Setting

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE T 08456 404040 F 020 7421 6855 enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Mrs R Edwards Headteacher Filton Avenue Nursery School and Children’s Centre Blakeney Road Horfield Bristol BS7 0DL

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Development (CPD)

Thank you for your hospitality and cooperation, and that of your staff, during my visit on 30 September with Jane Shaw, Child Care Inspector, to look at work in CPD.

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Development (CPD)

As outlined in my initial letter, as well as looking at key areas of CPD the visit had a particular focus on how professional development activities impact on raising standards and achievement.

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Development (CPD)

The visit provided valuable information which will contribute to our national evaluation and reporting. Published reports are likely to list the names of the contributing institutions but individual institutions will not be identified in the main text.

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Development (CPD)

The evidence used to inform the judgement about the overall effectiveness of CPD included interviews with senior managers and staff, scrutiny of relevant documentation, observation of several lessons, a children’s meeting and a NVQ teaching session.

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Development (CPD)

The overall effectiveness of CPD was judged to be outstanding.

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The strengths identified

 There is an excellent commitment and dedication to the professional development of all the staff in the school and children’s centre. This is reflected in your vision to ensure that the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) provision on offer to the children and their families is seamlessly integrated.  Your innovative and inspirational leadership has ensured that the setting has made outstanding progress in the development of CPD in such a short space of time. This was wholeheartedly praised by all the staff no matter what their role; without exception all expressed with enthusiasm that their professional development needs were fully met.  The senior team lead by example and work very effectively together. There is no room for complacency and no stone is left unturned. All members of the school community are valued equally and feel they have a voice. As a result, there is an impressive team spirit and an infectious

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The strengths identified

enthusiasm permeating the school.  The recently reviewed CPD programme is refreshingly flexible to accommodate an impressive range of training opportunities for staff which encompass teaching and learning, family support and extended services, and business and administration. Every effort has been made to ensure that all the staff despite their different contractual arrangements can attend and the management and monitoring of this extensive programme by the senior team is rigorous. Mentoring and induction systems are excellent and, following extensive refurbishment, the setting’s plans to revitalise the good coaching triangles are now appropriate.  The adults, including governors are thriving on the setting’s expectation that all the staff develop into confident leaders of learning and care. They welcome the challenge to take real ownership of their professional learning journey and to lead on an element of the school’s and centre’s

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The strengths identified

work. Leadership is genuinely distributed in the school and centre and many staff are invited to contribute to external CPD provision. The excellent NVQ session observed was a fitting testament to this.  There is a strong link between CPD, performance management and the school improvement plan. The performance management system is used well to identify targets, for example, creating a quality learning environment to ensure all areas reflect the centre’s values. Impressive progress has been made in all the rooms in such a short time; the environments were clutter free, spacious and light. Most importantly, they were designed to encourage independence, stimulate the senses and capture the children’s imagination. The natural, attractive and carefully placed resources both in the rooms and the outside classroom were of a very high calibre and brought learning alive for the children.  The teaching and learning and care observed was of a very high quality.

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The strengths identified

At such an early stage in the term all the children, including the under threes were settled, happy and working purposefully in a harmonious learning community. The successful integration of the children who started school for the first time was a joy to observe.  The school and centre has implemented the new EYFS requirements successfully due to thoughtful, well planned training sessions and an excellent pilot project involving a review and development of the children’s learning diaries. The diaries are thorough records of the children’s progress and they are and used effectively for assessment for learning as observed in the excellent children’s meeting.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

 revitalise the good coaching system previously in place  develop a bank of interactive teaching and learning resources which captures the high quality EYFS practice existing in the school and centre for use in future training and professional development.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

I hope these observations are useful as you continue to develop CPD in the school.

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Areas for improvement, which we discussed, included:

As I explained in my previous letter, a copy of this letter will be sent to your local authority and will be published on the Ofsted website. It will also be available to the team for your next institutional inspection.

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