Camborne Nursery School

Camborne Nursery School Inspection report

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111789 Unique Reference Number Cornwall Local Authority 325463 Inspection number 1 July 2009 Inspection date Alex Baxter 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 2–5 Age range of pupils Mixed Gender of pupils Number on roll 130 School (total) The governing body Appropriate authority Anthea Hedge Chair Janet Snook Headteacher 1 May 2006 Date of previous school inspection The Glebe School address Camborne TR14 7DT 01209 713607 Telephone number 01209 713607 Fax number

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2–5 Age group 1 July 2009 Inspection date 325463 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: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009

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Introduction

The inspection was carried out by two additional inspectors.

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Description of the school

This Nursery school became a Children's Centre in January 2006, it offers before- and after-school, holiday activities and a range of services to families. It is below average in size in relation to the general range of schools. The number of children on roll includes 52 children who, at various times, attend the out-of-school activities. All children in attendance during term time are in the Early Years Foundation Stage age group. Older pupils can attend the before and after school clubs as well as the holiday activities. The proportion of children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is above average overall and a significant number of children have speech difficulties. Very young children with such learning needs, together with their parents, can benefit from attending 'Parent and Toddler' sessions, which are one of the many family services held at the school.

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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: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009

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Grade: 1

Camborne Nursery is an outstanding school. Parents are right to value the education their children are getting. A very high proportion of parent questionnaires were completed and all were unanimous in their full support of the school. Typical comments included, 'I feel that Camborne Nursery School has had the most positive effect on my child's future educational journey' and 'My child loves coming to school and has made good progress since starting. Fantastic parental links and opportunities for involvement – fun for everyone! Staff are lovely and they share information sensitively.' The headteacher provides exemplary leadership and is extremely well supported by staff and governors. Above all, excellent leadership and management ensure that children become independent learners with the ability to choose learning activities for themselves. All staff and the children 'sign up' to a philosophy that learning is fun, that children's ideas are to be freely

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Grade: 1

offered, shared and valued and used to bring about new learning. During the inspection, the many parents visiting to celebrate 'National Aliveness Day' also experienced this infectious, happy and successful learning environment, much to the delight of their children. Not surprisingly, children thrive in this 'hotbed' of joyful learning and their achievement is excellent. Children are admitted at the age of two, when their skills in general, especially in communication, language and literacy and in reasoning and number, are below those expected of children of this age. About half of the children entering have had a beneficial taste of school by attending the 'Mother and Toddler' facility. Early admission of children enables staff to identify and tackle children's individual learning needs very quickly. As a result, relevant and very effective learning activities are provided from the outset. Subsequently, by the time they

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Grade: 1

leave, these activities have enabled most children to reach higher than expected skills in their personal, physical and creative development and in their knowledge and understanding of the world, with their language and numeracy skills matching those normally expected. From the moment they enter the school, children are welcomed into an 'oasis' where they are both nurtured and developed in an atmosphere of high expectations of both behaviour and independence. As a result, the children make outstanding progress in their personal development. The school's very close links with parents and extremely empathetic approach to families needing extra support ensure that children value school and take full advantage of all that staff offer so willingly. By so doing, the children develop a very good understanding of other people's needs and, through their wholehearted participation, make big contributions to their own and

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Grade: 1

each other's success at school. The children's very impressive progress is rooted in consistently outstanding learning and development. Teaching and the range of curricular learning activities are exemplary. Staff also safeguard the children's welfare extremely well. This helps all children to feel very secure, and, for their age, to take a high level of responsibility for their learning. Children value learning because they know the benefits it can bring and, in this particular school, not least because of the immense fun and fulfilment that learning and playing with others bring. These exemplary attitudes also prepare the children especially well for their future education. The staff assess the children's progress very closely and very successfully plan future learning activities and set children challenging targets that most reach. Self-evaluation is very effective in sustaining strengths and in bringing about improvement. For example, since the last

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Grade: 1

inspection, the substantial development of the outdoor learning facilities has greatly enriched 4 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009 the quality of children's learning experiences. In addition, this year the staff are having even more success, with increasingly younger children, in extending the children's understanding and use of words through movement activities and play. The school is seeking to extend parents' participation in this approach in order to enhance children's speech at home. In the context of this outstanding school, which seeks to achieve the very best it can for all children; it is an aspect that is not yet developed to best effect.

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What the school should do to improve further

■ Build on the excellent relationships with parents and encourage them to assist even more by developing their children's language through movement activity and play at home.

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Grade: 1

By the time they leave the school at the age of five, children have achieved extremely well in all areas of learning and develop levels of skills which compare favourably with those expected of children of this age. Progress is particularly impressive in the children's independent learning skills, their social, emotional and physical development and in their knowledge and understanding of the world. This stems from the staff's excellent use of the relatively new and wonderfully equipped and stimulating outdoor facilities in enthusing children and building on their ideas. Children with learning difficulties and/or disabilities also receive high quality support and, in relation to their capabilities, progress as successfully as others of the same age.

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Grade: 1

The children attend well and develop exemplary relationships with each other and with the very caring adults who support them so successfully. They find school fun, with laughter an integral part of their learning activity. As a result, their self-esteem is lifted considerably and their behaviour is extremely positive, enabling them to develop excellent attitudes towards learning. The children mimic the excellent role models of staff and adopt very healthy and safe lifestyles. The children's high regard for the needs of others is also very evident, for example as they learn and play happily in the 'Water and Sand Garden''. Their insistence on sharing their home- grown strawberries in the orchard with their friends, for example, also shows their well-developed sense of fairness. Such qualities clearly illustrate the children's excellent spiritual, social, moral and cultural development. In response to an outstanding range of very interesting

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Grade: 1

activities, the children make reasoned sensible choices for their age and work hard as individuals or as a member of a group. Consequently, they make excellent gains in developing independence in learning and are extremely well prepared for the future.

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Grade: 1

Without exception, the quality of the learning and development experienced by the children, throughout the setting is outstanding. Typical strengths include the excellent relationships between staff and children and the staff's very skilful questioning of children's freely chosen learning activities to draw out their ideas and build new learning. The children readily recognise and appreciate the way in which all staff value and celebrate their efforts. As a result, they 5 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009 respond enthusiastically and with conviction to the staff's exemplary advice. Staff are diligent in making sure that the childrens' needs are assessed accurately and that suitably challenging learning targets are set and reached to ensure consistent progress. Staff are particularly skilled and intuitively join in with the children during their chosen activities to make sure that learning

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Grade: 1

gets off to a good start. The staff model safe practice and, by participating energetically and wholeheartedly with the children, promote fun, enjoyment and successful learning. Examples include riding bouncy balls along the 'Wiggly Way', hunting for ripe fruits in the orchard and responding to a child's sudden interest in a spider. Fundamentally, staff successfully ensure that children are well on the way to becoming independent investigative learners, for example in encouraging the children to think carefully about their learning choices, how they can learn happily with others and to give of their very best in all that they do.

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Grade: 1

All staff give high priority to sustaining the children's health, safety and security. Their consistent rigour in implementing well-founded procedures and polices is a significant strength, much appreciated by parents. This rigour is evident in the way staff complete risk assessments, for example of visits to the seaside and of the school's facilities. In addition, teaching, support and cleaning staff, as individuals and as a team, are diligent in their daily checking of the site and equipment and in ensuring that the school's facilities, both indoors and outside, are kept scrupulously clean and tidy. The keyworker system, whereby one member of staff is given specific responsibility for a small group of children, lies at the centre of the excellent support and guidance given to each child. As a result, children and their parents show great confidence in the staff, enjoy very warm relationships and share confidences, which enrich the children's

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Grade: 1

learning. The staff use assessment very effectively to build a detailed knowledge of each child and use this information to plan learning activities relevant to their needs and interests. This process begins with very early identification of children's needs and involves swift consultation, as necessary, with outside agencies such as hearing support services. As a result, all children, from a range of backgrounds and including those with learning difficulties, have their needs met and make excellent progress in all areas of learning.

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Grade: 1

The headteacher provides inspirational leadership. She empowers staff and governors who, by working as an outstanding team, make excellent contributions to the work of the school and share her vision of continuing improvement. Leaders and managers ensure that their evaluation of the school's performance is very effective in sustaining strengths and in identifying and targeting the right priorities for improvement. Their rigour in bringing about improvement and their excellent capacity to continue this in the future are illustrated in the development and very effective use of the much improved and now outstanding outdoor learning facilities. These have significantly enhanced the children's independence, knowledge and understanding of the world and their physical development. Staff monitor the children's learning particularly accurately and in their own 'Learning Journals' set challenging targets to accelerate children's progress.

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Grade: 1

Staff work very effectively with parents, other early years settings and outside agencies to meet the children's variety of needs and to include all children equally. In addition, by offering significant support for families and a comprehensive range of extended school activities which 6 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009 very successfully foster children's appreciation of different lifestyles, the school makes an outstanding contribution to community cohesion. 7 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 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: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 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? 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/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: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 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? 10 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

1 July 2009 Dear Children Inspection of Camborne Nursery School, Camborne TR14 7DT Thank you for making us so very welcome. We really enjoyed talking with you and seeing you at work. We were very impressed indeed, especially by your love of learning together and the way all the adults who work at the school keep you safe and make sure that you enjoy your learning and play. I am pleased to say that we agree with you and your parents, who told us that Camborne Nursery is an outstanding school. These are some of the main things we found:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ You make excellent progress because the staff ensure that you have a wonderful range of learning activities to choose from, both indoors and out of doors. The staff support, challenge and question you, to make sure that new learning comes from your own ideas. As a result, you develop skills that are mostly above those expected for your age. ■ You really enjoy school, behave extremely well, feel safe and live very healthily because all the adults who work in the school look after you very effectively indeed. ■ Your headteacher, staff and governors run the school very successfully. They work very closely together and with your parents and other people to help you achieve your best. Even the best of schools can improve and so we have asked your headteacher, staff and governors to develop just one thing:

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Text from letter to pupils explaining the findings of the inspection

■ Encourage your parents to help even more by developing your speaking skills and understanding of words through movement activities and play at home. You can help by continuing to give of your best in all that you do. Thank you again and best wishes for the future. Yours faithfully Alex Baxter Lead inspector 11 of 11 Inspection Report: Camborne Nursery School, 1 July 2009

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