Chertsey Nursery School

Inspection Report Chertsey Nursery School

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124911 Unique Reference Number Surrey LEA LEA 281836 Inspection number 11 May 2006 to 12 May 2006 Inspection dates Wendy Simmons AI Reporting inspector

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

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Pyrcroft Road School address Nursery Type of school Chertsey Community School category KT16 9ER 3 to 4 Age range of pupils 01932 562225 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01932 561720 Fax number 76 Number on roll Mrs Louise Spooner Chair of governors The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Gwyn Taylor Headteacher 10 January 2000 Date of previous inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 281836 11 May 2006 - 3 to 4 12 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

This is a popular school situated in an area where there is more deprivation than average, as evident in the high proportion of children who are entitled to free school meals. Nonetheless, children's social backgrounds are wide-ranging. Most children are from white British backgrounds. A few children are from ethnic minority groups, with only a few speaking English as an additional language. The school takes children from beyond the immediate locality because a 'cluster class' accommodates children with very complex leaning difficulties. Thus, the proportion of children with a statement of special educational need is especially high. The school has achieved the 'Investors in People' award and is working to become a 'Children's Centre'.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 May 2006

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Grade: 3

Chertsey Nursery accurately judges itself as providing a satisfactory standard of education. Relationships between staff, children and parents are good and help to support children's good progress in their personal and social development. Children with learning difficulties and disabilities benefit from good teaching both in the 'Cluster Class' and main nursery. These children are well supported, especially by assistants and links with outside agencies, and as a result they make good progress. Overall, teaching, learning, and the progress made by children are satisfactory. The school's own self-evaluation recognises that more able learners should be making better progress because work is not always challenging enough for them. Leadership and management are satisfactory. The school shows a satisfactory capacity to improve as demonstrated by recent changes in management systems and the progress made to improve the curriculum and accommodation. The school has introduced many

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Grade: 3

useful assessment procedures. However, the precise evaluation of children's progress from term to term is inadequate and this is a contributory factor in why standards are lower than expected by the end of children's time at the Nursery. The school's development plan is not effective enough because it is not focused precisely on only a few key priorities. Consequently, this slows the overall impact of their work on raising children's achievement.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Improve assessment systems, so that the progress of all children can be quickly evaluated and understood by all staff and governors. • Focus the school's development plan on important key priorities. • Ensure that the most able learners are sufficiently challenged, so that they can make more speedy progress.

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Grade: 3

Children start the school showing skills and knowledge that are lower than expected. They make satisfactory progress, including those learning English as an additional language. Children make good progress in improving their speaking skills because of the school's concentration on this. However, more able children do not make enough progress in quickly developing other early literacy and mathematical skills. This is an important factor in why standards remain lower than expected by the time they leave the Nursery. The recent expansion for learning outside the classroom enables children to make satisfactory progress in their physical skills and in their understanding of the world around them. Creative development is satisfactory. Children make good progress in their personal and social skills because adults help them to grow in confidence, try new things and develop their ability to co-operate. One parent commented, 'My child opened up and came out of his shell.' Children with

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Grade: 3

2 Inspection Report: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 May 2006 learning difficulties and disabilities, including those in the 'Cluster Class', make good progress. This is because their learning is well planned and assessment procedures are better than for other groups of children. Moreover, children often benefit from skilled one-to-one support.

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Grade: 2

Children's personal development is good and reflects the recent impact of managers' work to improve this. Changes in the curriculum, the accommodation, and teachers' planning, allow children to make decisions for themselves and move freely from activity to activity. Children's social and moral development is good because they follow rules, behave well and make good progress in developing cooperation and care for others. Children's self-esteem is boosted, as can be seen in their records made in their 'Individual Books of Experiences'. Children quickly gain confidence, improve their concentration and learn how to cope with emotions, such as anger. Their spiritual and cultural development is satisfactory. Well-targeted support enables vulnerable children and those with complex learning difficulties and disabilities to enjoy learning and work alongside others. Children say that they, 'Like school,' and 'It's really fun.' This is confirmed by their

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Grade: 2

good behaviour and attendance and in their planning for school improvements, such as their playground designs. Children start to understand about healthy lifestyles through exercise and by eating healthy snacks. One child commented, 'You play outside and do lots of fast running'. Children make a positive contribution to the community, especially through charity fundraising.

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Grade: 3

Teaching and learning are satisfactory. Relationships are good. Teachers plan children's learning as a team, and share skills for the benefit of all of the children. Children have a suitable and improving range of learning activities including, opportunities to learn through investigation. Adults ensure that children listen attentively and most staff ask children very useful questions, which helps them to think and to use more complex sentences. Children with learning difficulties, including those in the 'Cluster Class', are given activities that are very carefully planned to meet their needs and support staff give effective help. Staff keep useful assessment notes, but these are not organised to indicate the precise levels at which the children are working. As a result of this, it is not easy to evaluate quickly their progress and thus plan learning that challenges the most able learners to best effect, especially in writing, reading and mathematical development.

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Grade: 3

3 Inspection Report: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 May 2006

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Grade: 3

The school provides a satisfactory and improving curriculum that allows children to enjoy learning. Children benefit from a range of visits and visitors throughout the year and there are good links with external agencies. For example, a recent visit to the Brooklands Museum successfully helped children to learn about many forms of old and new transport. The curriculum helps children to choose healthy lifestyles and gives them a secure understanding of how to stay safe. The good focus on promoting personal and social skills is an important element of work, which helps to prepare children for their future lives in the community. There are missed opportunities to make the best use of book and writing areas to further help children's progress, particularly the more able learners.

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Grade: 3

The school cares well for the children as individuals and provides satisfactory guidance and support overall. Good support is given to those with learning difficulties and disabilities. The school works well with outside agencies to ensure the care, safety and well being of children. Child protection procedures are satisfactory. Parents are full of praise for the safety and care of their children and feel fully involved in this. For example, parents suggested finger guards for the doors and they were provided immediately. Strong links with parents promotes children's care, as evident in a ten-week parenting course, which focused on such things as helping parents to establish better routines for their children's bedtime, clearer boundaries for children's behaviour, and guidance on how to promote emotional well-being. The school successfully tracks the progress made by children with learning difficulties.

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Grade: 3

However, adults are not tracking the small steps of development for all other children with sufficient rigour. Therefore, they are not able to support all children in making the best possible progress.

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Grade: 3

Leadership and management are satisfactory. The headteacher is leading the school forward and is delegating more responsibilities to other managers. Management for children with learning difficulties is good. Nursery nurses are enthusiastically taking on new responsibilities, including the opening of a parents' 'Drop In' room, which is having a positive impact on the care of the children. The school evaluates its performance satisfactorily and actively involves parents, children and the community in this process. Parents have confidence in the school and their ideas are valued. One parent said, 'I am very happy with the school, it's very open and welcoming.' 4 Inspection Report: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 May 2006 The school is working steadily to improve assessment procedures. However, they are not always helpful enough to support their self-evaluation. Systems are good for children with learning difficulties, especially for those in the 'Cluster Class'. However,

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Grade: 3

for other children, it is difficult to track their progress because procedures are not effective. The school recognises that more able learners should be making better progress and is beginning to work on this within the 'Primary Leadership Strategy' and Chertsey Schools' Partnership: for example, by improving monitoring and focusing on writing and creative thinking. Managers recently recognised that their development plan contains too many areas to work on. While it demonstrates their enthusiasm to improve, the inclusion of so many aspects slows its effectiveness in raising standards. The school shows a satisfactory capacity to improve and sound management of resources, as demonstrated by developments, since the last inspection including: the curriculum, the accommodation, and the good progress in promoting children's personal and social development. Governance is satisfactory and has improved recently. Governors are keen to improve

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Grade: 3

and know the strengths and most of the weaknesses of the school. However, they are less knowledgeable about the children's progress. 5 Inspection Report: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 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: Chertsey Nursery School, 11 May 2006 to 12 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 2 How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? NA 3 The quality and standards in foundation stage NA 3 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 3 How well do learners achieve? NA 3 The standards 1 reached by learners

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Achievement and standards

NA 3 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 2 The attendance of learners NA 2 How well learners enjoy their education NA 3 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices NA 2 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles NA 3 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 3 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 3 How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education NA 3 How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets, through quality assurance and self-review NA 3 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can NA 3 How effectively and efficiently resources are deployed to achieve value for money NA 3 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 NA 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

Children You may remember that I came to your school recently to find out how well you are doing. Thank you for being so friendly. I think that you really like Chertsey Nursery, especially the new classrooms and garden. It is a satisfactory school, where all of the grown-ups help you to feel happy, have fun and learn new things. I especially like the way your parents and carers are working with your teachers to help you.Most of all, I like the way you choose activities, listen to your teachers and learn to play and work with your friends in a friendly way. You really try hard to take turns, concentrate and behave well. Well done for working hard on this. Mrs Taylor is very keen to make your school even better, so I have asked all of the adults to help her, especially by keeping a more careful eye on how well you are getting on. They are going to make a special plan so that you can learn even faster, especially some of you who find

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

learning easy. Yours sincerely Wendy Simmons Lead inspector

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