Triangle Nursery School

Triangle Nursery School Inspection report

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100550 Unique Reference Number Lambeth Local Authority 323292 Inspection number 14 January 2009 Inspection date Wendy Simmons 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 67 School (total) The governing body Appropriate authority Mr Kevin Dodds Chair Mrs Melanie Smith-Brown Headteacher 10 May 2006 Date of previous school inspection 25 William Bonney Estate School address London SW4 7JQ 020 7622 1393 Telephone number 020 7622 0767 Fax number

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3–5 Age group 14 January 2009 Inspection date 323292 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. 2 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors. The inspectors evaluated the school's overall effectiveness and investigated the following issues.

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Introduction

■ How well children's language and communication skills are developing, especially their speaking and listening skills. ■ The overall standards reached by the time children leave the Nursery.

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Introduction

■ How well the links with parents, especially through additional services, aid children's achievement. The inspectors gained evidence from observing the children's learning activities and from the school's own evaluations of its work. Discussions were held with staff and 11 parents or carers. Inspectors spoke to children informally. A range of documentation was evaluated. Samples of children's assessment profiles were scrutinised and the views of parents were gathered from questionnaires. Other aspects of the school's work were not investigated in detail, but the inspectors found no evidence to suggest that the school's own assessments, as given in its self-evaluation, were not justified. These have been included where appropriate in this report.

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Description of the school

Triangle Nursery School is a small school that educates children from a wide range of cultural and social backgrounds. There are broadly equal proportions of children attending from White British, Black Caribbean and Black African backgrounds. A high proportion of children speak English as an additional language and many are at an early stage of speaking English when they start school. In total, 20 different languages are spoken by the children. Most children attend on a part-time basis, either attending morning or afternoon sessions, and close to half of all children attend full time. Only part of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) curriculum is provided in the Nursery. This is because children move onto other schools for the remainder of the EYFS in different Reception classes.

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Key for inspection grades

Outstanding Grade 1 Good Grade 2 Satisfactory Grade 3 Inadequate Grade 4 3 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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Grade: 1

Children make a flying start to their early education at Triangle Nursery. It is an outstanding school where the children are happy and well nurtured. Parents confirm this; as one put it, 'It is a fantastic place where children love learning and become confident and outgoing.' Children do so well due to outstanding leadership and teaching. Parents and the inspectors agree it is a welcoming place where relationships are harmonious and contribute much to the children's growing confidence to try new things and separate happily from their parents and carers. The children like their teachers and develop a very strong bond with a particular member of staff (Key Person). The headteacher and senior staff are very dedicated, innovative and forward-thinking. They are very well supported by other staff, governors and parents. Staff know how children learn to best effect and they plan a superb range of activities to make learning fun, challenging and

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Grade: 1

purposeful. They effectively assess how children are doing on a daily basis and then modify activities to ensure that children learn new things quickly and develop a very good range of skills; their achievement is outstanding. Children do very well in gaining the skills needed for their future lives. When children join the school, their skills and knowledge are very wide-ranging, but overall are often lower than is usual for their age. Some children are more ready to socialise and communicate than others. A high proportion of children are at an early stage of learning to speak English. All children blossom and progress very well during their time in the Nursery. By the time the children leave the school, many have skills and knowledge and are able to do the things that are usually expected for their age. More significantly, it is not unusual for a good proportion of children to do even better than this by working at a level that is more usually found at the end of the

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Grade: 1

Reception year. Nationally, boys often do not do quite as well as girls and leaders at this school are working very effectively to close the gap for most children, although the gap between the most able boys and girls remains uneven. In particular, leaders know that boys do not do quite as well as girls in their creative development and in their speaking skills. The school is well on the way with developments to aid all children's speaking skills and they have gained a Leading Aspect award for creativity. However, as an outstanding school they are always ambitious to improve. Thus, leaders are planning to do even more to help boys to be as creative as possible. Plans to develop the outside space are in hand, as currently this is very cramped. New developments will possibly provide a theatre, a special sensory exploration area and more room for art and large-scale construction activities, and promote even more mathematical problem-solving

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Grade: 1

activities. The superb 'Stay and Play' sessions help children to settle in, as parents and carers join play sessions with their children prior to their children attending regularly. Activities including 'Family workshops', 'make and take' and 'Lap Top Loan' contribute greatly to the children's all-round development. For example, they make story aids and collect photographs of their families to talk about and share. Through the many additional activities and events children enjoy stories and plays in different languages. Parents took different parts in a play called 'Rastalocks and the Three Bears', which celebrated cultural difference in a very positive and meaningful way. During 'Refugee Week' the staff made a film with children and parents to explore their feelings. 4 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009 This widened community cohesion very successfully and enhanced the children's spiritual, social

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Grade: 1

and cultural development very well. The day-to-day welfare of children is taken very seriously and consequently these young children are very well cared for at school. The support given to children with learning difficulties and those learning English as an additional language is very good. Work is planned carefully for all abilities and needs; this school really is an inclusive place. Staff talk regularly about children's development and needs and they work closely with a range of agencies to ensure that children thrive. Children enjoy exploring things for themselves and they like group activities. They grow in confidence and skills and have plenty of fun while at school. For example, when children filled up the sand pit with new sand and when they experimented with a water shoot, they worked cooperatively and screeches of joy and laughter were clearly heard! All activities are seen as times for developing discussions. Children are helped to learn new words in a meaningful way

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Grade: 1

and are encouraged to speak in longer sentences. Adults model language clearly and provide time and prompts for children to respond to their questions. Children work hard on learning letters and sounds and early writing skills, as well as gaining many other basic skills, such as counting and learning about the world around them. They develop very good concentration and an ability to persevere with things that are more difficult. Adults really encourage the children. The children behave very well and are encouraged to explore their emotions. They quickly learn rules, take turns and share. The arrangements for lunch aid their understanding of how to be healthy and adopt very good table manners. Children look forward to being one of the weekly 'star helpers', which help them to take on responsibility. Children run around as much as they can outside, but space is very cramped. Nonetheless, adults provide many

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Grade: 1

clambering and agility activities, which help children to develop good physical skills. Yoga is enjoyed by both parents and children. Parents noted that 'It aids children's sleep and coordination'. Leaders know their school well and are constantly looking for ways to make it even better. Highly effective monitoring and evaluation has led to very good improvement since the last inspection. The school was also found to be outstanding in 2006. Since then, standards and overall provision have risen further. Leaders have an outstanding capacity to improve the school, based on their past successes. However, the overall capacity is graded as good rather than outstanding. This is because the main aspect of development hangs on gaining an additional piece of land which adjoins the school and then getting planning permission. Although leaders are working very hard on this, the project is not yet confirmed as definite.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Pursue the possibility to expand the accommodation and learning space.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Maintain the emphasis on helping boys to do as well as girls in their language and creative skills. 5 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009 .

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What the school should do to improve further

in the guidance 'Complaints about school inspection', which is available from Ofsted’s website: www.ofsted.gov.uk. 6 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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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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EYFS?

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 capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? 1 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/or disabilities make progress

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children?

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 The extent to which 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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The quality of provision

1 How effectively are children in the EYFS helped to learn and develop? 1 How effectively is the welfare of the children in the EYFS promoted? 7 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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Leadership and management

1 How effectively is provision in the EYFS led and managed? 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 1 How well equality of opportunity is promoted and discrimination eliminated 1 How well does the school contribute to community cohesion? 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 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

23 January 2009 Dear Children Inspection of Triangle Nursery School,London,SW4 7JQ Maybe you will remember that a few days ago two visitors came to your school to see you doing your activities and have lunch with you. We hope that you do remember because it was very exciting for us to come and visit you. I would like to tell you what we found out. We know that you go to a fantastic school - we call this outstanding. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing you all working so hard and having fun. Well done for chatting and telling all of your friends and adults about everything that you are doing. Please keep this up as it helps you to learn new things. Well done for behaving so nicely and trying hard when you have to sit still, listen or share and take turns. Your teachers are wonderful because they are helping you to learn lots of really important things in a fun way. When you play, you learn and your teachers are very clever in checking that you are doing well. They know just how to

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

help you to do quite hard things, such as counting and learning about letters, sounds, stories and the things that go on in the big world outside. They also help you to learn how to be kind and helpful to the other children. By the time that you go to your next school, you will be able to do all the things that you should, which is great news. Please remember to say thank you to your teachers, mums, dads and child minders for helping you. All of the grown-ups are working to make things even better for you. Their ideas are great, so we have asked them to get on with doing these things.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Try to find a way to make the outside play and learning space bigger, so that you can do big paintings and drawings, do even more dressing up and pretending, and make really big constructions with different things. ■ Help all of you boys and girls to do just as well as each other.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

It was so nice to see so many happy faces. Keep smiling and have loads more fun finding out about new things! Yours faithfully Wendy Simmons Lead Inspector 9 of 9 Inspection Report: Triangle Nursery School, 14 January 2009

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