Inspection Report (2004)

OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) NURSERY INSPECTION REPORT
URN EY243391	DfES Number:885/6025
INSPECTION DETAILS
Inspection Date	09/11/2004
Inspector Name	Christine Lynn Williams
SETTING DETAILS
Day Care Type
Setting Name	Bowbrook House School
Setting Address	Peopleton Nr Pershore Worcestershire WR10 2EE
REGISTERED PROVIDER DETAILS
Name	Bowbrook House School Ltd.
Name Address	Main Street, Peopleton, Nr Pershore.  Worcs. WR10 2EE

ABOUT THE INSPECTION

The purpose of this inspection is to assure government, parents and the public that the nursery education for funded three and four year old children is of an acceptable quality. Inspection of nursery education also identifies strengths and weaknesses so that providers can improve the quality of educational provision and help children to achieve the early learning goals (elgs) by the end of the Foundation Stage, This inspection report must be made available to all parents.

If the setting 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.

Information about the setting

Bowbrook House School is a co-educational independent day school for children from 3 to 16 years. It was founded in 1954 and operates from a large Georgian House within 14 acres of grounds within a Worcestershire village near Pershore. The school's nursery and reception unit opened over 30 years ago and operates from a self-contained mobile classroom, within the school's extensive grounds. It is open each weekday from 08:45 to 15:45 for 36 weeks of the year.

There are currently 155 children on roll within the whole school, of which 11 receive funding for nursery education. Children attend from a wide catchment area including surrounding villages. The nursery and reception unit is currently monitoring a number of children for special educational needs.

There are two staff working with the nursery and reception children. One is a qualified teacher, while the other holds an appropriate early years qualification. The school has the support of a mentor teacher from the local Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership (EYDCP) and is a member of the Independent School Inspection Services (ISIS).

INSPECTION OF THE NURSERY EDUCATION PROVISION FOR
FUNDED THREE AND FOUR YEAR OLDS

How effective is the nursery education?
Bowbrook House School provides generally good nursery education. Children are making generally good progress towards the six early learning goals, with children's learning in the areas of personal, social and emotional development, communication language and literacy and mathematics being particularly strong.

Teaching is generally good with staff showing a clear understanding of the foundation stage curriculum. They work directly with children using well-judged interventions and questions to extend their knowledge and understanding, although, rely heavily on direct teaching methods. They use very good strategies to promote good behaviour and a feeling of self worth and provide effective support for children being monitored for special educational needs. Planning is detailed and clearly shows differentiation between the learning outcomes for children within the nursery and reception areas. Children's progress towards the early learning goals is monitored effectively, with staff showing a clear understanding of the use of a newly introduced assessment system, carrying out early assessments and involving parents in gaining information on what their children can do.

Leadership and management are generally good. The head has a clear vision for the development of the early years section of the school and works closely with staff to assess practice and develop a committed staffing team. Staff are actively encouraged to up-date their knowledge and work closely with other school staff and other early years professionals. The effectiveness of the educational programme is monitored during learning activities and meetings between junior school staff, however, there is no clear way of ensuring an appropriate balance of teaching methods is maintained.

Partnerships with parents are very good, with a variety of effective measures ensuring they receive detailed information. They are well informed about their children's progress and contribute to the learning at home.

What is being done well?
* Strong, positive and caring relationships are developed within the nursery unit
Children have wide opportunities to discuss and express their home lives, experiences and ideas. Children consistently practice their speaking and listening skills and talk confidently and expressively. Effective questioning helps them to think, communicate and move on with their learning, while older children are quick to express their thoughts and ideas such as when discussing what Christmas is like for children in other countries.

* Children are keen to participate in number games and dot-to-dot work.
They enjoy estimating how many buttons are on coats during a computer number game and show good concentration and perseverance when learning through specialist maths and shape, colour and puzzle resources. Staff support children's personal social and emotional development particularly well and provide a wealth of activities that encourage children to be confident, enthusiastic and motivated learners. Twice yearly reports of children's learning, parent information sessions and daily discussions ensure parents are well informed about their child's achievements and progress. They are encouraged to become involved in their children's learning through sharing books and games at home and make observations and comments on this through a daily home/school diary.

What needs to be improved?
* Opportunities for children to express themselves freely and experience self discovery
* frequent use of large physical and wheeled apparatus.

What has improved since the last inspection?
Generally good progress has been made in response to the key issue set at the last inspection.
Opportunities for children to instigate and act out their own story lines through role-play have been improved through refurbishing and extending the home corner area, and introducing additional resources and themes. Writing materials have been added to the area to encourage children to practice their early writing skills as they play, however, they still lack confidence in using their imagination freely during role play due to their over reliance on adults.

Children's reading scheme books have also been improved with a new updated selection introduced.

SUMMARY OF JUDGEMENTS

PERSONAL, SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good
Children are confident, self-assured and motivated learners who are quick to show what they know. They behave positively, showing pride when receiving a sticker for being helpful, kind or achieving, and form close bonds with staff and each other. They show good personal independence when dressing for outdoor play and develop a strong sense of their place within the school through joining in with assemblies and sharing lunch and other times of the day with their older brothers and sisters.

COMMUNICATION, LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Judgement: Very Good
Children make excellent progress in this area due to the strong emphasis placed on developing their language and early reading skills. They enjoy talking about their ideas and thoughts and are able to recognise their own names. They join in enthusiastically at story times and show pleasure in taking home picture books to share with their parents. They develop good pen control, while older children are beginning to recognise simple words, write their own names and form recognisable letters.

MATHEMATICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Very Good
Children are keen mathematicians who regularly work out simple problems such as sorting everyday objects into groups and counting them in pairs, or cutting card to size to fit in a box. Counting is threaded through most activities and older four-year-olds are able to count reliably and to recognise numbers to ten or more. They use a wide range of mathematical language to describe shape, size and position, such as "square" and "triangle" and are able to recognise these shapes around them.

KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING OF THE WORLD

Judgement: Generally Good
Children learn to observe, explore and question as part of their everyday activities. They make the most of their rural surroundings to look closely at nature and record seasonal changes on a weatherboard and calendar. They work out what makes a torch work and show curiosity when making ice, although do not always explore things freely or practice self-discovery. Well developed themes help them to compare their own beliefs with those of others and they show skill when using computers.

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good
Children show increasing skill and dexterity when using tools and other equipment. They use knives and forks correctly at meal times, and use their hands widely through paint, threading and drawing activities. They have a good awareness of being hot, cold or out of breath when they are active and learn to name their body parts through action songs. They benefit from regular physical education lessons, but do not have regular opportunities to use large apparatus or be creative in their play.

CREATIVE DEVELOPMENT

Judgement: Generally Good
Children use a wide variety of paint and different textures during craft work, although do not often experiment freely with their own creativity. They respond well to music and stories, join-in with group singing times or confidently sing solo in front of their friends. They enjoy playing a variety of different musical instruments and develop their sensory experiences through activities such as smelling and touching green tea. Role-play, sand and water help to further develop their experiences.

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__ Children's spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development is fostered appropriately: Yes

OUTCOME OF THE INSPECTION

The provision is acceptable and is of good quality overall. Children are making generally good progress towards the early learning goals. The next inspection will take place in three to four years time.

WHAT THE SETTING NEEDS TO DO NEXT
(Key issues or points for consideration for improvement in nursery education)
Place more emphasis on developing and enriching children's experience of free expression and self-discovery during paint, craft, exploration and outdoor play activities.
Develop strategies to ensure children have regular opportunities to extend their control and free use of a range of large physical and wheeled apparatus.

The registered person must draw 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, and to the Local Authority if required. An evaluation of the action taken will form part of the next combined inspection.
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ACTION PLAN NURSERY INSPECTION

Name of RgNI: Christine Lynn Williams

Key Point 1:

'Place more emphasis on developing and enriching children's experience of free expression and self-discovery during paint, craft, and exploration and outdoor play activities.'

What needs to be improved?
'Opportunities for children to express themselves freely and experience self-discovery'.

Target:
To develop and enrich children's experience of free expression and self-discovery by providing more opportunities for spontaneous creative play. To provide materials and resources to encourage the children to use their imagination in Art and Craft, exploration and outdoors play activities.

Action:

1. Child initiated activity.
Time will be allocated in Class timetable during 'Free Choice Activities', to allow children to select their own resources when painting and making, to create what they choose. When painting, children will be able to choose their own materials and what to paint. e.g. finger painting, splash pictures, patterns. In Craft, children will be able to create and build e.g. a model, collage, sculpture, sewing, on their own and then tell the teacher what they have made.

2. Explorative play.
To be developed by providing a variety of indoor and outdoor activities. Indoor Activities to include more hands on activities, e.g. role play, cooking,etc. Outdoor activities include 'open ended' nature walks, creative use of the sand pit, adventure trail and paddock.

3. Refurbish the Home Corner in the Junior's grassed area.
A new, larger and better equipped play house to be provided.

4. Establish a Wildlife/Sensory Garden in the gardens of Bowbrook House School, for the children from which they will learn to observe creatures and plants.

5. The children will attend a local Forest School and participate in activities. This will take place in Spring 2005 with the idea of implementing these ideas in new garden. It will be necessary for J.C. to follow up preliminary visit with day(s) observation at Forest School. J.C./C.A. to investigate Forest Instructors courses at Evesham College with a view to incorporation into our curriculum.


Evidence of Success:

1.Observation and records of children's experiences of free expression and self-discovery. Record to be kept of free choice activities through pictures, paintings and photographic evidence. Examples of creativity produced by the children in their explorative play.

Key Point 2:

'Develop strategies to ensure children have regular opportunities to extend their control and free use of a range of large physical and wheeled apparatus.'

What needs to be improved?
'Frequent use of large physical and wheeled apparatus.'

Target:
To provide more opportunities for Reception class to extend their control by using a range of large and physical apparatus and wheeled equipment.

Action:

1. Time will be allocated regularly on the timetable to allow children to use large and physical wheeled apparatus. The small playground and the hall (if wet) will be used.

2. A selection of vehicles e.g. pedal cars, ride-ons, scooters, tricycles, pushchairs etc, will be acquired.

Resources:
1. No outlay is needed initially when using the playground and hall, but modification of the timetable would be necessary.
2. If enough good, safe second hand vehicles are available from parents and friends of the school then monetary outlay should be minimum.

Evidence of Success:
Observation of children's outdoor play activities and their behaviour and social interaction skills as well as a record of stories both verbal and written produced by the children in their play.