Otley Street Community Nursery School

Inspection Report Otley Street Nursery School

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121269 Unique Reference Number North Yorkshire LEA 280969 Inspection number 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005 Inspection dates Mrs Brenda McIntosh 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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Otley Street School address Nursery Type of school Skipton Community School category North Yorkshire BD23 1ET 3 to 5 Age range of pupils 01756 793075 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01756 709502 Fax number 62 Number on roll Mr G Fothergill Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs E Sellers Headteacher 23 January 2001 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 280969 23 November 2005 - 3 to 5 23 November 2005 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 2 additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

Otley Street Nursery School provides flexible part time nursery education. It serves a mixed social and economic community. About half the children live locally with the remainder travelling in from outlying villages. The vast majority of children come from white, British backgrounds. On entering nursery, children have skills that are broadly as expected for their age but an increasing number are starting with speech and language difficulties. Very few children have identified learning difficulties and/or disabilities at this early stage because most of them have only been in the nursery for about 8 weeks.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005

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Grade: 1

Otley Street Nursery is an outstanding school. The school's evaluation of its effectiveness is accurate and highly effective. Parents show nothing but the highest of praise for the hard work and dedication of the staff towards the early education of their children. Comments such as, 'The school provides a fantastic foundation for young children' and 'Children are cared for, encouraged and inspired', are well justified. Leadership and management are outstanding. The aims of promoting children's well-being and providing a stimulating learning environment that is carefully planned to meet their needs are evident in practice. All groups of children make outstanding progress. This is due to an exciting, lively curriculum and excellent teaching. Children receive excellent care, guidance and support. Their personal development is outstanding. They are happy and confident in their learning. The school has addressed

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Grade: 1

successfully the issues raised at the last inspection. Despite the high quality of provision there is no complacency. As a result, the school shows a strong capacity to improve even further. This is shown in the way it is already developing and extending teaching and learning opportunities within the creative curriculum. It provides outstanding value for money.

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What the school should do to improve further

There are no major issues the school needs to address. However, to raise standards and to improve even further, it should continue as planned to develop teaching and learning opportunities within the creative curriculum.

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Grade: 1

Achievement and standards are outstanding. From a broadly average starting point, children make outstanding progress and exceed the goals set for this age group in all their areas of learning by the time they leave. They make rapid progress because of exceptional teaching. Achievement is particularly high in communication, language and literacy, mathematical development and in personal, social and emotional development. Although a small number of children come to school with good social and speaking skills there is a rising trend of children starting school with poorly developed speech and weaker personal skills. Children quickly become more confident, communicative and able to share and learn as part of a group because teachers place emphasis on these aspects of development right from the start. Mathematical development is intertwined with the development of communication skills so that children grow up confidently counting and using numbers as part of their imaginative

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Grade: 1

play in the same way as they incorporate their developing language and literacy skills. Excellent support is given to those children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Parents invariably write at the end of the year that their children's progress far exceeds their expectations and that it is 'the best preparation for school'. 2 Inspection Report: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005

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Grade: 1

The children's personal development and well-being are outstanding. At the start of the sessions children enter the nursery full of smiles and eager to get on with their learning. The exciting range of carefully prepared activities immediately fires the children's imaginations. Parents strongly agree that their children are happy to come to school and this is reflected in their very good attendance. Children are confident in trying out new activities and experiences. They revel in their tasks and give them their wholehearted interest and attention. They are very good at fetching what they need and tidying away. Children play well alongside one another and are highly responsive to the adult interaction in their learning. The school and parents are rightly proud of the outstanding progress the children make in all aspects of their personal development. Children's spiritual and cultural development is strongly promoted

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Grade: 1

through their learning, especially in art, music and singing. They often show amazement when completing their tasks. The sense of wonder and satisfaction on the faces of the children who decorated cut out polar bears with glitter was clearly evident. The children are beginning to understand the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and enjoy safe exercise in the fresh air and healthy foods at snack time.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning are outstanding. Staff really understand how very young children learn. Activities both inside and outside are invitingly set out to promote instant play, stimulate independent choice and cater for different types of learning. Routines are tightly established and children quickly learn to take responsibility, collecting up the cups after snack time, for example, or taking turns to count up the number of children present. Staff promote children's language exceptionally well, often covering several areas of learning simultaneously as they prompt responses through questions and discussions. A notable feature is the shared delight and sense of fun as teachers and children, for instance, ride imaginary horses through 'the dark wood' to visit the three bears, whilst singing in deep, growly voices. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and those with special talents thrive as a result of exceptional care and

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Grade: 1

specialist teaching. Assessment is excellent, for it is accurate, efficient and used extremely well to determine what is taught.

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Grade: 1

The school provides an outstanding curriculum that meets fully the needs and requirements of all its children. Resources both indoors and outdoors offer an extensive range of learning experiences to promote children's intellectual, physical, creative and social well-being. Children develop an awareness of local issues and learn about life 3 Inspection Report: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005 and cultures in other communities through accessing a broad and balanced curriculum and charity fund-raising. They enjoy taking part in cultural festivals such as the Chinese New Year and Eid celebrations. Provision for music and art is strong, enriched by visits from music specialists, artists and members of the community with specialist skills. The provision for children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is exceptional and individual programmes of work are used successfully to ensure the best possible

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Grade: 1

progress. Parents are fully appreciative of the wide range of activities open to their children.

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Grade: 1

The care, guidance and support given to children are outstanding. Children's achievements are closely checked and their needs carefully identified and supported. The staff are well informed about the policies and procedures which protect children from harm. Several initiatives are in place to promote children's health and well-being. They include provision of fruit and milk in school and good attention to physical activity when outdoors. Children's safety is given a high priority and the staff are vigilant and conscientious in their supervision duties. Excellent and trusting relationships with the adults help the children to feel safe and secure. Children speak their mind freely, expressing their likes and dislikes. The learning environment is maintained to a high standard, with impressive attention to detail given in making it pleasant and stimulating. The school offers flexible and extended provision to accommodate parents' needs.

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Grade: 1

For example, a good number of children have lunch at school. The sessions are very well supervised and encourage the development of good social skills and eating habits.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are outstanding. There is a clear, shared vision among all staff and governors that is firmly focused on providing a high standard of education and care for all children. The head teacher leads by example in her substantial teaching commitment and has a total overview of the curriculum and issues relating to teaching and learning. Her leadership is highly effective. Staff are valued and are actively encouraged to develop their personal and professional skills. Responsibilities are delegated wisely to match their particular expertise. Teamwork is strong. The school does not rest on its laurels and continually seeks ways to improve the quality of teaching and learning. Since the last inspection governors have fully embraced the change from support body to governing body and have developed their roles well. The move to a delegated budget has allowed financial management to be much more flexible and

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Grade: 1

meaningful to the school. Very efficient use of funding has provided additional teaching space, effective deployment of staff and specialist teaching. This has helped improve the quality of teaching and learning and ensure early support is provided for those children who have specific learning needs. Parents' views are valued, regularly sought and acted upon. The dedication of the headteacher, staff and governors and the rigour 4 Inspection Report: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005 of the school's approach to self-evaluation indicate that the school has a strong capacity to maintain its high quality provision and to build effectively on its successes. 5 Inspection Report: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005 .

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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: Otley Street Nursery School, 23 November 2005 to 23 November 2005

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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 1 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 1 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 1 How well do learners achieve? NA 1 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 1 How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners NA 1 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

NA 1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development NA 1 The behaviour of learners NA 1 The attendance of learners NA 1 How well learners enjoy their education NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 1 The extent to which learners make a positive contribution to the community NA 1 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 1 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 1 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 1 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 1 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 Yes 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

Thank you to you and your teachers for making us feel so much at home in your nursery. We really enjoyed our day. What we liked about your school: - the way you achieve so much because your teachers make learning so exciting and fun - you behave exceptionally well - all the staff look after you so well and make sure your school is such a pleasant, caring place to be - the headteacher, staff and governors try very hard to give you the best possible start to your education. What we have asked your school to do now: - we think your nursery is very special just like you and your parents do. All we have asked your teachers to do is to continue with their plans to make your learning even more imaginative and creative. Thank you for smiling beautifully all the time. We hope you continue to enjoy your time at the nursery. We would really love to come back next week and see how 'magical' your nursery looks after it is decorated by your teachers especially for you for your Christmas celebrations.

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