Sandbrook Nursery School

STATISTICAL INFORMATION - NURSERY SCHOOLS

1.INTRODUCTION

1.1Sandbrook Nursery School is situated in the Sydenham area of east Belfast. The nursery provides full-time pre-school education for the 52 children enrolled. Approximately 5% of the children are entitled to free school meals. At the time of the inspection, the assistant teacher was absent.

1.2The arrangements for the inspection of pastoral care included the completion of questionnaires by the parents. Approximately 60% of the questionnaires were returned. These indicated that most of the parents were satisfied or very satisfied with the nursery provision. A minority of the parents were less satisfied with the information they received about their child’s progress. The report includes comments on this matter.

2.SUMMARY OF MAIN FINDINGS

2.1The nursery is bright and welcoming. A special feature of the school is the display of a wide variety of the children’s creative work which is of a high standard. Particular attention has been given to making the entrance area attractive for parents, children and visitors. The displays in this area are informative for the parents and provide helpful advice about the life and work of the nursery. A lending library, from which the parents can borrow books and magazines, is conveniently placed in the entrance area.

2.2The communication with the parents is good; visits are made to the children’s homes; there are meetings and written information to guide the parents before their children start attending the nursery; appropriate settling-in procedures are operated. The information shared with the parents during the induction meeting is reinforced through monthly newsletters and information displayed on the parents’ noticeboard. The parents are invited into the school in February to discuss their child’s progress with the class teacher. In addition to the informal meetings which occur at the beginning and end of the day, regular coffee mornings also provide opportunities for the parents and staff to meet. The school has also organised a series of meetings to help the parents understand, more fully, how children learn. The principal reports that there is a good response from the parents to the programme of meetings and that they readily give assistance with school trips and other activities, including, for example, reading stories. The written profiles prepared for each child are discussed with the parents before being forwarded to the receiving primary schools. The staff should build further on the good informal contact established with the parents to ensure that, at an earlier stage in the pre-school year, they receive information more systematically about their children’s development and progress.

2.3The staff work well as a team; they provide a secure environment which helps the children grow in confidence. They consider the social and emotional needs of individual children and provide appropriate encouragement and support.

2.4The children come readily into the playrooms and most settle quickly to an activity. The children respond well to the staff’s expectations of appropriate behaviour; they are learning to co-operate and to respect the play of other children; many display concentration in their play. They help to clear away the toys and do so efficiently; they know where the materials are kept and they handle them with care.

2.5The nursery’s programme promotes effectively the children’s personal, social and emotional development. The range of activities provided offers satisfactory opportunities for learning in most of the other areas of the pre-school curriculum. The play areas are laid out attractively at the beginning of each day; a range of materials and equipment is provided. There is, however, a need to promote more exploration and investigation through the play and for the teachers to facilitate learning by the more effective arrangement and presentation of materials.

2.6The timetable allows a valuable period of uninterrupted play which helps the children to make choices and interact socially; however, the organisation of the remainder of the day needs to be reviewed to ensure that routine activities do not result in unnecessary periods of waiting for the children. While the informal snack time supports sustained play, more could be done at this time to foster the children’s independence and sense of responsibility. The children have free access to both playrooms each morning. This arrangement provides the children with a wider variety of play equipment.

2.7Some interesting activities have been provided including, for example, preparing fruit salad and baking. The outdoor area has been developed usefully to help the children become aware of plants and living things. The creative ability of the children is developed effectively through the use of a wide range of materials. Most of the children have well-developed skills in painting and in collage work; they have begun to pay close attention to detail in their drawings and paintings and to make representations of familiar people and objects in their environment. There are frequent opportunities for informal singing and for listening to recorded music. The children enjoy their outdoor play and there is obvious development in their physical skills. The reading of stories, and the loan of books for use at home, stimulate the children’s interest and promote their language development.

2.8The staff have worked together to compile planning documents. Themes are used to introduce a variety of activities and topics throughout the year; the provision of materials is planned through weekly rotas which ensure variety and some development within the identified areas of play. This written planning, however, needs to be extended to identify more clearly the learning opportunities within the play activities, and take account of the differing needs and abilities of the children and their responses to the play.

2.9During the inspection, there were occasions when the staff participated effectively in the play to promote the children’s enjoyment and extend their language and thinking; at other times, however, the adult’s involvement in the play was too superficial to ensure sustained interaction between the adults and the children. The staff now need to exploit more consistently the learning opportunities within the activities in order to promote the children’s language and learning, particularly related to early mathematical and scientific ideas.

2.10The staff make some observations of the children’s responses to play and have begun to compile basic records; these do not yet provide a profile of the progress being made. More needs to be done to ensure that the assessment methods are developed as integral elements of the staff’s interaction with the children. The information from assessment should be used more effectively to guide the planning process in order to ensure that the programme meets the children’s differing needs.

2.11The nursery has in place appropriate procedures for pastoral care and child protection which are in line with guidance given in the Department of Education (DE) circular 1999/10.

2.12The nursery has established good links with a number of local primary schools.

2.13The purpose-built accommodation is well matched to the needs of young children. Good use is made of the available space in order to provide the maximum amount of play area for the children. The resources are good.

2.14The strengths of the nursery include:

• the good behaviour of the children;

• the supportive relationships at all levels;

• the good communication with the parents

• the quality of the children’s creative work;

• the promotion of the children’s personal, social and emotional development;

• the opportunities for physical play outdoors.

2.15The inspection has identified some areas which require action. In addressing the most important areas, the nursery needs to:

• ensure that the staff exploit more consistently the learning opportunities within the children’s activities;

• develop a more effective system for monitoring, evaluating and recording the children’s progress;

• extend the approaches to planning, ensuring that the assessment information guides provision which meets the children’s differing needs.

2.16Overall, the quality of the education provided in this nursery is satisfactory but improvements are needed in the areas identified if the needs of the children are to be met fully.

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 CROWN COPYRIGHT 2002

This report may be reproduced in whole or in part, except for commercial purposes or in connection with a prospectus or advertisement, provided that the source and date thereof are stated.

Copies of this report may be obtained from the Inspection Services Branch, Department of Education, Rathgael House, 43 Balloo Road, Bangor, Co Down BT19 7PR. A copy is also available on the DE website: