Abbey Green Nursery School

Abbey Green Nursery School Inspection report

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107188 Unique Reference Number Bradford Local Authority 309340 Inspection number 13 °14 May 2008 Inspection dates Joe Peacock 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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Nursery Type of school Maintained School category 3 °5 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 121 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Shafiq Porter Chair Mrs M Dixon Headteacher 4 October 2004 Date of previous school inspection Green Lane School address Bradford West Yorkshire BD8 8HT 01274 722070 Telephone number 01274 743926 Fax number

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3-5 Age group 13 °14 May 2008 Inspection dates 309340 Inspection number .

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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

The school is situated close to the centre of the city and is about average in size. Children attend on a full-time and part-time basis. Virtually all children are from minority ethnic families, the largest group being Pakistani, and nine out of ten speak English as an additional language. Many children are entitled to free school meals and a large proportion has learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The Children's Centre, which was not part of the inspection, was registered as integral to the Nursery school in January 2005, when the new school building was opened. A new headteacher and deputy headteacher have been appointed since the previous inspection. The school has gained the nationally recognised award of Investors in People.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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Grade: 2

This is a good school with many outstanding features and is living up to its motto of 'All different. All special. All equal'. It provides good value for money. As a result of the headteacher's vision and commitment, much has been achieved since the new building opened with its added Children's Centre. A key feature of the provision is the extremely favourable ratio of staff to children, giving all children a high level of support and guidance. This is of particular benefit to children who are at the early stages of learning to speak English. Parents are full of praise for the school and often comment on the, 'caring, helpful and very nice staff'. The school's strong reputation in the area means there is pressure for places every year and a long waiting list. Children join the school with skills that are very low; by the end of Nursery, standards are below those typical for their age. The good quality of teaching and learning and good curriculum

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Grade: 2

enable all children to settle in quickly and make good progress in all areas of learning. Close contact with adults is a major factor in the outstanding progress children make in all aspects of their personal development. For example, behaviour and attitudes are exemplary. Children's comments that they really like school are reinforced by parents who say that they find it hard to get them to go home. The good quality of teaching and learning, and exceptional care, support and guidance ensure children have time to explore, investigate or solve problems for themselves. Colourful displays of children's work reflect the good quality and range of learning activities. Children are free to choose from a wide range of exciting and interesting indoor and outdoor activities. All thoroughly enjoy the activities planned for them and quickly become absorbed in role play or the many opportunities to be creative. Children quickly become confident, independent learners.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher, ably supported by all staff, is determined to create a centre of excellence. The school's own evaluation of it strengths and areas for development is accurate. Good strategies have been introduced recently to help boys do as well as girls. Involving parents more in their children's learning and developing the role of governors are correctly identified as other priorities for improvement. However, progress in implementing these priorities has been a little slower than in other areas. Nevertheless, given the high quality of leadership provided by the headteacher, commitment of staff and what has been achieved since the last inspection, the school has a good capacity to improve.

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Grade: 2

As a Nursery school, the Foundation Stage is completely covered by the overall effectiveness section above.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Involve parents more in their children's learning.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Develop the role of governors and ensure that they are more involved in monitoring the effectiveness of all aspects of the school. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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Grade: 2

Children achieve well from starting points that are usually well below those typically expected for their age, particularly in relation to language and social skills. Staff place a strong emphasis on the early development of children's personal, social, language and mathematical skills. This helps children to make rapid progress in these areas and prepares them very well for future success. Most attain skills that are below the level expected for their age in all areas of learning. Boys' skills have been significantly below those of girls, especially in reading and writing, but effective strategies recently introduced are helping to close the gap. Children make impressive gains in learning to speak English because of all the support they receive from their teachers and helpers, and all the interesting things planned for them. These cause so much excitement that children are keen to talk about them. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities

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Grade: 2

achieve well because they are identified early and their needs are met.

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Grade: 1

Parents comment that their children grow socially and academically because they love being in school. Consequently, attendance is good. Children are busy from the moment they enter with a wealth of interesting and exciting learning opportunities to enjoy. They choose where to learn and play and which resources to use. They tidy away carefully when asked. This gives children confidence and boosts their self-esteem. Children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding. The excellent family atmosphere at lunchtime, with every child having a cooked meal, reinforces language and social skills brilliantly. Children are increasingly aware of others who may need help and behave responsibly. For example, a boy, who was helping to water the plants, switched off the water butt tap when it was left running. Children have an increasing understanding of different cultures and enjoy taking part in special

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Grade: 1

celebrations for different world religions. All were excited about the forthcoming Shadi and making invitations for Hamid Bear's wedding. They enjoy playing with the special dolls that portray different personalities and behaviours, and tracking the adventures of the three nursery bears.

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Grade: 2

Teachers plan stimulating and exciting learning experiences both indoors and outdoors, so that children enjoy every minute of their learning. The high level of interaction, whereby adults talk constantly with children, is largely responsible for the quick development of children's language skills. Occasionally, teachers' questioning skills are not as effective as they should be, limiting the opportunities for children to talk. Moreover, in group time at the end of sessions, the best use is not always made of the many teaching assistants who tidy up and prepare rather than continue to support children's learning. All staff make good use of computers and digital cameras to promote learning. Any difficulties in learning that children may have are dealt with very well. Staff identify potential problems very early on and, where necessary, seek expert advice to ensure appropriate levels of support. All adults have the highest of expectations of

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Grade: 2

5 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008 children in terms of concentration, commitment and response. As a result, children's behaviour and attitudes to learning are excellent.

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Grade: 2

The significant strengths in the curriculum ensure children love coming to school and are busily learning each day. The curriculum has been modified to ensure boys' interests are captivated and their needs are met. There is a much higher emphasis on providing opportunities to encourage boys to develop early writing skills. This has resulted in a significant improvement in the standards boys attain, closing the gap with girls who do very well in reading and writing. Just occasionally, the special boxes with writing materials designed to appeal to boys are overlooked and, therefore, lose their value. Every area of learning has its place outdoors as well as indoors and this helps to consolidate and extend children's learning. The exciting outdoor environment is constantly changing. At the moment, children enjoy tending the garden areas, playing musical instruments, climbing on the adventurous play equipment or sitting in the tent.

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Grade: 2

Indoors, they concentrate well when making vegetable kebabs, exploring the feelings of Ruchsana, the life-like doll, when she broke her glasses, and when creating a nest from twigs for baby owls. The curriculum is supported well with a good range of visits to local places of interest.

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Grade: 1

High quality support from teachers, teaching assistants and students ensures that children settle quickly at the start of each session. Children feel safe and cared for and quickly gain confidence as a result of the support they receive. The generous staffing levels ensure that there is always an adult close at hand to encourage and support; all are expert at encouraging children's independence. There are appropriate procedures in place to safeguard learners, and health and safety systems are well established. All staff carefully monitor children's activities, responses and achievements very closely. Daily records supplement more formal observations and equip staff to make accurate assessments of children's work and progress. Adults are very quick to identify children's strengths and areas to develop, for example, of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Furthermore, the more able children are extremely well supported

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Grade: 1

because of the speedy identification of their skills and talents. The school has established strong links with neighbouring schools and these ensure children transfer to primary school with minimal anxiety.

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Grade: 2

The headteacher's passion for the school and its children is clearly evident. It is remarkable what has already been achieved in the short time since moving into the new building and establishing the Children's Centre. The extremely conscientious deputy headteacher, and all staff who share the unswerving vision, provide able support. The school knows itself well and its self-evaluation is accurate. Good progress has been made on improving boys' performance, especially in early writing skills, but progress on the priorities of developing the role of governors and increasing the involvement of parents has been slower. Governors tend to change fairly often, as parents only have a short time when their children attend school, and this disrupts 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008 the development of the governing body. Governors are very supportive but rely heavily on information from staff about how well the school is doing rather than finding out for themselves.

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Grade: 2

Parents are very supportive of the school but improving their involvement has been affected by the absence of staff taking the lead in this priority. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008 .

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Grade: 2

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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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? Yes Effective steps have been taken to promote improvement since the last inspection How well does the school work in partnership with others to promote learners' well-being? 2 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 2 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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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?

1 The extent of learners' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development 1 The extent to which learners adopt healthy lifestyles 1 The extent to which learners adopt safe practices 1 How well learners enjoy their education 2 The attendance of learners 1 The behaviour of learners 1 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?

1 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. 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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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 2 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 2 The effectiveness of the school's self-evaluation 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

I hope your teachers will read my letter to you so that you know how much I really, really enjoyed my two days in your lovely Nursery school. Thank you for being so kind to me when I was with you. Your school is a good school with some extra special things happening there. Your mums, dads and carers told me how pleased they are that you come to this school and how very nice your teachers are. There is so much for you to do and to enjoy. I'm not sure that I could make my mind up about my favourite activity. There were so many things that I liked, including seeing you build a nest for the baby owls or a car from the wooden blocks, using the computers, making a kebab and exploring the dark den. It would be just as hard to choose my favourite thing outside! You did a good job of watering the plants. The tent looked cosy and your climbing equipment, slides and huge sand pit looked great fun. Those of you who played the musical

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

instruments did so well that it made some of your helpers want to dance. Thank you for making my inspection of your school so much fun. I know your mums, dads and carers enjoy having lunch with you and I hope there will be lots more times for them to visit and see the kind of things that you are learning each day. The special people called school governors are also going to visit you more often to find ways to make school even more exciting for you. Please say hello to your travelling bears Hamid, Junaid and Sabah for me. I hope you keep on being very very kind to Ruchsana and look after one another as well as you care for Squeaky-Weaky, your guinea pig. 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Abbey Green Nursery School, 13 °14 May 2008

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