and enjoy the wide range of activities they can choose to do. The quality of teaching and learning is good and strengths include the excellent teamwork and dedication of the staff. The curriculum is good and enriched by the spacious outdoor

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Grade: 2

area and the opportunities for visits and visitors. Children are well cared for and parents express confidence that their children are safe and learning well. Leadership, management and governance of the school are good. Outstanding elements of the headteacher's leadership include how she creates the welcoming ethos of the school, promotes excellent teamwork and maintains the highest quality links with parents and external agencies. Areas for improvement centre on the assessment of children's progress, provision in information and communication technology (ICT) and the provision of a covered outdoor area. The school has improved well since the last inspection and has the capacity to improve further.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Make better use of the information collected on children's progress to see how well the various groups of children, such as boys, girls, more able children and vulnerable children, are doing in school, and take steps to challenge them further. • Track and record the small steps that children with complex learning difficulties and/or disabilities make. • Improve the quality of personal computers and the range of software in ICT to challenge the children, especially the more able. • Provide a covered area for outdoor play in times of poor weather.

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Grade: 2

Children's attainment on entry is low, especially in the important areas of personal, social and emotional development and communication, language and literacy. A few children have complex learning needs and a sizeable minority have speech and language difficulties. All groups of children make good progress overall. They achieve well in early skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing and in mathematical development. Most children reach levels expected of children aged four as they move on to Reception classes in other schools. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities achieve the small stepped targets in their individual education plans, because of the good 2 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 teaching and support they receive, and make good progress. Vulnerable children and the very few learning English as an additional language similarly achieve well. Boys'

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Grade: 2

attainment by the end of the year is below that of the girls, following the national pattern of performance. Higher attaining children make good progress, for example, through the staff encouraging their curiosity in things that interest them, such as model making and how things work. However, their skills of ICT could be stretched with better computers and software.

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Grade: 2

The school has been too generous in its evaluation of outstanding for this aspect. Overall, children's personal development is good with some outstanding features. For example children make very significant strides during the time in the school in building self-confidence and independence. One parent, expressing the view of many, commented, 'The school has made such a difference to my child's life and happiness.' This is true of children with special needs and from families in difficult circumstances. The children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is good. They develop very well socially. The children love coming to school and show curiosity and enthusiasm in everything they do. The children's behaviour is good. Some display poor levels of attention and a few are aggressive when they are young but they make good progress over time, thanks to the caring ethos and support and patience of the staff. Attendance

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Grade: 2

is in line with the average of most Nursery classes and, because staff know the children and their families well, they monitor attendance closely and encourage good attendance. The children have the opportunity to eat a choice of healthy snacks and experiment with different tastes. They learn about safety appropriately. There are plenty of opportunities for vigorous outdoor play in the school's spacious natural outdoor environment. Children learn how to share and take turns and they make good progress in developing skills of literacy and numeracy.

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Grade: 2

The quality of teaching and learning is good and leads to the children making good progress. Strengths of the teaching are the exceptional teamwork among the staff and the high quality of the relationships with children. Also, all staff have good knowledge of the Foundation Stage curriculum. Support for children with special educational needs is good and there are some outstanding contributions made by staff who work one-to-one with children. Children who display talents and particular interests or skills are encouraged well. Procedures to assess the children's progress have improved since the last inspection report and are now good. Staff keep careful note of children's progress through observations, and they record judgements, conscientiously annotating work and using a digital camera. Records of achievement provide excellent evidence for parents to share. There are small stepped targets for improvement in the individual

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Grade: 2

3 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 educational plans of children with complex learning needs, which is good practice. However, there is insufficient detail in the assessment system to track their progress over time and so give encouragement and recognise their achievement no matter how small.

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Grade: 2

The curriculum is good and follows closely the recommended guidance for children in the Foundation Stage. Strengths are the wide range of activities available to the children each day, the many opportunities they have to choose what they want to do and the first-hand experiences they enjoy. All staff make a very good contribution to the children's development by their level of involvement in children's activities and the conversations they engage in. The outdoor area is spacious and well resourced but lacks a covered area to work and play in when the weather is poor. Planning has improved since the last inspection and meets the needs of the different groups of children. Provision for ICT is satisfactory overall but there is scope for improving the quality of personal computers and software. Good use is made of the digital projector and interactive whiteboard, however, for small group work. The curriculum is enriched

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Grade: 2

very well through visits and visitors to school and is enhanced by funding provided by several excellent partnerships that the school has made with businesses and educational agencies.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support overall are good with some outstanding features. In particular, the partnerships that the school has with agencies, such as the special educational needs service and speech therapists, provide excellent support for meeting the needs of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. All procedures to safeguard the health and safety of children, including risk assessment and child protection, are rigorous. Issues highlighted at the last inspection have been fully resolved. Vulnerable children, including those from families in stress and looked-after children, receive very good support. One parent commented, 'The standard of care given to children is second to none.' Close links are maintained with parents, who particularly appreciate how well they are kept informed about their children's progress and the opportunities they have to see their children's work and records. However,

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Grade: 2

the school does not yet examine trends in achievement of the different groups of children in school, such as the more able or those from vulnerable backgrounds.

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Grade: 2

Leadership, management and governance of the school are good. Some aspects of the headteacher's leadership are outstanding, for instance, in creating the ethos of support and welcome for all children whatever their needs, in promoting excellent teamwork 4 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006 and in maintaining the highest quality links with parents and other agencies. Parents' ideas are acted upon well and have led, for instance, to the introduction of outreach workers and courses for parents. School development planning is good and priorities are clearly focused on improving children's attainment, the current ones being speaking and listening skills and mathematical development. An aspect for improvement is the monitoring and evaluation of how much progress is made on the plan. Procedures to evaluate how well the school and its children are performing have improved since the

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Grade: 2

last inspection and are now good, especially in assessing children's progress. However, the headteacher and staff have not yet tracked the performance of groups of children, such as boys and girls and those receiving intervention strategies, for example, 'Leaping into Language'. This would confirm to both staff and governors the effectiveness of provision and identify strengths and weaknesses for future attention in the school development plan. The governing body is very supportive, carries out its responsibilities well and has responded effectively to recent initiatives such as the delegation of the school's budget. The funds carried forward from the first year of delegation are earmarked appropriately. The school has made good improvement since the last inspection, all issues from the last report having been addressed, and has the capacity to continue to improve. 5 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006

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set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s

website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Greenacre Nursery School, 10 May 2006 to 11 May 2006

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Overall

Key to judgements: grade 1 is outstanding, grade 2 good, grade 3 satisfactory, and grade 4 inadequate

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learners?

NA 1 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 2 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation NA Yes The capacity to make any necessary improvements NA Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 2 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 2 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 2 The behaviour of learners NA 3 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 2 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 2 How well learners develop workplace and other skills that will contribute to their future economic well-being

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needs and interests of learners?

NA 2 How well are learners cared for, guided and supported?

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needs and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low.

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and supporting all learners?

NA 1 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 2 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 2 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 2 The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities NA Yes The adequacy and suitability of staff to ensure that learners are protected

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The extent to which schools enable learners to be healthy

Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to eat and drink healthily Yes Learners are encouraged and enabled to take regular exercise Yes Learners are discouraged from smoking and substance abuse NA Learners are educated about sexual health

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The extent to which providers ensure that learners stay safe

Yes Procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements Yes Risk assessment procedures and related staff training are in place Yes Action is taken to reduce anti-social behaviour, such as bullying and racism Yes Learners are taught about key risks and how to deal with them

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The extent to which learners make a positive contribution

Yes Learners are helped to develop stable, positive relationships Yes Learners, individually and collectively, participate in making decisions that affect them Yes Learners are encouraged to initiate, participate in and manage activities in school and the wider community

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The extent to which schools enable learners to achieve economic well-being

Yes There is provision to promote learners’ basic skills Yes Learners have opportunities to develop enterprise skills and work in teams NA Careers education and guidance is provided to all learners in key stage 3 and 4 and the sixth form NA Education for all learners aged 14–19 provides an understanding of employment and the economy

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I enjoyed my visit to your lovely school very much indeed! How lucky you are to have so many things to do every day and such good teachers and helpers to take care of you all! You are all doing really well learning how to do things for yourself instead of asking for help. I am so pleased you like books so much! Stories are great, aren't they? How good you are at playing outside - running, climbing, steering the tricycles and scooters and kicking and catching balls! I enjoyed playing croquet with some of you! Mrs Utley and the staff are really doing their best for you all. I have asked them to do one or two things to help you do even better, especially when you are working on the computers. I also hope they will be able to make a sheltered place outside where you can play when it is raining.

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