McMillan Nursery School

McMillan Nursery School Inspection report

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119095 Unique Reference Number Lancashire Local Authority 313185 Inspection number 7 °8 February 2008 Inspection dates Carole Cressey 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 °4 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 110 School The governing body Appropriate authority Mr George Adam Chair Mrs Gillian Wroe Headteacher 1 January 2004 Date of previous school inspection Railway Street School address Nelson Lancashire BB9 9AG 01282 612709 Telephone number 01282 612709 Fax number

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3-4 Age group 7 °8 February 2008 Inspection dates 313185 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 in an area where there are significant pockets of social and economic deprivation. Most children are from minority ethnic backgrounds and have English as an additional language. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is well above average.

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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: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008

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Grade: 1

This is an outstanding nursery which is exceptionally well led and managed. The leadership’s determination to provide the very best education possible is shared by a skilled and enthusiastic team of professionals and a supportive governing body. They consistently provide outstanding teaching, care, guidance and support, along with a very practical and exciting curriculum. Although the majority of children start nursery with levels of development which are well below those expected for their ages, they thrive in this excellent nurturing environment, make rapid progress and most leave with the skills expected of them. Parents are rightly very proud of their successful school, especially the very high quality care their children receive and the rapid progress they make in their learning. One parent said, ‘I had a son at McMillan and he was well looked after and his progress was brilliant, he was well

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Grade: 1

prepared for school and I was so pleased I sent my daughter and recommended my sister to send her son also.’ This is typical of comments made by many parents. Learning is such fun that children make remarkable gains in their personal qualities and quickly adjust to school routines. Children’s enjoyment of school is evident as they happily wave goodbye to their parents and eagerly decide what is going to be their first exciting task of the day. Adults are always available to support those children who need extra reassurance because they are new to nursery, need someone to explain things in their home language or have very complex learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Children’s behaviour is consistently outstanding. It is so very good that each year their teachers take every single child to a seaside hotel for lunch. Now that is really something when you are only three! Parents are especially pleased their children are learning about other cultures and

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Grade: 1

faiths as they believe this is preparing them well for life in modern British society. An excellent programme of social and health education provides the children with age related tools to develop personal safety, care and healthy living. A wide range of exciting high quality resources and activities continually challenge the children and inspire them to learn. Teaching is carefully adapted to each individual child to ensure they make the progress they are capable of. Staff use the information from observations extremely well to pinpoint each child's progress and carefully identify the next steps in learning. The indoor and outdoor environments are used very effectively to support and extend children's spontaneous play and language development. Parents really do value the richness of the curriculum the school has to offer, recognising that with the best will in the world as parents they cannot provide all the many valuable experiences

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Grade: 1

the school does. In just one day a child can be involved in preparing a meal to celebrate Chinese New Year, mixing cement to build a wall, as well as bathing Mrs Wishy Washy’s farm animals, making a pair of binoculars and learning to write both names and learning simple addition and subtraction. The nursery has made excellent progress since the previous inspection; it gives excellent value for money and is exceptionally well placed to continue to be very successful. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008

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Grade: 1

As a Nursery school the Foundation Stage is completely covered by the Overall Effectiveness section.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ There are no significant areas to improve.

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Grade: 1

When children enter the nursery their development is generally well below that usually seen for children of this age especially in literacy, numeracy and personal and social development. Most children make rapid progress and achieve exceptionally well so that by the time they leave the nursery their standards are at the expected level and a significant number are exceeding it. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities; those who learn at a faster rate; those learning English as an additional language; children from minority ethnic groups; and girls and boys all do well at this outstanding nursery because of the excellent support each individual receives.

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Grade: 1

Children’s personal development and well-being are outstanding as is their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. By the time they have been in nursery for a term children are very lively, confident and friendly. They play well together for long periods of time, behave exceptionally well and soon take a full part in the school community. Children enjoy their time at nursery and their attendance is good. Children with behavioural problems are fully integrated into all activities and make very good gains in their learning. Children work safely and are very good at selecting and clearing away their own resources. All this prepares them exceptionally well for transfer into primary school. Parents are particularly pleased their children are learning how to keep themselves safe on the road and the importance of not talking to strangers. At snack time children enjoy different types of healthy foods, learn to wait their turns and to say please and thank you. Even when

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Grade: 1

the weather is cold and blustery children can’t wait to put on their hats, coats and wellies, to enjoy all the challenges of the outside play area. Climbing, sliding and swinging releases such energy and helps young bodies to grow healthy and strong.

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Grade: 1

Teaching and learning are outstanding. Children learn exceptionally well because teachers and support staff, including bilingual assistants, match tasks and activities very carefully to individual needs. Staff are always on hand to extend children’s knowledge and understanding. It’s not enough to be able to write your first name; once that has been accomplished then the challenge is to be able to write your second name! Staff use the information from observations to pinpoint 5 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008 each child's progress and carefully identify the next steps in learning. The basic skills are woven very imaginatively into every task so that speaking and listening, mark-making, counting and the use of mathematical vocabulary are all relevant to children’s experiences. Group times with key workers are just one of the successful ways children’s learning is extended. During snack

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Grade: 1

time children happily discovered that honey, money and sunny all rhymed; they counted how many children were present and worked out how many were away. Parents are delighted with how much their children learn each day and they recognise the role they have to play in helping their child to be successful.

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Grade: 1

The curriculum is outstanding. It helps children to learn how to stay safe and healthy and develop a caring attitude to each other and their community. Staff provide a wide variety of highly challenging practical activities both indoors and outside which grasp the interest and imagination of young children. As a result children are eager learners who can’t wait to see what each new day has in store for them. Parents especially value the emphasis placed on play and say they realise how much reading, writing and number their children learn from their play. The curriculum is exceptionally well planned to ensure that children’s language skills are given a high priority. Visits and visitors are all carefully planned to give children exciting experiences to talk about. A train journey, a trip to a beach, lunch in a hotel, looking for squirrels, a visit from the mayor, a circus performer or a postman are all so new and exciting when you are only

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Grade: 1

three! You just have to talk about them.

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Grade: 1

The school’s outstanding level of care, guidance and support enables all children to be highly successful learners who make rapid strides in their progress. Procedures for safeguarding pupils’ welfare, health and safety are in line with statutory requirements. Parents justifiably praise the school for the exceptional way it cares for individuals and their families. Staff work with the adjacent ‘Offspring Pre-school’ and ‘Sure Start’ to provide support for those families who need additional support in managing their children’s behaviour or complex and challenging learning needs. Children who go on extended holidays have a homework pack which includes a camera to record their experiences. On their return to England a home visit and a planned return to school ensure that children are eased back into nursery with the minimum of distress. Highly developed systems for assessing academic progress contribute much to the children's progress.

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Grade: 1

Children are very well supported to help them to continually improve.

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Grade: 1

Leadership and management are outstanding. The headteacher provides the staff with an exceptionally clear direction resulting in a strong, enthusiastic team who are committed to providing an early year’s curriculum based on meeting individual needs of the child. The effective process of self-evaluation, although modest in its judgement, accurately reflects the high quality provision the school makes. New staff or changes to roles and responsibilities are carefully monitored and supported to ensure that the high standards of teaching are always maintained. The school’s systems to check children’s progress are excellent and are used very 6 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008 effectively to ensure that all groups of children and individuals make the progress they are capable of. These systems are so good they are being used by the local authority as examples of best practice. Governors have established good systems for monitoring the work of the

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Grade: 1

school. Parents are unanimous in their view that the school is well led and managed. The inspection wholeheartedly agrees with them. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008 .

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Grade: 1

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 8 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 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? 1 The effectiveness of the Foundation Stage 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do learners achieve? 2 The standards 1 reached by learners How well learners make progress, taking account of any significant variations between groups of learners 1 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: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 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 1 How effectively leaders and managers use challenging targets to raise standards 1 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: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

8 February 2008 Dear Children Inspection of McMillan Nursery School, Lancashire, BB9 9AG I really enjoyed visiting your nursery. Do you know that your nursery is outstanding? That means you go to one of the very best nursery schools in the whole country. That is why you all do so well in learning to read, write, count, paint, draw and all the other really exciting things you do every day. You are all becoming so clever. Your teachers are very very good. They are always thinking of new and exciting things for you to do. They are also very good at helping you to get better and better at everything you do. Do you know what pleased me most? It was how you share your toys, play together really well and behave so well. I also really enjoyed your Chinese Dragon Dance to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It is important to learn about and celebrate all the important occasions in our lives in different ways. I can tell that you enjoy coming to nursery because you look so happy when you first arrive

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

and happily choose your activities. Your mums and dads also told me how much you enjoy coming to school and learning about new things! I hope you will always enjoy learning and going to school and that it will help you to become very happy and clever grown-ups. Carole Cressey Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: McMillan Nursery School, 7 °8 February 2008

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