Woodlands Park Nursery School and Childrens Centre Ofsted Report

Full report

What does the school need to do to improve further?

• Share the best practices seen across the school, supporting further children’s developing communication skills, particularly in early mark making and writing.

Inspection judgements

Effectiveness of leadership and management Outstanding

• The headteacher’s strong leadership and his high expectations for both staff and children are central to the nursery’s successes and the children’s outstanding achievement. He is very well supported by a knowledgeable and highly effective team of senior leaders, staff and governors, who work tirelessly to review and improve the provision on offer.
• Since the last inspection, the headteacher and governors have made sure that priorities for development, identified through careful checks on teaching and children’s progress, are followed up quickly. They make sure that any additional funding is used effectively. As a result, all children, including the most able, those new to English, the disadvantaged, and those who have SEN and/or disabilities, get the best possible start to their education.
• Senior leaders and staff have a very detailed picture of every child’s progress. The headteacher and deputy headteacher meet with teachers and staff regularly to review children’s targets. Timely interventions are put in place, which successfully address any potential barriers to future achievement.
• Staff morale is very high. Meetings with staff and feedback from staff questionnaires, show that they are very proud to be working at the nursery school.
• The nursery’s outstanding effectiveness is underpinned by an engaging curriculum, which provides many wonderful learning activities, enriching children’s experiences further. For example, children learn about different religious and cultural festivals, like Eid and Harvest, and help to collect food for charities as part of their learning on charitable giving. They make visits into their local community to explore what is special and important to the families and people who they live alongside. They use music, art and other creative opportunities to capture and celebrate where they live. Such exemplary practice promotes children’s spiritual, moral and cultural development extremely well.
• Leaders draw proactively on the knowledge of local families and strong working partnerships with the local authority, children’s centre and other agencies, to identify those who would most benefit from accessing two-year-old nursery places. This early identification of children eligible for free childcare provision, and the carefully considered use of additional funding and allocated places for those who have SEN and/or disabilities, successfully ensures that all children are included. Families value, and speak very positively about, the coordinated support offered by the school and other agencies and the inclusive ethos of the nursery school.
• The school’s view of its own performance is highly accurate. Leaders and governors have a detailed knowledge of the nursery’s strengths and areas for improvement. Leaders have a clear understanding of how to develop teaching practice. They are aware of the importance of rich and varied opportunities for children to talk about what they have been learning and become even more involved in thinking about how to make the most of learning for themselves.
• Staff continually review their practice in supporting children’s communication, language and literacy skills. However, many children still join the nursery classes with skills well below those typical for their age, particularly in early mark making and writing. School leaders are aware of the need to share the very best practices seen across the nursery, in supporting children’s talking, and sharing their ideas through early writing, so that attainment continues to improve.

Governance of the school

• Governance is outstanding. Governors have succeeded in supporting the nursery school to improve its level of effectiveness and to cater fully for children’s diverse needs. Governors are ambitious for the organisation, are well skilled and use their expertise very wisely. Links with the children’s centre, other nursery schools, parents and carers and the local community have been developed to a very high level. Governors constantly promote the quest for high-quality teaching and learning, by supporting and also challenging the school. They visit the school often and ensure that all safeguarding requirements are fully met.

Safeguarding

• The arrangements for safeguarding are effective and the leadership team has ensured that the checks and records for keeping children safe are fit for purpose. Staff take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. The most recent guidance on keeping children safe in education has been considered and shared with all staff and governors.
• Staff are fully trained and know precisely what to do if they have any concerns about a child’s well-being. They have a detailed understanding of a range of safeguarding concerns and possible indications of harm, including female genital mutilation and those at risk of radicalisation.
• Effective systems are in place for the school’s designated safeguarding leads to communicate regularly, together and with other agencies, including the on-site children’s centre, to identify where early help and support should be offered.

Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Outstanding

• The exceptionally well-planned outdoor space is inspiring and its design contributes positively to how the children learn and behave. Paths twist, slope and turn around the woodland area, providing many opportunities for children to choose which way to go if running, walking or on a bike. There is an element of decision-making constantly at play and skilled staff seize every opportunity to challenge children’s learning further using carefully considered questioning.
• Adults are exceptionally skilled at being genuinely engaged with the children. They know precisely when to intervene to extend their learning, language and play and when to step back. Carefully planned activities mean that younger children, although at an early stage of their development, are confidently choosing ingredients to make their own snacks. These two-year-olds show care, helping those even younger, passing them a bowl of ingredients, patiently waiting for those younger than them to choose before making their own choices. They use equipment well, spreading butter carefully onto the bread or spooning out Marmite to carefully drip onto their sandwich fillings.
• Adults promote independence effectively. They provide well-considered activities that present children with meaningful challenges. For example, the three- and four-year olds were encouraged to explore how their shadows got bigger and smaller, in a darkened room, using an overhead projector as a light source. They enjoyed moving closer and further away from the light, and then tried using other objects to see how the shadow changed. They confidently used their knowledge of mixing colours to see how translucent, coloured sheets could be mixed, just like paints, to create new colours.
• All staff record and check children’s learning. They observe and photograph the children learning and at play and include these in children’s informative ‘profiles’. These detailed ‘profile folders’ are used regularly to provide a shared record, between school and home, of children’s learning across all areas of the early years curriculum. Staff use these records to plan children’s future learning, so that planning is based securely on what children need to learn next and their interests. Activities are very well matched to the needs of each child and drive the excellent progress seen, particularly for those new to speaking English, the disadvantaged or those who have SEN and/or disabilities.
• Well-planned induction and home visits ensure that children arrive to a warm welcome. Children know their ‘island’ group and key worker well. Staff stability at the nursery is particularly high and many adults are known to families through links with the on-site children’s centre or from teaching older siblings. After-school care provision, for children who have moved onto primary school, further enhances the strong feeling of community that exists between families and the nursery school.

Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding

Personal development and welfare

• The school’s work to promote pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding. Adults carefully plan time, in ‘island groups’ or individually, to get to know their key children. This contributes to the trusting relationships formed between children and staff. Parents and carers are unanimous in saying that their children are safe. Children who have particular behavioural needs are extremely well supported, resulting in dramatic improvements in their ability to work and play well with others.
• Dolls are used effectively by adults and children to explore feelings and appropriate behaviours, with children showing kindness towards each other. Even at this young age, they have a very good awareness of right and wrong, and are considerate of each other’s views, choices and preferences.
• Music specialists engage well with families and their children, sharing families’ stories through the writing of personal ‘lullabies’. This is furthering children’s strong sense of belonging, celebrating the uniqueness of each child, and contributing to their developing self-confidence and self-awareness. As a result, children are highly successful learners, able to work independently or with others successfully.

Behaviour

• The behaviour of children is outstanding. All staff have high expectations for children’s behaviour. Even the youngest two-year-olds were seen taking responsibility for their own behaviour as they learned alongside others, and when moving confidently around the setting. Children learn quickly to share nicely and cooperate with each other extremely well.
• The children have very good manners. Lunchtimes contribute to this significantly. Groups of a manageable size, each led by an adult who sits and eats with the children, create a calm and cultured atmosphere where children practise conversations as well as courtesy and turn-taking. Children enjoy talking with both teaching and catering staff as they share what they have enjoyed learning. Adults show sensitivity and vigilance, and know each child’s dietary requirements, including any food intolerances or allergies.
• Since the last inspection, effective measures have been put into place to promote improved punctuality and attendance. As a result, attendance rates have greatly improved. Secure systems for monitoring attendance are contributing to the strong attendance figures now achieved. Parents are appreciative of the concern shown, and the follow-up by staff, to make sure their children are safe, well, and in school.

Outcomes for pupils Outstanding

• Many children join the nursery provision with skills that are below, or well below, those typically expected for their age. As a result of high-quality teaching, children make excellent progress and leave the nursery with skills that are much closer to expected levels for their age group. They are confident learners, very well prepared for the next stage of their education.
• Great importance is placed on developing children’s love of reading. Children develop a love of books through the frequent opportunities to choose and share books. They hold books correctly and talk confidently about what they see in the pictures and they enjoy retelling familiar stories, like Goldilocks and the three bears. Reading corners are colourful and inviting. Book terminology such as ‘blurb’ and ‘author’ are used routinely throughout the nursery and at group story time. Children’s learning is valued and celebrated through the numerous, beautifully presented, or professionally printed, photography books that complement the fiction and non-fiction books on offer.
• Children are learning to write and have lots of fun making marks with a wide range of interesting materials. Staff pay particularly close attention to ensure that children develop fine motor skills, for example setting challenges like using tweezers to pick up cotton balls to build a snowman. Resources are inviting and exciting, from real food in the home corner, to natural and manmade resources in the mud kitchen and bug zone, to the colourful gel pearls, glitter, and richly scented spices in the potion area. Mixing, stirring, cutting and sticking all help to prepare children well so that they are supported to hold pencils and pens correctly. This correct pencil grip is necessary for staff to be able to develop children’s early writing further.
• Many opportunities are available to promote the use of number well, for example choosing and counting out how many sticks to make the bug hotel or when counting out coins to make purchases in the Christmas shop.
• The most able children achieve exceptionally well in all areas of learning. Staff quickly identify who these children are and make sure that their planning includes challenges to make the most able think really hard, for example dictating stories for staff to write with clear opening sentences, a middle and a resolution and then acting their stories out with friends. Disadvantaged children, and those who are new to learning English, make the same outstanding progress from their starting points as their peers.
• The progress of children who have SEN and/or disabilities is excellent. With guidance from fellow professionals such as speech and language therapists and sensitive support from staff, they make rapid progress, particularly in their communication and social skills.

School details

Unique reference number 102073 Local authority Haringey Inspection number 10031742 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 Community Age range of pupils 2 to 5 Gender of pupils Mixed Number of pupils on the school roll 139 Appropriate authority The governing body Chair Natalie Merritt Headteacher Peter Catling Telephone number 020 8802 0041 Website www.woodlandspark-nur.haringey.sch.uk Email address Admin@woodlandspark-nur.haringey.sch.uk Date of previous inspection 5–6 November 2013

Information about this school

• The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website.
• Woodlands Park Nursery School is a larger-than-average-sized nursery. The nursery offers both the 30 and/or 15 hours of free provision for eligible three- to four-year olds. It also offers full day care from 8am until 6pm, which includes lunch, above the free 15 hours for three- to four-year olds, which parents pay for themselves. The vast majority of children transfer into Reception classes, at local primary schools, in the September following their fourth birthday.
• Since the last inspection, all two-year-olds on site are currently inspected under section 8/section 5 of the Education Act 2005 and so were included as part of this inspection.
• The nursery offers 21 part-time ‘Free for Twos’ places, for 48 weeks of the year, for eligible two-year-olds. This is in addition to the two-year-old provision on offer, which parents may purchase.
• The nursery school provision is separated into areas. ‘Rising twos’, those children aged two and who turn three in the academic year, are taught alongside one-year-olds (who are the subject of separate inspection arrangements) in the green room. ‘Rising threes’, those children who are three and who turn four in the academic year, are taught in the blue room.
• Over two thirds of the children are from minority ethnic groups and over half of the nursery children speak English as an additional language. This is an above-average number and around a fifth of the children are at an early stage of learning English.
• From September 2017, school leaders have built on their close work with the local authority’s speech and language therapy service. The nursery now offers six reserved places for children with complex speech and language needs who are referred directly to them through the speech and language therapy team.
• The nursery also has seven full-time equivalent reserved places for children with identified SEN, referred directly to the nursery from the local authority’s special educational panel. Places identified for children with either complex speech and language needs or identified SEN were full at the time of the inspection, as were the ‘Free for Twos’ places.
• A fifth of the children in the school, much higher than the national average, are identified as having SEN and/or disabilities. A tenth of the children attending the school are eligible for the early years pupil premium funding.
• The school organises and manages breakfast and after-school provision. The after-school provision is also available for pupils, up to the age of seven, who attend the primary schools within the nursery’s locality.
• The school is a member of the Haringey Nursery Schools Training and Development Consortium. The consortium works closely with the local authority organising training and workshops for practitioners working with early years children in the area.
• The children’s centre and the provision for children under two years old that share the school site are the subject of separate inspection arrangements.

Information about this inspection

• The inspector observed an assembly and a wide range of sessions and activities, indoors and outdoors, in the nursery. A visit was made to the before and after-school care provision, which is managed by the governing body. All of the observations were completed jointly with either the headteacher or the deputy headteacher.
• Discussions were held with staff, members of the governing body and a representative of the local authority.
• Work in children’s learning profiles and the school’s information showing children’s achievement were evaluated.
• The inspector looked at a range of documents provided by the school, including minutes of meetings of the governing body, the school development plan, leaders’ own evaluation of the effectiveness of the school, records of the monitoring of teaching and information relating to teachers’ performance management and training. The school website and records relating to keeping children safe were also checked.
• The inspector met informally with parents at the start of the school day, took into account the 58 responses to Ofsted’s online survey, Parent View, and the 37 free-text comments. The inspector also met with a group of staff, and took account of the 18 responses to the staff questionnaire.

Inspection team

Jean Thwaites, lead inspector Her Majesty's Inspector