Ofsted Report
Ockbrook School’s Early Year’s Department was inspected by Ofsted inspectors in July 2008. The resulting inspection report is published in full below.
THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE NURSERY INSPECTION
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.
WHAT SORT OF SETTING IS IT?
Ockbrook School was established in 1799 and whilst it maintains a Christian ethos throughout the life and work of the school, it welcomes children and their families from all faiths and cultures. It is a registered independent day and boarding school for girls from three to 18 and boys from three to 11 years of age. The school is situated in the unique historical setting of The Settlement in the Derbyshire village of Ockbrook.
The children attending live mainly in the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. The Early Years Department has its own building, The Mount, in the extensive grounds, with access to all the main school facilities. There are 418 pupils on roll and 46 in the Early Years Department, of whom 27 are in receipt of funded education. The nursery and reception currently support five children who have learning difficulties and /or disabilities and a small number of children with English as an additional language. The provision is open from 08:00 to 15:15 during school term times and offers before and after school provision. There are 10 qualified members of staff, led by the head teacher and head of Early Years Department. The provision also receives support from the local authority.
THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE PROVISION
Helping children achieve well and enjoy what they do.
The provision is outstanding.
The quality of the teaching and learning is outstanding. Staff have excellent knowledge of the Foundation Stage and are extremely pro-active in their planning, with all areas of learning clearly identified. Focused activities clearly differentiate in children’s ages and abilities to ensure their individual learning objectives are addressed. Excellent use of observations made by the staff are undertaken and incorporated in very well into the planning.
Assessments of children’s development and progress is of a very high standard and through staff’s dedicated practice and the extensive range of worthwhile activities on offer each day, children are making excellent progress towards the early learning goals. Children are consistently engaged in an extensive range of developmentally appropriate activities both indoors and out which provide them with suitable, age-appropriate challenges.
Children have a dynamic attitude to learning as they are enthusiastic and show lots of interest in group time and in their individual activities. They are very confident and have high levels of self-esteem as they clearly enjoy showing off their work which is attractively displayed. The children behave very well as they respond to boundaries and they form solid relationships with their peers and the adults caring for them.
The children manage their personal care well. They are independent in hand washing and show a very good understanding of why they need to wash their hands. They put on their own coats for outdoor play, only seeking support from adults if they need help in fastening them.
Staff are deployed very effectively. They ensure children are well supervised and only intervene when children request their assistance or to encourage concentration and turn taking, through engaging in their play. Staff constantly talk to the children and ask age-appropriate questions. For example, when children are going outdoors to play staff encourage them to put on their sun hats and ask the children why it is important to wear sun hats and sun cream.
The environment is rich in written texts which are placed around the different areas, providing children with familiarity of the written word. Children’s use of writing for a purpose and their access to an excellent and extensive range of books, both story and reference, highly enhances their language and literacy skills. For example, they may have many opportunities to practise writing for a purpose in the role play area. Their access to mark making is excellent and the children freely and frequently use the extensive range of resources, such as pencils, paper, scissors, sticky tape and rulers to draw and write. For example, children colour in pictures and identify specific objects within the pictures which begin with ‘ch’, ‘sh’ and ‘wh’; sounds. The children recognise their own name, and those of their peers, and are all able to write their own names. They are actively encouraged to extend their vocabulary and explore different sounds through games and as staff interact with them in their play.
Children say and use number and number language extremely well in familiar contexts. Through activities such as sorting, matching and balancing activities they are developing very good mathematical concepts. Children enjoy activities such as jigsaws and peg boards with which they competently and confidently make up patterns and follow more advanced ones set out by staff. They know about shape and size as they manage jigsaws and they match pieces of the puzzles. In construction play they use different sized and shaped bricks to build a range of objects and constructions. For example, children are grouped into small groups and given the task of building something that goes on or in the sea.
The children work exceptionally well together as they design and build their models naming and using a range of shaped bricks, such as long cylinders, fat cylinders and cuboids. Children participate in a diverse range of activities and are developing high levels of awareness and understanding of the world around them and their local community. They show awareness of others and their feelings, listening to each other during group activities and they undertake a full range of activities which look at different cultures and beliefs.
There is a vast array of pictures, words and books around the setting which display positive images of diversity, for example, pictures of ethnicity, disability and gender. Through the very well-planned topics and themes children investigate a good variety of items and objects using their senses. Staff are effective and very pro-active in planning and presenting many opportunities for the children to investigate the natural world, such as planting and nurturing flowers and plants outdoors and inside. For example, the children have planted peas and lettuce and the staff have encouraged the children to nurture these and then to harvest and eat them.
The children have also been involved in raising butterflies through the caterpillar and chrysalis stages, then releasing the butterflies into the school grounds. Children confidently build and construct with a variety of materials and objects. They make models in three dimensions as they build with construction bricks and recycled modelling. They have regular daily access to technology as they independently access the computer.
The children make visits within their local community. They visit the local supermarket to buy fruit and vegetables and they participate in activities within the whole school such as joint assemblies and the older children also eat lunch with the whole school. Staff plan very effective outdoor activities and are flexible in their approach to take account of the weather conditions and children’s individual interests. The children actively participate in group games of singing and dancing which enables them to develop further their knowledge and understanding of exercise and the effect it has on their bodies. Staff talk to the children about the weather being hot and sunny and what items of clothing they needs, such as sun hats and the use of sun cream. Many opportunities are presented for the children to explore texture, shape and form in two and three dimensions and they explore sound through musical activities and having independent access to as good range of musical instruments.
Excellent planning of roleplay activities and their access to dressing-up, enables children to engage in purposeful play which enhances and further develops their imagination, knowledge and learning.
Helping children make a positive contribution
The provision is outstanding.
Partnership with parents and carers of funded children is outstanding. Staff identify all children’s individual needs and their personalities through forming good strong relationships with both the children and their parents. They exchange information at both ends of the day and a highly effective staff team are able to monitor children through each stage of their development. A school prospectus is provided to al parents which includes detailed information about the setting and the early learning goals. Through good home links parents are able to become actively involved in their children’s learning as staff provide parents with ideas for activities they can do at home in order to further extend children’s learning and development. The nursery teacher has devised and implemented ‘coffee mornings’ which take place prior to the children starting in the nursery. This enables the teacher to deliver information to parents about the foundation stage curriculum and the early learning goals and also for parents to ask any questions. Parents are kept fully informed of their children’s progress and development through the daily exchange and also through formal parents’ evenings which are held annually. Children’s spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.
Organisation
The organisation is outstanding.
Leadership and management of early education is outstanding. Management and staff are very pro-active in their approach. The staff team are deployed very well to ensure children are fully supported. Comprehensive and flexible planning systems allow children to make choices. Staff adapt plans of activities to effectively support and guide children to extend their play and learning. Management ensure staff maintain and update their professional skills and attitudes through annual appraisals and ongoing training. Management and staff work exceptionally well together and have a sound vision for the future and are working well towards this through the ongoing use of the setting’s self-evaluation process. Overall, the provision meets the needs of the range of children for whom it provides.
Improvements since the last inspection
At the last inspection the provision was asked to: include information in the nursery and reception booklets about the early learning goals so that parents are better informed.
The school prospectus now contains very good information about the nursery and reception and clearly highlights the early learning goals. Also teaching staff within nursery have devised and implemented a coffee morning prior to children starting in the nursery which provides parents with more detail about the role of nursery education as the start of children’s life long education.
Complaints since last inspection
Since the last inspection there have been no complaints made to Ofsted that required the provider or Ofsted to take any action in order to meet the National Standards.
The provider is required to keep a record of complaints made by parents, which they can see on request. The complaints record may contain complaints other than those made to Ofsted.
THE QUALITY AND STANDARDS OF THE NURSERY EDUCATION
On the basis of the evidence collected on this inspection:
The quality and standards of the nursery education are outstanding.
WHAT MUST BE DONE TO SECURE FUTURE IMPROVEMENT?
The quality and standards of the nursery education
No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.