Wyndford Nursery School Maryhill G20 8JR Glasgow City Council 8 October 2008

The Regulation of Care (Scotland) Act, 2001, requires that the Care Commission inspect all care services covered by the Act every year to monitor the quality of care provided. In accordance with the Act, the Care Commission and HM Inspectorate of Education carry out integrated inspections of the quality of care and education. In doing this, inspection teams take account of National Care Standards, Early Education and Childcare up to the age of 16, and The Child at the Centre1. The following standards and related quality indicators were used in the recent inspection.

National Care Standard Child at the Centre Quality Indicator

Standard 5 – Quality of Experience The curriculum Standard 4 – Engaging With Children Teaching for effective learning, Children’s experiences, Children’s progress

Standard 6 – Support and Development Care, welfare and development, Meeting learning needs, Expectations and promoting achievement, Equality and fairness, Successes in involving parents, carers and families Standard 14 – Well-managed Service Developing people and partnerships, Leadership of improvement and change, Improvement through self-evaluation

Reports contain Recommendations which are intended to support improvements in the quality of service.

Any Requirements refer to actions which must be taken by service providers to ensure that regulations are met and there is compliance with relevant legislation. In these cases the regulation(s) to which requirements refer will be noted clearly and timescales given.

1 The Child at the Centre version 2 published June 2007, HMIE

Introduction

Wyndford Nursery School was inspected in June 2008 as part of the integrated inspection programme by the Care Commission and HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE). The nursery catered for pre-school children aged three to five years. It was registered for 70 children attending at any one session. At the time of the inspection the total roll was 94.

Key strengths

 Confident, successful learners.

 Children’s use of information and communications technology (ICT) across the curriculum.

 The stimulating, challenging learning environment and the quality of children’s experiences.

 Teamwork and commitment of staff.

 Leadership of the headteacher.

How good are learning, teaching and achievement?

Children’s experiences aged three to five

The curriculum for children aged three to five was very good and provided an appropriate balance and breadth across the five key aspects of learning. Children’s experiences were very good and all children engaged in a wide range of stimulating and challenging learning opportunities. Staff involved children in planning their learning and their interests were used to plan interesting topics throughout the year. Staff were sensitive to the needs of children and parents who were new to the nursery. The nursery also had an appropriate programme of induction for children moving into primary school that included visits and sharing of useful information on children’s progress. Relationships and interactions with children were very good and staff made very effective use of questioning and dialogue to extend children’s thinking. Staff were very responsive to children’s individual needs and sensitively supported their learning when necessary.

1 Improvements in performance

The nursery had continued to improve its performance in nearly all aspects, and particularly in relation to ensuring the very good progress of children in their development and learning. Children were confident, independent, active learners who contributed to planning and reviewing their own learning success.

Children were making very good progress in communication and language. Almost all children were confident when talking to one another and to adults and expressed their ideas and views very well. Staff encouraged children’s interest in books through the ‘Our Get Caught Reading Wall’ that had many photographs of children using books to read and find information. Children were very keen to write during play activities.

Children were making very good progress in aspects of early mathematics. Almost all children were able to sort, match and group by shape, colour, size and texture. Most children could describe the properties of patterns and measure in play situations. Almost all children counted with confidence and used appropriate mathematical language. The nursery had a dedicated mathematics area that was very well used to support children’s learning.

Children were making very good progress in all areas of their learning. All children were developing their skills in using the interactive whiteboard, computer and digi-blue camera. They were using information and communications technology (ICT) to prepare for their ‘Friendship Day’ event. Children were tending to the plants in the indoor garden and learning about the life cycle of the butterfly. Many children engaged in imaginative play and acted out a variety of roles in the ‘travel agent’s’ where they booked holidays and made passports. Most used the art and craft area to stick, glue, draw and paint. The nursery had won a Diamond Award for enterprise for their art gallery. All children were developing confidence in a range of physical skills. They were developing their coordination and awareness of space through a well-planned programme of physical activities including dance. They were gaining very good hand and finger control using a variety of tools and equipment.

All children were familiar with nursery routines and were able to share and take turns. They were very kind and helpful to one another and very well behaved. Nearly all were developing independence skills when serving their own snack and undertaking personal tasks. Children contributed to the community through their involvement in local charities such as the Salvation Army and Lodging House Mission.

The nursery improvement plan had identified appropriate priorities for development that had a positive effect on the work of the nursery and children’s progress and development. The staff were making very good progress in taking forward the identified priorities.

How well are children’s needs met?

Staff were very sensitive to children’s emotional, personal and social needs. All children enjoyed a range of healthy snacks and the lunches provided also promoted healthy eating. The nursery had achieved Health Promoting School status. Staff followed child protection guidelines appropriately and were all aware of their responsibilities in protecting children. Meeting children’s learning needs within the nursery was very good. Play activities were very interesting and engaging and staff encouraged and supported individual children very well to ensure that each child made appropriate progress. Learning targets were set and shared with children and children reviewed their own learning through discussion about achievements and how they could do even better. Children were confident, successful, independent learners who were very able to make choices and decisions in the playroom. Staff had established appropriate individualised educational programmes for children who required them. They worked closely with support agencies and parents to share information and set appropriate targets for children. Staff had high expectations of children’s learning and development and children responded positively to celebrations of their efforts and achievements. The nursery had a strong ethos of inclusion and all children, parents and staff were treated equally and fairly and all felt that their contributions were valued. Staff involved parents positively in the life of the nursery and in their children’s learning through the ‘learning wall’ and ‘learning at home’ sheets. Parents who responded to the pre-inspection questionnaire and who were spoken with at the inspection were pleased with the nursery provision.

Leading and improving the centre

The headteacher provided very good leadership to the nursery. She was ably supported by the team leader. Together, they fostered effective teamwork. The headteacher successfully encouraged and supported staff to develop their abilities to lead on aspects of learning in the nursery. Staff were very committed to the nursery and its continued improvement. They had a shared vision that provided an important focus for their work. They readily shared their very good practice and ideas and provided one another with very good role models. An effective system of staff development and review identified

3 and addressed staff training needs. The headteacher encouraged staff to attend training and further develop their knowledge and expertise and to keep up-to-date with new developments. Staff shared information and used their learning to improve the quality of children’s experiences in the nursery. The headteacher and staff were familiar with the Scottish Social Services Council Codes of Practice and their implications.

The headteacher had established good procedures for supporting improvement through self-evaluation. The headteacher regularly monitored the work of the nursery and practice within the playroom. She was currently developing a more formal way of recording this and linking it clearly to self-evaluation. Useful feedback was provided to staff and children. The headteacher had sought out the views of parents, children and staff, all of whom had contributed to establishing the priorities within the improvement plan.

Good practice In the course of the inspection, the following aspects of innovative and effective practice were evaluated as being worthy of wider dissemination.

What did nursery staff set out to do? Enterprise Initiative – Children’s Gallery of Modern Art Staff set out to celebrate children’s achievements in their art and craft work through facilitating and enabling our children to put their art work on display for their parents. This also gave the opportunity to share with parents the importance of our Expressive and Aesthetic curriculum in their child’s development in allowing their children to express their emotions visually through painting, drawing and collage.

What was done? Children were given the opportunity to decide which type of medium they wanted to work with and individually decided which art work was to be displayed.

During the Art Exhibition, staff gave a short presentation to their group of parents on the benefits of the features of learning incorporated in the Expressive and Aesthetic curriculum.

During the sessions, parents were given the opportunity to be involved in an ‘Art Workshop’ using the resources familiar to the children – with their work put on display for the whole nursery community to celebrate.

What were the benefits to children as learners? Children were actively involved in all stages of this project, promoting their self esteem and sense of achievement in Expressive and Aesthetic learning opportunities.

Issues from previous inspections Response to recommendations or to requirements or enforcement action made at previous inspection.

At the last Care Commission singleton inspection there was one recommendation and one requirement that had been actioned.

5 Recommendations for improvement

 The headteacher and staff should continue to maintain the high quality of children’s experiences and the very good progress in their learning.

As a result of the high performance, the strong record of improvement and the very effective leadership of this centre, HM Inspectors will make no further reports in connection with this inspection.

Hilary Long Susan McPherson HM Inspectorate of Education Care Commission

Indicators of quality

Improvements in performance Very Good

Children’s experiences Very Good

Meeting learning needs Very Good

Evaluations made using HMIE quality indicators use the following scale, and these words are used in the report to describe the team’s judgements:

excellent outstanding, sector leading very good major strengths good important strengths, some areas for improvement satisfactory strengths just outweigh weaknesses weak important weaknesses unsatisfactory major weaknesses

HOW TO CONTACT US

If you would like an additional copy of this report Copies of this report have been sent to the headteacher, staff and the education authority. Copies are also available on the Care Commission website: www.carecommission.com and HMIE website: www.hmie.gov.uk. Should you wish to comment on any aspect of pre-school inspections, you should write in the first instance to Kenneth Muir, HMCI, at HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA. If you have a concern about this report, you should write in the first instance to either: Complaints Coordinator Complaints Manager Headquarters HMIE Business Management and Care Commission Communications Team Compass House HM Inspectorate of Education Riverside Drive Denholm House Dundee Almondvale Business Park DD1 4NY Almondvale Way Livingston EH54 6GA

You can also e-mail [email protected]. A copy of our complaints procedure is available from this office, by telephoning 01506 600200 or from our website at www.hmie.gov.uk.

If you are not satisfied with the action we have taken at the end of our complaints procedure, you can raise your complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO). The SPSO is fully independent and has powers to investigate complaints about Government departments and agencies. You should write to the SPSO, Freepost EH641, Edinburgh EH3 0BR. You can also telephone 0800 377 7330 (fax 0800 377 7331) or e-mail: [email protected]. More information about the Ombudsman’s office can be obtained from the website: www.spso.org.uk.

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