Speedwell Nursery School

Speedwell Nursery School Inspection report

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108900 Unique Reference Number Bristol, City of Local Authority 324858 Inspection number 4 February 2009 Inspection date Diane Wilkinson 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 Community School category 3–4 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 74 School (total) The governing body Appropriate authority David Cooling Chair Gillian Lowe Headteacher 2 May 2006 Date of previous school inspection Speedwell Road School address Kingswood Bristol BS5 7SY 01179 030329 Telephone number 01179 030329 Fax number

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3–4 Age group 4 February 2009 Inspection date 324858 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 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two Additional Inspectors.

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Description of the school

Speedwell Nursery School provides education for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage. It serves an area of social disadvantage and attainment on entry is well below that usually found. Around 40% children come from minority ethnic groups, with 12% being at the early stages of learning English. A small number of children have learning difficulties and/or disabilities. The nursery is a Creative Partnerships 'School of Creativity' and holds the Eco School and Healthy School awards.

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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: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009

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Grade: 1

Speedwell is an outstanding nursery school where children thrive and do especially well in both their academic and personal development. Both the quality of learning and development and the attention given to children's welfare are of an exceptionally high standard. This is the result of the outstanding leadership of the headteacher, whose vision for a nursery where the needs of each child are especially well met and where learning is challenging and fun is fully realised. In achieving this vision she is very well supported by staff and governors who work exceptionally well together in ensuring that the nursery's work is very carefully monitored and adjusted to continually provide a high quality education and care. As a result, children love coming to the nursery and participate enthusiastically in all the activities. Parents are full of praise for staff and the work that they do, one typically writing, 'The nursery is a wonderful inclusive

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Grade: 1

environment. The children and parents are made to feel like one of the family. There is a wide variety of activities and a great area for play. My son loves this nursery, as did my daughter. The staff and headteacher should be proud of what they are doing.' The curriculum is of outstanding quality. It is highly innovative and has been adapted especially well to take full advantage of some of the best resources and projects on offer. In particular, as a Creative Partnership School, creativity is put at the centre of children's learning, engaging a high level of interest and commitment and providing a variety of ways in which children can explore things for themselves. Outdoor learning is given high priority and the excellent outdoor accommodation is used especially well to allow children to learn in a variety of ways and to encourage physical activity. The monitoring of children's progress is outstanding and excellent

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Grade: 1

use is made of the information to help plan exciting new activities which encourage children to do their very best. The outstanding teaching is evident in the way staff are very skilled at prompting and questioning children to enable them to find out things for themselves and challenging them to move on to the next stage. As a result, children have a very good understanding of what they are learning. Over the past few years attainment on entry has been declining and an increasing number of children now come from homes where English is an additional language, some of whom have only spent a short time in this country. The nursery has adapted especially well to the changing needs of its children and, as a result, achievement is very good. The excellent support provided for children who have learning or language needs means they achieve as well as their classmates. By the time children leave, standards are only slightly below those expected. However, the

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Grade: 1

school's very good tracking systems indicate children do not make as much progress in writing and in mathematical calculation as they do in other aspects of literacy and numeracy, and staff are working hard to address this. The school fully meets the requirements for protecting and safeguarding children and, as a result, they feel very safe and happy there. Sensitive support for children and excellent behaviour management help them make very good progress in their personal development. Behaviour is outstanding and children work and play especially well together. Children have an excellent awareness of the importance of a healthy and safe lifestyle and are developing a very good awareness of what it means to belong to a community. They are especially good at sharing resources and helping their classmates and gain a very good awareness of the different cultures, religions and backgrounds of the other children. This makes the nursery a very happy and

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Grade: 1

harmonious community. 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009 Excellent leadership and management are evident in the very effective work of the senior management team, which includes a business manager, and the nursery is guided especially well. Teamwork amongst all nursery staff is excellent, which ensures there is a consistent approach to curriculum planning and teaching and learning. Although a considerable number of governors are new, they are exceptionally well led by the chair, putting their expertise to very good use in working with staff on different projects. The school has forged outstanding partnerships with parents and a number of other schools and agencies, which benefit children's education and welfare especially well. Outstanding systems are in place for monitoring the school's work, providing very comprehensive information on where further attention is needed.

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Grade: 1

Development planning is excellent and areas for improvement are very speedily and successfully addressed. This is evident in the outstanding way in which the school has built on and extended the provision seen at its last inspection, which gives confidence that the school is exceptionally well placed to improve further.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Build on and extend the strategies put in place to improve children's progress in writing and calculation.

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Grade: 1

Despite having well below the expected level of skills for their age on entry, children's very good achievement means that, by the time they leave, standards are close to the local authority average and only slightly below the nationally expected level. There is some variation between the different areas of learning, largely owing to weaker aspects on entry in some children's key literacy and numeracy skills. Standards are highest in creative, physical and social and emotional development because children do especially well in these areas. Staff are keen to raise standards in all areas to the same level and over the past year they have been successful in improving standards in reading and in speaking and listening. This year they are working hard to achieve the same success in writing and mathematical calculation.

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Grade: 1

Children make excellent progress in this aspect. Their moral and social development is especially good. Children are extremely well behaved and are busy and involved throughout activities, cooperating very well with each other and in taking turns. They are very friendly and confident and love talking to visitors to the nursery. Children have excellent attitudes to learning, being reflective and thoughtful and exhibiting great excitement when discovering new things. Because of the exciting range of creative activities on offer, children develop a very good knowledge of different cultures. The nursery is very successful in encouraging attendance and punctuality, which is good. Children look forward to the healthy meals at lunchtimes and love the many activities for playing outdoors and taking exercise. Their involvement in the Eco School Project allows children to make an important contribution to the local community. The very good

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Grade: 1

progress children make in developing literacy, numeracy and social skills helps prepare them especially well for their future life. 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009

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Grade: 1

A major factor in the nursery's success is the shared commitment of all staff to provide the very best education for each child. As a result, learning activities are especially well planned to meet children's needs and interests. Both the Creative Agent and Artist in Residence work closely with staff and parents to help provide children with a range of activities that are imaginative, exciting and highly motivating. This, together with exceptionally good use of the excellent outdoor accommodation, provides children with an inspirational environment which stimulates in them a great desire to learn. Staff have an exceptionally good understanding of how young children learn and very sensitively and carefully guide them to acquire new skills and knowledge. Discussion is a very important feature of all activities and children are encouraged to ask questions and experiment with different resources. Throughout activities,

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Grade: 1

staff are continually assessing children to ascertain how well they are doing. They have an excellent awareness of when to intervene with a question or challenge to help children move on to the next stage of learning. There is an exceptionally good balance of activities where children work with an adult and where they choose tasks for themselves. In the latter, the very careful choice of resources ensures that children can easily discover new things.

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Grade: 1

Staff and governors pay rigorous attention to ensuring the health, safety, welfare and protection of all children, including through outstanding links with many different agencies and other schools. Induction and transfer arrangements are excellent. Many parents commented on the high quality care and support their children receive, which helps them to feel very happy, safe and secure in school. The school has built up excellent relationships with parents, partly through the work of the part-time family support worker. Staff have been extremely successful in engaging with parents as partners in their children's education, including through providing courses and joint activities. This has been extremely beneficial in helping support children's learning. The arrangements for monitoring and assessing children's progress are outstanding. They provide a very comprehensive picture of how well children are doing and children

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Grade: 1

themselves contribute to this process exceptionally well through their learning journey diaries. Excellent use is made of this information to plan for children's future development.

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Grade: 1

The headteacher is an inspirational leader who is very ably supported by her staff. Their determination to provide a high quality education for children is evident in the comprehensive monitoring and evaluation procedures put in place to keep a very regular check on the school's effectiveness. An excellent culture of challenge has been created, as staff continually reflect on their practice, rigorously evaluating it and exploring how it can be improved in the future. Staff are supported especially well in their professional development, particularly those who are new to the profession. The school makes excellent use of financial resources to support pupils' learning, for example, in providing the high quality outdoor environment and employing 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009 personnel to support the Creative Learning Project. Although many are new to their role,

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Grade: 1

governors are extremely supportive and use their expertise to very good effect in areas such as financial management and educational welfare. Governors are very well deployed in supporting different development initiatives, for example, in auditing and planning to extend community cohesion. However, in this aspect as in other new initiatives, the full effect of their work is not yet apparent. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009 .

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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: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 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? 1 The capacity to make any necessary improvements

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Achievement and standards

1 How well do children in the EYFS achieve? 3 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? 9 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 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 2 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

5 February 2009 Dear Children Inspection of Speedwell Nursery School, Kingswood, Bristol BS5 7SY Thank you for welcoming us to your school. We very much enjoyed the time we spent with you. We think your nursery is excellent and are delighted that you and your parents agree. Here are some of the things we found out were especially good about the nursery:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You enjoy nursery very much and have lots of fun there. You love finding out about new things and you make very good progress. ■ Your behaviour is excellent and you get on very well together. You are very friendly, polite and helpful and I really enjoyed talking with the children who I had lunch with on the day that I visited. ■ You have excellent teachers and support staff and they plan lots of very exciting activities which help you to do really well. ■ We were especially impressed by the nursery grounds and the activities you can do there and also by the many creative activities you take part in. I very much enjoyed watching you make things with the clay. ■ Adults take very good care of you and they keep an excellent check on how well you are doing so that they can plan activities to help you learn more. ■ You have an excellent headteacher and, together with staff and governors, she is working hard to help your nursery to continue to improve even further.

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

Here are some of the things we would like to see improved:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Although you are doing really well, we agree with staff that they can do more to help you to improve your writing and number work. You can help by trying really hard in your writing and number activities. Thank you again for all your help and good luck for the future. Yours sincerely D Wilkinson Lead Inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Speedwell Nursery School, 4 February 2009

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