Pembury House Nursery School

Pembury is an Early Excellence Centre and its 2002 report is below

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Pembury House Centre for Childhood

A report from the Office of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that all extracts quoted are reproduced verbatim without adaptation and on condition that the source and date thereof are stated. College inspection reports are available on the OFSTED website (www.ofsted.gov.uk).

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Dates of Inspection: 21-22 January 2002

This pilot inspection was carried out at the request of the Department for Education and Skills as part of its evaluation of the first Early Excellence Centres. Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Schools (HMCI) elects that the inspection is deemed a Section 10 short inspection and that the report shall be published.

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CENTRE

Address: Lansdowne Road, Tottenham, London N17 9XE

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INFORMATION ABOUT THE CENTRE

Date of previous inspection: Section 10: December 1997

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of the inspection is to assure government, parents and the public that the nursery education is of an acceptable quality. Inspection also identifies strengths and weaknesses so that the Centre can improve the quality of care and education provision, and help children to achieve the early learning goals by the end of the Foundation Stage. The Foundation Stage covers the period from age three to the end of the reception year in school. A copy of this inspection report and its summary must be made available free of charge to all parents.

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ABOUT THE INSPECTION

If the nursery education has been inspected previously, an action plan will have been drawn up to tackle issues identified. This inspection, therefore, must also assess what progress has been made in the implementation of this plan.

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Team members

Any concerns or complaints about the inspection or the report should be raised with OFSTED by writing to:

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Team members

Alexandra House 33 Kingsway London WC2B 6SE

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 7

HOW THE CENTRE HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION 8

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 7

STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY CHILDREN 8 Progress towards early learning goals 8 The attitudes of children and adults towards the Centre 8

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE REPORT 7

THE QUALITY OF EDUCATION, LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT 9 Teaching and learning 9 Other aspects of the Centre 9 How well the Centre is led and managed 10 Parents’, carers’ and users’ views of the Centre 11

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PART B: COMMENTARY 12

WHAT THE CENTRE SHOULD DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER 16

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PART A: SUMMARY OF THE INSPECTION REPORT

The Centre was inspected by a team of five inspectors, led by Gill Broadbent HMI. This is a summary of the inspection report which is available from the Centre.

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FEATURES OF THE CENTRE

Pembury House Centre for Childhood is one of three centres that form Haringey Early Excellence Network. The Centre is in an area of social disadvantage and high unemployment, and offers a range of services to families and children under five years of age. These include: nursery education; family outreach support; a ‘drop-in’ service for parents, carers and children under three; and crèche facilities for the children of adults attending short courses. It also disseminates information by providing training and support to visitors throughout the year. Other services include: before and after school care; holiday play-schemes; and courses for parents and adults in the community. These aspects were not inspected. The nursery provides up to 70 full-time equivalent places for children at any one time, 13 of which are for children with special needs. There are 85 children on roll, of whom 32 attend on a full-time basis. Ten children on the register for special educational

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FEATURES OF THE CENTRE

needs (SEN) receive the support of external specialists. Families that use the Centre come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds. Most of the 30 children learning English as an additional language (EAL) are at the early stages of acquiring English. Somali, Turkish, Punjabi and Albanian speakers make up the largest EAL groups. There are five refugee families.

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FEATURES OF THE CENTRE

Since 1999 there has been a significant turnover of those staff who work directly with the children. In addition, all the members of the senior management team changed between 1999 and 2001.

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HOW GOOD THE CENTRE IS

The quality of the services provided by Pembury House Centre varies. Taken overall, they are satisfactory. The family outreach service is excellent and is fully used by children and their families. The advisory service for the non-maintained sector provides good support to staff in the private, voluntary and independent sectors, and has been very well received. The respect shown by all staff towards parents and children ensures that their attitudes to the Centre are very good. Teaching in the nursery is good overall; a third of the teaching is satisfactory. Assessment and its use in planning the curriculum are not yet fully developed. In their personal, social and emotional, and physical development children achieve high standards. In the other areas of learning they achieve sound standards, except in mathematics, where children are not doing as well as most children of this age. Children with SEN and EAL are fully included in the nursery and most make good progress. The

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HOW GOOD THE CENTRE IS

Centre is soundly led but the roles and responsibilities of senior managers are not well defined. Overall, the services offered are well used, and on the evidence available, the Centre provides sound value for money.

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WHAT THE CENTRE DOES WELL

• Teaches children very well in the area of personal, social and emotional development so that they make very good progress. • Promotes very good progress in children’s physical development. • Successfully includes children and families with a range of ethnic backgrounds and languages. • Provides excellent support to meet the needs of the families who live in the local community.

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WHAT THE CENTRE COULD IMPROVE

• Management of the education programme for 3 and 4 year olds. • Teaching and learning in the area of mathematical development. • The quality of assessment and its use in planning the curriculum. • The clarity of the role and functions of the governing body, currently limited by a lack of delegated powers. The areas for improvement will form the basis of the governing body’s action plan.

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HOW THE CENTRE HAS IMPROVED SINCE ITS LAST INSPECTION

This is the first inspection of the Centre as part of an Early Excellence Network. Pembury House Nursery was last inspected in December 1997. Since that time sound improvements have taken place in the systems for planning the curriculum, except in mathematical development where more needs to be done. The quality of the teaching and children’s attitudes have improved.

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STANDARDS ACHIEVED BY CHILDREN

When they enter the nursery, the majority of children have not yet reached the expected levels in the six areas of learning. They make good progress overall and are on course to achieve the early learning goals in all areas except mathematics.

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Area of learning Comment

Personal, social, and emotional development Children are likely to exceed the early learning goals by the end of the reception year in primary school. The majority of children make very good progress. They are confident, independent and relate well to one another. Communication, language and literacy Overall, children make good progress and are likely to meet the goals by the end of the reception year. Children develop good early reading skills, but their early writing skills are not as well developed. Mathematical development Most children make satisfactory progress but are not yet on course to meet the goals, because there are not enough planned opportunities to develop mathematical learning. Knowledge and understanding of the world In cultural development children’s progress is very good, and in the use of computers it is good. In the other aspects of this area progress is satisfactory, and overall, children are likely to meet the

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Area of learning Comment

goals by the end of the reception year. Physical development Children make very good progress, reach a high standard and are likely to exceed the goals in this area. They are agile, move with confidence and have a good awareness of space. Creative development Most children make good progress and are likely to meet the goals by the end of the reception year. Children enjoy and respond enthusiastically to creative activities.

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The attitudes of children and adults towards the Centre

The staff consistently encourage respect for, and an understanding of, others' points of view. Children, parents, carers and users respond positively to the respectful and welcoming reception they are given by staff. They are confident, relaxed, feel secure in the Centre and make good use of its services. Parents trust staff because they receive good support to help them to resolve problems, and they find the advice offered useful.

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Teaching and learning

The quality of about two thirds of the teaching is good and the remaining third is satisfactory. In the best teaching adults know how to maintain the interest of children, and when to intervene to ensure that they learn well. For instance when children ordered a ‘take-away’ in the home corner, the teacher encouraged them to successfully sequence what they needed to do, have a go at ‘writing’ an order, and use their imaginations to re-create familiar experiences. This motivated the children so that they concentrated for a long period and enjoyed what they were doing. Where teaching is not as good, adults are unsure about what children need to learn next and, as a result, they are not challenged enough and do not make sufficient progress. Some staff are tentative about intervening at the right moment to pose well targeted questions, help children to think, and find out about things for themselves,

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Teaching and learning

for example in their explorations and investigations.

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Teaching and learning

In personal, social and emotional development the teaching is very good. Adults have a good knowledge of individual children, understand how they develop, and are very skilled at managing behaviour and encouraging co-operation. They successfully help children to resolve conflict by encouraging them to negotiate with each other. As a result children develop good relationships with each other and adults. Staff encourage children to care for, and consider the needs of others. This ensures that the majority of children with SEN and those with EAL learn to work and play together successfully. However, in mathematics, teaching generally needs to be better planned and more focused in order to raise children’s level of achievement. There are insufficient opportunities for teaching mathematics in the activities provided; for example, children learned little about the different properties of shapes when playing with large blocks.

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Teaching and learning

Staff make regular observations of children’s interests and responses to activities, but do not always assess the learning that has taken place. When this happens, staff are not able to plan effectively what children need to learn next.

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Aspect Comment

The quality and range of the curriculum The curriculum provided is satisfactory overall. It offers a varied range of planned practical activities both indoors and outside. Plans broadly cover all the areas of learning and take account of children’s interests. These are very good in the areas of personal, social and emotional development and physical development, but in mathematical development are not focused enough on what children need to know and the skills they need to learn. Staff ensure that both boys and girls have access to all the activities. How well the Centre cares for its children The welfare of all children is very important to the staff. Home visits are an important and effective aspect of the children’s settling in. They help to establish good relationships and enable staff to identify the particular needs of children and their families. Children are introduced sensitively to the routines of the nursery and as a

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Aspect Comment

result are happy and secure. The Centre has good procedures for following up children’s absence and lateness but attendance still varies considerably. Parents and carers regularly discuss their children’s development with staff and have open access to their records. Provision for children with special educational needs The support for children with SEN is well managed by the co- ordinator. Children’s special needs are identified early and the co- ordinator ensures they are clearly understood by all, in order to give the children the help they need. Parents are fully involved in reviewing their children’s targets and how well they do. The majority of children are well supported and make good progress. However, one or two would, at times, benefit from a quieter environment away from the main area, to meet their particular needs. Provision for children learning English as an additional language Children who are learning English as an additional language are

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Aspect Comment

identified before they enter the nursery and are supported well. Turkish- and Somali- speaking staff interpret and give good bilingual support. This enables almost all children to make good progress. Provision for children’s personal development, including spiritual, moral, social and cultural, development The cultural heritage of children and their parents is reflected well in the day to day activities. Social development is promoted very well. Opportunities for children’s moral development are good because adults take a consistent approach to behaviour management and children are quickly taught the difference between right and wrong. Children make satisfactory progress in their spiritual development. They are helped to be sensitive to the needs and feelings of others, but there are not enough opportunities for them to be quiet and reflect. Family support services:

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Aspect Comment

baby and toddler ‘drop- in’ service The family outreach worker provides outstanding support for families. Together with staff, she has developed very good relationships with parents, carers and children, and as a result gained their trust and confidence. The advocacy and counselling service significantly improves the lives of children and their families. The ‘drop-in’ service is well attended and held in high regard by parents and carers. The work of this service is based on a clear understanding of child development. The service offers a good range of activities. Contribution to the development of good early years practice beyond the Centre The advisory teacher provides good advice, support and opportunities for the professional development of staff that work in the non-maintained sector. He has designed a range of well- targeted training courses.

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Aspect Comment

Leadership and management by the head of Centre and other key staff The Centre is soundly led. The head of Centre has set a clear direction for the work of the family support and advisory service. Together with her senior managers, she has prioritised the development of teamwork, support for families, and a consistent approach to managing behaviour. The development of the curriculum has not had the same emphasis. Staff roles are being defined but the responsibilities of senior managers are unclear and are not directly linked to performance management and appraisal to improve teaching and curriculum planning. How well the governing body fulfils its advisory role in the Centre's evaluation of its performance The chair of governors is supportive and committed to the work of the Centre. However, the governing body does not fulfil its role because it has not been able to recruit enough governors. As a consequence, it has not met for a year, or produced an annual

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to see improved

• The excellent support provided by the family outreach worker. • The respect shown towards children and parents. • The very good knowledge staff have of their children’s individual needs. • The school’s ethos of racial harmony and tolerance. • The good quality care provided.

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to see improved

The inspectors agree with the very positive views expressed by parents and carers.

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development so that they make very good progress

1. Almost all children make very good progress in their personal, social and emotional development because teaching is very good. They are on course to exceed the early learning goals by the end of the reception year. They know their key worker well and relationships between children and staff are excellent. The qualities and interests of each child are known and valued and children are both comfortable with themselves and trusting of adults. As a result most children are secure and participate in activities with confidence. They are learning well how to form friendships and to treat each other with respect and kindness. For example, one child patiently explained to another child with special needs why a ball would not go down a tube. On another occasion, children pretended to be the parents of an unhappy child who needed to be comforted. They are encouraged to take turns rather than becoming upset or angry when they have to wait for

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development so that they make very good progress

such things as being the driver of the car which they have helped to build.

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development so that they make very good progress

2. All adults who work with the children manage behaviour in the same way. The good influence of this is evident when children spontaneously say "Stop! I don't like that!" This is understood by all children and is helping them to stand up for their own rights. Children also copy terms used by adults such as, "I don’t like to see you upset", to express their concern and offer comfort. The good example set by staff extends beyond the Centre and into the children’s families. Several parents said that their children use similar phrases, and strategies, at home.

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development so that they make very good progress

3. Helping children to resolve conflict is a significant strength of all staff. They prevent conflict and help children to sort differences out quickly and effectively. A potential argument over using a set of keys was defused by an adult helping children to negotiate who would look after them.

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development so that they make very good progress

4. Children are developing good levels of independence and good personal habits. Resources are well laid out and organised so that children can make their own decisions about what to use. They move freely between both indoor and outdoor areas and are learning to put on their own coats or aprons as they change activities. Washing hands thoroughly after playing in foam or using clay is one of the many well-established routines that children follow and these help them both to look after themselves, and take care of the environment. Tidying away time is made enjoyable through such practices as singing the ‘Tidy up’ song as children complete their tasks.

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development so that they make very good progress

5. Staff share information with each other about individual children’s development and interests. When they intervene at the right time to develop learning, they successfully sustain children’s interest and concentration for long periods. For example, when a child was using water and a pump, a member of staff intervened to guide her exploration of the siphon. This kept the child involved and extended her learning well.

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The Centre promotes very good progress in children’s physical development

6. Children make very good progress in their physical development and are likely to exceed the early learning goals by the end of the reception year. The outdoor area is well designed, easily accessible, and provides stimulating opportunities for children to develop their skills. Teaching is effective, because adults set up challenging activities and encourage children to make good use of the equipment. Consequently, children quickly develop confidence and the majority learn to climb, hang from the bars and jump from the top of the climbing frame onto a mat. Almost all children are agile, and very good at travelling around and using the space without bumping into each other. They are showing an increasing awareness of their bodies because staff teach them to warm up, cool down, and move in different ways, for instance when they act out stories like, We’re all going on a bear hunt . Adults provide lots of good opportunities for children to develop

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The Centre promotes very good progress in children’s physical development

their co-ordination and control using wheeled toys, with the result that they are becoming skilful at manoeuvring their bikes around the outside area. They are taught how to throw balls to score goals in a net, and when they do this they persevere well and improve their skills.

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The Centre promotes very good progress in children’s physical development

7. Staff show children how to handle a wide range of small tools and equipment like paintbrushes and scissors, and as a result, children are gaining increasing control of their hands. For instance, they love to use scrapers to experiment and make marks in shaving foam, and pens when they have a go at writing their names. They regularly practise using the computer mouse, and this means that most are adept at using simple computer programs.

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backgrounds

8. The Centre strongly promotes respect for the views of all those that attend with the result that children and families from different ethnic backgrounds mix harmoniously. Mothers who use the ‘drop-in’ service commented that their views and their children’s are listened to, and considered carefully, and this was very evident in meetings. Parents say that they feel involved in the Centre, and that they are consulted regularly, both informally through discussions with staff, and more formally through questionnaires. Children too are asked to contribute to important decisions such as what bikes to order for the outside area.

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backgrounds

9. The Centre’s bilingual staff take every opportunity to communicate with parents in their home language so that all parents can fully access the Centre’s services. When written information is distributed to parents, there are translations in the main languages spoken. Staff interpret for parents with very little understanding of English, and this significantly improves families’ access to all that the Centre offers. For instance, during the inspectors' meeting with parents, Somali speaking parents made their very positive views known through the interpretation of a member of staff. A bilingual Albanian parent is also training with a view to interpreting for the increasing number of Albanian families using the Centre’s services.

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backgrounds

10. The staff ensure that children speaking English as an additional language are well supported, with the result that most make good progress. Turkish and Somali speaking staff give good bilingual support to children at the early stages of learning English in family worker group sessions and in the main nursery activities. This raises their self- esteem and supports their full inclusion as, for example, when Turkish and Somali speaking children were given support at just the right level to enable them to fully participate in acting out stories like We’re all going on a bear hunt . At other times, these children were able to join enthusiastically in singing and action rhymes.

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the local community

11. The outreach service provides excellent support. The outreach worker creates a warm and welcoming environment in which parents feel secure. A high priority is given to providing time for individual children and their families. The outreach worker is responsive to their needs, and has formed strong relationships that give parents confidence to deal with other agencies so that they can get the help they need. Ways of providing support are vigorously pursued. For instance, a parent recalled how she was given practical help during a family crisis, which enabled her child to continue attending the Centre's nursery. The Centre is also finding ways to help families retain their cultural traditions within the local community. Somali fathers have met at the Centre to raise their families’ specific needs and discuss ways to meet them.

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the local community

12. The baby and toddler ‘drop-in’ service is highly successful and very effectively supports families. One mother refers to the service offered as ‘a life saver’. The outreach worker strikes an excellent balance between playing with the children and talking to parents. She makes many good opportunities for parents to discuss their children’s needs and observe how she talks to, and works with, children. This gives parents confidence to try out activities they would not usually provide at home, like ‘free’ painting. The outreach worker is skilful at showing them how to share and enjoy stories, using big books like Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?.

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the local community

13. When families have children starting in the nursery, the key worker responsible for the child and a bilingual member of staff visit them. These home visits are used well to begin a relationship with each family, and non-English speaking parents receive the very good help of Turkish and Somali speaking staff. This helps them to share information about their children and their needs, and identify ways in which the Centre can provide support. For example, parents are given information about adult classes for learning English.

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Management of the education programme for 3 and 4 year olds

14. The head of Centre has a clear vision for the outreach and advisory services. Following a period of staffing difficulties, the focus has been on: successfully establishing good internal relationships through team building; implementing a consistent approach to behaviour management; and the inclusion of all children. The educational programme has not had the same priority and is not as clearly defined or managed. As a result, the different areas of the curriculum receive varying degrees of attention. The head of Centre has begun to develop the management structure and set out the roles and responsibilities for the senior management team, but senior managers are not yet fully aware of the extent of their responsibilities. They do not monitor the teaching in order to identify where it needs to get better. As a result, teaching is not moving on enough to improve the satisfactory teaching to good teaching.

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Management of the education programme for 3 and 4 year olds

15. The senior management team gathers a lot of valuable information, but this is not analysed rigorously enough to establish what children know when they enter and leave the nursery, or to evaluate how much progress they make in relation to the stepping stones towards the early learning goals. Consequently, they are not sufficiently aware of the impact of teaching and the effectiveness of the curriculum, where these are particularly successful, and where they need to be improved to develop individual children’s learning. This means that although teaching is generally good, the satisfactory teaching is not challenging enough for all children. Senior managers do not yet use assessments to identify the attainment and progress of cohorts of children, or of different groups, for example, from minority ethnic backgrounds and those that are more capable.

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Teaching and learning in the area of mathematical development

16. In this area of learning the majority of children make satisfactory progress, but they are not yet on course to meet the early learning goals because much of their learning is incidental. Mathematical development is not given sufficient distinct emphasis in the curriculum, and although teaching in this area is satisfactory overall, it needs to be improved to ensure that children make better progress.

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Teaching and learning in the area of mathematical development

17. Staff do not plan in enough detail what they want the children to understand or to learn next, and there are too few planned opportunities to develop mathematical learning. For instance, some children know the names of simple shapes and are learning about how they fit together when they build cars from wooden bricks, but they are not helped to find out about the properties of the shapes. Consequently, the older children do not routinely use words like ‘flat', 'curved', and 'edge’. Children are beginning to measure and to estimate, but sometimes staff miss good opportunities to intervene and challenge their thinking. For example, when a child quickly sorted all the red ‘compare bears’ correctly, she was not further challenged to sort the bears into different sizes. Children can recite some numbers in the correct order, and have begun to count in practical situations like ball games outside, but they are not regularly helped to go further in their learning.

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Teaching and learning in the area of mathematical development

18. On the few occasions where teaching in this area is good staff intervene at the right time to challenge and extend children’s thinking. For instance, when children played with halves of photos, and tried to put them together to make faces, their mathematical knowledge was extended because the member of staff introduced the right language and explained the concepts. One child exclaimed, "Look they fit, they make a full face!", demonstrating that he understood about pieces and wholes.

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The quality of assessment and its use in planning the curriculum

19. Staff make regular observations of individual children to monitor their interests and responses to activities. This is effective when the observations are analysed and assessments made of what children have learned and what they need to know next. However, many observations are descriptive and are not evaluated to identify the children’s learning in relation to the stepping stones. This leads to some medium term planning being ineffective because it is about what children will do rather than what they should learn. It does not provide staff with enough detail about how to develop the learning of different groups of children.

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The quality of assessment and its use in planning the curriculum

20. Staff regularly meet together to discuss their weekly plans. However, the meetings tend to focus on the provision of activities and not on the achievement of children, or how activities might be extended or modified. As a result, some daily activities are not focused enough on specific aspects of learning.

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of delegated powers

21. The chair of the governing body is committed to the success of the Centre and is very supportive. There have been difficulties in recruiting governors and in organising meetings, and as a result, the governing body does not fulfil its role or responsibilities. This has meant that there is no committee structure in place, the governing body has not met for a year, and the governors’ annual report for parents has not been published. The chair of governors has a good understanding of the work of the Centre, but the governing body has no means of evaluating its overall effectiveness, efficiency or value for money. Consequently there is no strategic direction or support for the head. The governing body does not have a delegated budget and this further limits the scope for decision-making, the allocation of funds to meet agreed priorities, and the application of best value principles.

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WHAT THE CENTRE SHOULD DO TO IMPROVE FURTHER

22. In order to further improve the standards and provision at the Pembury House Centre for Childhood:

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The head of Centre and senior managers should:

• improve the management of the nursery education by: -clarifying the roles of senior managers; -evaluating the impact of teaching on children’s learning; -monitoring the achievement of different groups of children; and -establishing where children are in relation to the stepping stones when they enter and leave the nursery.

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The senior management team should:

• provide better opportunities for children’s mathematical development by: -improving the teaching and planning across the whole of this area of learning.

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The senior management team should:

• improve the quality of assessment and its use in planning the curriculum, particularly in mathematics by: -making sure observations are more evaluative and that they assess where children are in relation to the stepping stones; -using these evaluations to provide greater detail in medium term plans; and -focusing activities more specifically on what children need to learn next.

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The head of Centre, governing body and LEA should:

• strengthen the role and functions of the governing body.

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The head of Centre, governing body and LEA should:

The Centre is responsible for drawing up an action plan within 40 working days of receipt of this report showing how the key issues detailed above will be addressed. The action plan must be made available to all parents.

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Communication, language and literacy

23. Teaching is good in this area, overall children make good progress, and are likely to meet the early learning goals by the end of the reception year. The teaching of speaking and listening is effective. Staff talk to the children a lot, listen and respond well to them, and as a result children achieve well in this aspect. Some children can engage each other in conversations, use complete sentences and talk about their family lives. Adults are good at using such things as a siren sounding, to clarify ideas, and develop children’s ability to ask questions and give reasons why things happen.

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Communication, language and literacy

24. Staff encourage children to develop a love of books, and use the very comfortable book area to read or tell, and discuss stories. This is particularly effective for children with SEN and EAL. For example, bilingual staff support children learning English, by explaining the story being read, in their home language. Children often share books together. They use familiar words and phrases to re-tell or act out stories they know well. The teaching of early reading skills is good and there are many planned opportunities to identify initial sounds and letter names. The teaching of early writing is sound and children gain satisfactory skills, but they do not achieve as well as they could. This is because staff do not identify clearly what children already know, and what they could learn next. For instance, although children are given opportunities to have a go at making marks and writing, few staff give encouragement to children that are more

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Communication, language and literacy

capable to extend their writing to familiar words.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

25. Teaching in this area of learning varies. It is sound overall and children are likely to meet the early learning goals at the end of the reception year. Most children make very good progress in their cultural development because teachers take every opportunity to build on children's backgrounds and use their home languages positively. Children are consistently well taught to respect the values and beliefs of others.

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Knowledge and understanding of the world

26. Staff plan effective, regular opportunities for children to use simple computer programs with the result that many children have good skills and can competently use a mouse. In other aspects of this area, teaching is sound and children make satisfactory progress, although staff do not always plan activities that are challenging enough for all children. For instance, children showed an interest in exploring the effects of magnets on metal objects, but their learning was not extended, because they were not encouraged to find out what happens to things that are not metal. Staff plan a sound range of opportunities to design and make things and children are gaining good control of a variety of tools. Many children are developing a sense of time because staff talk with them about what happened earlier in the day and about how long it will be until they are collected. Staff teach children about features of their locality by taking them on walks to explore the area.

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Creative development

27. Teaching is good in this area and, as a consequence, children are likely to meet the early learning goals by the end of the reception class. Children have good opportunities to enjoy different forms of music. They respond enthusiastically, and make up songs with adults, sometimes using percussion instruments, such as drums. Some children are imaginative and when they are well supported by staff, create complex stories for instance about ordering and eating a ‘take-away’ as they play in the home corner. They are encouraged and shown how to explore textures and describe what they feel when they use scrapers and their fingers to experiment with foam.

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Percentage of responses in each category

Strongly agree Tend to agree Tend to disagree Strongly disagree Don’t know

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Percentage of responses in each category

My child likes being at the Centre. 85 15 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

I feel my child is benefiting from coming to the Centre and is making good progress. 81 19 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre has appropriate expectations of my child’s behaviour. 77 23 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The education and care provided by the Centre staff is of high quality. 83 17 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

I am kept well informed about how my child is getting on. 74 22 2 0 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

I would feel comfortable about approaching the nursery staff with questions or a problem. 83 15 2 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre has high expectations of my child’s development and learning. 83 15 0 0 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre welcomes each parent and carer and works closely with each one and values what they have to say about their child. 81 17 0 0 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The school is well led and managed. 87 6 0 0 7

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre is helping my child to be self- confident and to develop friendships. 89 11 0 0 0

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre team provides a wide range of experiences, which encourage my child to learn. 85 13 0 0 2

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Percentage of responses in each category

The Centre gives good support to children with special needs. 58 17 0 0 25

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FEATURES OF THE NETWORK

The Haringey Early Excellence Network was awarded its early excellence status by the DfES for Woodlands Park and Pembury House in 1998, and for Rowland Hill, in 1999. The Network aims to build on the strengths of these three Centres, making links between them and other providers in the independent, voluntary and maintained sectors. The Centres are located in different parts of Tottenham, and serve areas of high social disadvantage and unemployment. In each Centre, families come from a diverse range of ethnic and linguistic backgrounds, and a higher than usual number of children speak English as an additional language. All three Centres fully integrate a substantial number of children with special needs.

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FEATURES OF THE NETWORK

Each Centre was inspected as part of the inspection of the Network. There is a separate report on each Centre.

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FEATURES OF THE NETWORK

• nursery education and day care; • inclusive education for children with complex special needs; • support for families and carers; • early morning and after school care; and • summer holiday provision.

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FEATURES OF THE NETWORK

In addition each centre has a particular focus.

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FEATURES OF THE NETWORK

• At Pembury House there is an advisory service and training for the Foundation Stage in the non-maintained sector. • Rowland Hill provides an advisory service for inclusive education. • At Woodlands Park, there is a Sure Start Centre and day care for children under three years of age.

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HOW GOOD THE NETWORK IS

The Haringey Early Excellence Network is operating at an unsatisfactory level and is not yet effective. The Network has some strengths but there are significant weaknesses which outweigh the strengths. The weaknesses relate to lack of an agreed vision and the absence of clear structures to lead, manage, monitor, evaluate and support the development of the Network. Strengths lie in the clearly defined work of the three, postholders linked to the advisory services and support for families. Over the last three years the Local Education Authority (LEA) has gone through a turbulent period and this has affected the development of the Network. The LEA and heads of Centre have identified many of the weaknesses and are beginning to devise strategies to address them.

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WHAT THE NETWORK DOES WELL

• It fully includes children with special needs within the three Centres, and the local authority’s under-fives' Centres. • It gives very effective support to families with a wide range of cultures and languages. • It offers good support and training for Foundation Stage providers in the private, voluntary and independent sectors.

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WHAT THE NETWORK COULD IMPROVE

• The understanding of the Network’s remit by all involved parties. • The leadership and management of the Network. • The contribution of the Centres’ governing bodies to the functioning of the Network. • Communication with other agencies and departments of the LEA. • Evaluation of the impact of the Network on children’s attainment and progress. • Dissemination of its good practice to maintained schools and the local communities of the three Centres.

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