Selhurst Nursery School and Children's Centre Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Improve leadership and management by:
  • ensuring that leaders with responsibility for safeguarding keep complete and thorough records of the actions they have taken to safeguard children, and are rigorous in their monitoring of the impact of these actions
  • strengthening the capacity of the leadership team to monitor and manage the provision for children who have SEN and/or disabilities
  • recruiting highly skilled governors from within the school community to further strengthen relationships between parents and leaders
  • reviewing the assessment system so that it supports leaders to evaluate the impact of teaching on the progress that different groups of children make.
• Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment by:
  • enhancing the quality of the learning environment so that it inspires children to choose activities and resources that help them to make strong, sustained progress in all areas of learning
  • improving the quality of practitioners’ interactions with children by ensuring that they consistently use skilful questioning, prompts and instructions, which help children to make good progress
  • strengthening the work that has already begun to involve parents more fully in their children’s learning
  • building on the good work which has started to improve children’s attendance at the nursery.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management

Requires improvement

• There are weaknesses in the collective leadership and management of the school. Leaders do not have a thorough understanding of the progress that different groups of children make. This is because their assessment systems are currently not fit for this purpose. The executive headteacher has recognised this and is ensuring that the system is currently being reviewed.
• The loss of regular on-site support from the federation’s special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) has left a gap in expertise within the leadership team. As a result, leaders who hold responsibility for this aspect of the school’s work sometimes lack clarity regarding the provision on offer for individual pupils. They also show a lack of depth in their understanding about the progress that these children make, particularly in relation to their individual or specific needs. However, practitioners provide good care and effective support for children who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• The executive headteacher and the governing board have steered the school well through a time of change. They have an accurate picture of what the school needs to do to move to a judgement of good and have already had an impact on school improvement since the federation took place.
• The executive headteacher’s monitoring of the quality of teaching is accurate. She knows where the strengths and weaknesses lie and has already begun to share good practice across the school by supporting the work of the lead teachers. Despite this, the quality of teaching remains variable and the progress that children make across the areas of learning is inconsistent.
• Leaders have had some impact in involving parents in their children’s learning. They talk informally with parents when children arrive and leave school and they invite them to workshops around key aspects of learning. However, parental involvement is still at a relatively early stage of development. Staff keep comprehensive ‘learning journeys’ for all children, which chart the progress that they make. Despite practitioners’ good intentions, parents rarely contribute to these records.
• Leaders ensure that they work effectively with the children’s centre to support local families. Parents who spoke with the inspector were universally positive about teachers and practitioners. A very small number of parents expressed concern about aspects of the school’s financial administration since the federation.
• Leaders have created a positive, caring environment across the nursery, and staff are proud to work at the school. Leaders and staff care deeply about the children in their care.
• Leaders and governors have targeted the early years pupil premium funding well to support disadvantaged children. Interventions to support speech and language development have started to have some impact on the quality of teaching and on the progress children make.
• The curriculum meets the requirements of the early years foundation stage. Leaders promote British values successfully and children treat each other with respect and tolerance. Children learn about other cultures through events such as ‘international day’ and their celebration of ‘black history month’. Children and parents value the range of school trips, which the nursery provides to broaden children’s experiences.
• A newly restructured leadership team supports the headteacher effectively to secure a strong culture of high aspirations for all children. Leaders have clearly defined roles and responsibilities. This increases the school’s capacity to improve further.
• Leaders value and benefit from the good support they receive from the local authority. The executive headteacher and the governors are reflective and use external feedback positively to bring about change.

Governance of the school

• Governors are committed to improving the school. The chair of the governing board is highly skilled and reflective and leads the governing body very well. As a result, governors challenge and support the work of the school in equal measure. Because of strong leadership, governors have a sharp understanding of the challenges facing the school in its journey to becoming a good school.
• Governors carry out all their statutory duties effectively. They keep a careful check on staff recruitment to make sure that safe recruitment procedures are followed.
• Governors manage the constraints of funding for the nursery school well and they are proactive in ensuring that they have a succession plan in place in terms of their own leadership.
• Since the federation, a number of governors have resigned. Governors recognise that there is a need to recruit further governors from their school community in order to strengthen further the relationships that the school has with parents and to enhance their collective skill set further.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
• Leaders and practitioners ensure that they keep children safe. Staff receive appropriate training and are confident in recognising signs of abuse. They are aware of the possible indicators of radicalisation or extremism and show a thorough understanding of the signs of female genital mutilation. They know and use the school’s referral system effectively when required.
• Family support workers and leaders take appropriate action to safeguard vulnerable children or those in need. However, leaders responsible for keeping records of actions taken as a result of any safeguarding issues sometimes lack thoroughness and attention to detail. Leaders draw appropriately on external services to safeguard children.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Requires improvement

• Activities do not always have a sharp enough focus on learning. Practitioners’ dialogue around planning often focuses on resources rather than learning. As a result, it is not always clear what practitioners are aiming for children to learn when they are working alongside them. Practitioners do, however, think carefully about resources and activities that children will enjoy. They plan activities and teaching areas to support all areas of learning.
• Not all practitioners are confident in finding the right questions to move children on. Some practitioners demonstrate poor subject knowledge in some areas of learning and give misleading instructions. Some rely on one strategy to engage with children, such as repeating what children say or constantly repeating words or instructions over and over again. Lead teachers do model good practice for practitioners. They ask questions to help children to think or to stretch their understanding. They prompt and effectively challenge children when they are engaged in activities.
• The learning environment reflects all areas of learning but it does not always excite or inspire children to go and explore what is on offer on their own or with classmates. Certain areas of the environment fail to draw children in, for example the ‘mud kitchen’ remained unused by children throughout the inspection. Children tend to follow adults to activities and lack confidence in accessing certain parts of the nursery on their own. Some of the resources available to children are of poor quality and are left unused. As a result of this and of the variability in teaching, the progress children make in the different areas of learning is inconsistent.
• Staff consistently use the school’s system for charting children’s progress. They observe and take photographs of children’s achievement and then make judgements about the stage of development children are at. These records show the variability in children’s progress and they also indicate that some practitioners are more confident than others in pinpointing children’s next steps in learning.
• Staff work hard to instil a love of stories and reading in children. They read with them and share good-quality children’s literature during group times. They introduce pre-phonics skills to children. A great strength of the teaching and learning at the nursery is the emphasis given to song and rhyme. Practitioners successfully draw children into activities with songs. This strategy is particularly successful with some of the children who have SEN and/or disabilities, who respond with heart-warming smiles when practitioners sing to them.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Good

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is good. Staff have caring, nurturing relationships with the children in their care and know them very well.
• Children know that they are safe and are confident in asking staff for help when they need it.
• Children settle well at the nursery and are happy there.
• Poor attendance is being effectively tackled by leaders and is now improving.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of pupils is good. Staff set a good example for children. They are polite, respectful and patient. Children are respectful and tolerant of each other. They quickly learn to take turns and be polite. For example, the two-year-olds sit happily with each other at snack times and share very well.
• Any minor conflicts between children are dealt with effectively by staff. Children are friendly and welcoming and keen to play with each other and with visiting adults. The inspector was handed a bat on arrival in the outdoor area and a friendly three-year-old kindly acted as bowler. This was typical of the friendly attitude children at Selhurst have.
• During adult-led activities, children listen carefully to adults and try very hard to follow the instructions they are given. They have a positive attitude to learning and playing.

Outcomes for pupils Requires improvement

• Children start in the nursery with varying starting points, many of which are below those found typically for children of their age. From these starting points, children make inconsistent progress across all the areas of learning.
• A high proportion of children, including those who are disadvantaged, leave the school with knowledge and skills that are below those that are typical for their age.
• Progress is particularly weak in language and communication. This is because some staff lack skills and confidence when talking to children, asking them questions and prompting them to think about their learning. Interventions that have been put in place to tackle this weakness are beginning to have an impact.
• Children who have SEN and/or disabilities make similar variable progress to their classmates within the areas of learning. Staff are not well supported by leaders in tracking children’s progress in relation to their specific learning needs.

School details

Unique reference number Local authority Inspection number 131724 Croydon 10031744 This inspection was carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. The inspection was also deemed a section 5 inspection under the same Act. Type of school Nursery School category Age range of pupils Gender of pupils Community 2 to 5 Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 81 Appropriate authority The local authority Chair Mr Clark Dunstan Executive Headteacher Mrs Jaqi Stevenson Telephone number 02086 843 777 Website Email address selhurstchildrenscentre.co.uk admin@scc.croydon.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 14–15 November 2013

Information about this school

• Selhurst Nursery is smaller than the average-sized nursery school. It federated with Crosfield Nursery School in September 2016. The school offers both full-time and part-time places for three- to four-year-olds and also offers provision for two-year-olds.
• The school has been through significant changes since the previous inspection. It federated with Crosfield Nursery School in September 2016 when the executive headteacher was also appointed. The structure of the governing board has also changed. The school has recently lost the regular on-site support of the federation’s SENCo due to staffing issues elsewhere in the federation.
• The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is higher than average. A high proportion of children are from minority ethnic backgrounds, with the largest groups being Black Caribbean and Black African.
• The school shares the site with a children’s centre managed by the governing board, which provides a range of facilities for younger children and their families. These are subject to separate inspection arrangements.
• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector undertook learning walks with the executive headteacher and deputy headteacher. The inspector spoke with members of the governing board and met with representatives of the local authority.
• The inspector spoke with children as they moved around the nursery.
• Leaders met with the inspector to discuss their roles and the impact of their work.
• The inspector carried out an analysis of children’s learning journeys to see what progress children were making.
• The inspector examined a range of school documents, including information on children’s progress across the school, improvement plans, curriculum plans and checks on the quality of teaching. The inspector also examined school records relating to safety and behaviour.
• The inspector took account of the two responses to the online questionnaire, Parent View, and of information gathered from discussions with parents during the inspection.

Inspection team

Ruth Dollner, lead inspector

Her Majesty’s Inspector