Greenfield Nursery School

Inspection Report Greenfield Nursery School

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117067 Unique Reference Number HERTFORDSHIRE Local Authority 290707 Inspection number 18 °19 January 2007 Inspection dates Marianne Harris Reporting inspector

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

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Hurst Drive School address Nursery Type of school Waltham Cross Maintained School category Hertfordshire EN8 8DH 3 °5 Age range of pupils 01992 760779 Telephone number Mixed Gender of pupils 01992 763932 Fax number 75 Number on roll (school) Mrs Catherine MacGruer Chair The governing body Appropriate authority Mrs Patricia Ann Bishop Headteacher 25 February 2002 Date of previous school inspection

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Inspection number Inspection dates Age group 290707 18 °19 January 2007 3°5 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 one Additional Inspector.

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Description of the school

This small nursery school is part of a Children's Centre offering sessional and extended care for many children in the local community. The school is in a socially deprived area and the children come from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds. About half are from a White British heritage. A significant minority of children have speech and communication difficulties with a small number at an early stage of learning English.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 1 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007

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Grade: 2

Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of this good school. All report that their children enjoy coming and that they make good progress. The provision for children in extended care is good. Although children start Nursery with standards that are well below average, especially in language and social skills, they achieve well. Standards are below average by the time they move to their primary schools, but children have made great strides, particularly in their personal development. Through well planned activities and effective support, children begin to understand how to stay healthy and work together effectively. By the time they leave the school they are very well settled into established routines. The extensive procedures that are in place to help them move from pre school, through Nursery and on to their next school mean that children are happy and secure. The simple responsibilities that they have help them learn to assist each other and

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Grade: 2

solve any problems they have by talking and not squabbling. Leadership and management are good. The leadership of the school has been strengthened with the appointment of the current headteacher. The senior leadership team has been most effective in improving provision for information and communication technology (ICT), an area for improvement at the time of the last inspection. Children are now very confident when using complex equipment, such as the interactive whiteboard. Outdoor provision has improved and this has resulted in more opportunities for children to be physically active. There are clear plans to improve this further in partnership with the neighbouring primary school. Provision for children's cultural development has improved. There are excellent links with many agencies. Parents and children benefit from a wide variety of advice from experts, such as health professionals and speech and language specialists. These features contribute significantly to the

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Grade: 2

children's personal development within their families. Teaching and learning are good. The headteacher has monitored lessons closely to ensure that children make good progress. Areas for improvement have been clearly identified, although there are no systems for checking that these are tackled effectively. Staff have very good relationships with the children and plan a rich curriculum in all areas of learning. These cover all aspects of literacy and mathematical development, creative and physical development, knowledge and understanding of the world and personal and social development. The sessions are well organised, but there are occasions when groups are too large. This means that children who have language difficulties or are learning English as an additional language cannot be fully involved and they lose concentration quickly. Governors are doing a good job and have been well involved in developing the work

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Grade: 2

of the Centre so that all children are well cared for. There is good capacity to improve further.

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What the school should do to improve further

• Develop a rigorous system to ensure that the improvements needed to teaching and learning identified during observations are tackled effectively. 2 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007 • Ensure that teaching groups are not too large so that children who have speech difficulties, or who are learning English as an additional language, can be fully involved in discussions.

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Grade: 2

When they join the Nursery, the children's abilities are well below those normally expected of three year olds. Many have speech difficulties and their general knowledge and understanding of the world is lower than would be expected. Some children have difficulty sharing and playing together. The school's information shows that, although standards are below average when they leave the Nursery, children have made good progress and achieved well. Inspection evidence confirms this. Children make particularly good progress in their personal development and soon settle into Nursery routines, learning to work together in a friendly way. Children who are at an early stage of learning English make good progress in their learning, although their progress slows when groups are too large.

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Grade: 2

Children's personal development is good. At well organised snack times they begin to understand how to eat healthily and help each other. Children are keen to hand round the drinks and fruit or vegetables, and are encouraged to say 'please' and 'thank you', and to wash their hands before handling food. Children take on responsibilities, such as clearing away at the end of a session and choosing the activities they want to tackle. Staff use the outside area well to encourage children to be active. Children attend regularly, with most absences being for illness. Children behave well and enjoy coming to school. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered effectively. Children learn to behave well and try to sort out their differences without arguing. They learn right from wrong and try to talk about problems and differences that they have. At the time of the last inspection, the school was asked to improve children's

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Grade: 2

cultural development. The school has been successful in this through, for example, the use of many posters that promote cultural understanding, both of different family groups and about religious customs.

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Grade: 2

Teaching and learning are good. All staff have very good relationships with the children and work together well to provide a good education for the children. Adults plan work 3 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007 effectively for all the areas of learning, with a good mix of activities that children choose for themselves and some that adults encourage children to join. Adults assess the progress that the children make well. Each member of staff has responsibility for tracking the progress of a small group of children so that parents know who to go to in order to discuss how well their child is doing. The routines for each session are well established and appropriate, although sometimes children who are at an early stage of learning English, and those who have speech difficulties, find it hard to concentrate and participate fully in discussions or stories when they are in large groups.

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Grade: 2

The school provides a good rich curriculum that is based on the nationally agreed areas of learning for children in the Foundation Stage. Children have many opportunities to make short visits into the local community and to talk to various people from the locality. They improve their general knowledge in this way. Activities are well planned using the national guidance for children in the Foundation Stage and much emphasis is put on developing children's social skills so that all can achieve well. Provision for outdoor activities has improved since the last inspection, although there are few opportunities for children to be physically active when the outside area cannot be used.

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Grade: 2

Care, guidance and support are good. Each staff member is a key worker and has responsibility for a small group of children. This system is particularly effective when it is time to assess what children have learnt and identify the next steps that children need to take in order to make good progress. Observations are thorough, cover all areas of learning, although they are time consuming and have to be transferred to an overall record sheet later. Staff have the welfare of the children at the heart of their work and children are very well looked after. Children who are learning English as an additional language, and those who have learning difficulties and disabilities, are mostly very well supported so that they make good progress in most activities.

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Grade: 2

The school is well led and managed, with a senior leadership team that reflects the unique needs of the school. Together they have been very successful in tackling the issues from the last inspection and in improving teaching and learning. The future of the school has been secured because the governing body is very well informed about the options available and has made good decisions based on expert advice. They are doing a good job by being very supportive of the school. They visit regularly to see for themselves how the Centre is developing and ask challenging questions. 4 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007 Since her arrival, the headteacher has monitored teaching and learning. Weaknesses have been accurately identified and these have been recognised in the accurate school self-evaluation. However, there are no systems in place to monitor how well these weaknesses have been tackled in order to improve provision further.

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Grade: 2

5 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007 .

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Grade: 2

set out in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007

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Inspection judgements

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

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Overall effectiveness

How effective, efficient and inclusive is the provision of education, integrated care and any extended services in meeting the needs of learners? How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The quality and standards in the Foundation Stage 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection

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Achievement and standards

2 How well do learners achieve? 3 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 2 How well learners with learning difficulties and disabilities make progress

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learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

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

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and interests of learners?

Grade 1 - Exceptionally and consistently high; Grade 2 - Generally above average with none significantly below average; Grade 3 - Broadly average to below average; Grade 4 - Exceptionally low. 7 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007

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and supporting all learners?

How effectively leaders and managers at all levels set clear direction leading to improvement and promote high quality of care and education How effectively performance is monitored, evaluated and improved to meet challenging targets How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination tackled so that all learners achieve as well as they can How effectively and efficiently resources, including staff, are deployed to achieve value for money The extent to which governors and other supervisory boards discharge their responsibilities Yes Do procedures for safeguarding learners meet current government requirements? No Does this school require special measures? No Does this school require a notice to improve? 8 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

22 January 2007 Dear Children Greenfield Nursery School, Hurst Drive, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, EN8 8DH Thank you for making me feel so welcome when I came into your nursery a few days ago. I particularly enjoyed doing all those puzzles with you and seeing you work together. I am now writing to you to let you know what I found out about your school. Your parents told me that you all enjoy coming to school and that you make good progress. I found that you were all friendly towards each other and were very polite. I really liked the way that you learn to help each other by handing round the fruit and drinks at snack time, and loved the way you all helped each other tidy away. You must be very useful at home. I think that you are very lucky to have so many people in school to help you and your families. Some of you have difficulties when talking to others. I have asked your teachers to help you even more by making sure that when you work in groups these are small enough so that you

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

can all join in. You can help your teachers by listening carefully to what they say and trying to join in. I have also asked your headteacher to look at how good your sessions are to make sure that you are all doing as well as you can. Thank you once again for welcoming me to your school and I wish you all good luck in the future. Marianne Harris Lead inspector 9 Inspection Report: Greenfield Nursery School, 18 °19 January 2007

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