Ankerville House Nursery
Tain
Highland

23 December 2009

HM Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) inspects centres in order to let parents¹, children and the local community know whether their centre provides a good education. Inspectors also discuss with centre staff how they can improve the quality of education.

At the beginning of the inspection, we ask the head of centre and staff about the strengths of the centre, what needs to improve, and how they know. We use the information they give us to help us plan what we are going to look at. During the inspection, we go into playrooms and join other activities which children are involved in. We also gather the views of parents, staff and members of the local community. We find their views very helpful and use them together with the other information we have collected to arrive at our view of the quality of education.

This report tells you what we found during the inspection and the quality of education in the centre. We describe how well children are doing, how good the centre is at helping them to learn and how well it cares for them. We comment on how well staff, parents and children work together and how they go about improving the centre. We also comment on how well the centre works with other groups in the community, including services which support children. Finally, we focus on how well the centre is led and how all staff help the centre achieve its aims.

If you would like to learn more about our inspection of the centre, please visit www.hmie.gov.uk . Here you can find analyses of questionnaire returns from parents and staff. We will not provide questionnaire analyses where the numbers of returns are so small that they could identify individuals. Where applicable, you will also be able to find descriptions of good practice in the centre.

Contents

1. The centre
2. Particular strengths of the centre
3. How well do children learn and achieve?
4. How well do staff work with others to support children's learning?
5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their centre community?
6. Does the centre have high expectations of all children?
7. Does the centre have a clear sense of direction?
8. What happens next?

3. How well do children learn and achieve?

Learning and achievement

All children provided for in the nursery and after school are very happy and comfortable in the environment. They have established confident relationships with staff and firm friendships with other children. They are independent and motivated in choosing their own play activities and serve themselves at snack. Children can concentrate for extended periods at activities such as writing, drawing and using the computer. They cooperate well with friends in role-play in the home corner.

Children understand how to take turns in singing games and enjoy the fun of group activities with other children. They learn about technology through building complex constructions with blocks. They represent their own ideas in paint choosing and using a variety of tools independently. Outdoors, all children are developing the use of their bodies, stretching, balancing bean bags, using hula hoops and climbing on a frame. They explore their environment in imaginative games and know that they can use torches to light dark corners and binoculars and magnifying glasses to make their finds bigger. They photograph things that interest them. They care for the environment as they recycle paper and compost fruit waste from snack and lunch.

Children aged three to five are making very good progress in their learning and development. They communicate confidently and share their ideas. They listen and respond well to instructions. They look at books independently and engage well with group stories, posing and answering questions. Most children are becoming aware that print has meaning and are experimenting with writing in play, for example writing a shopping list in the home corner. They enjoy illustrating their own story books and asking staff to scribe their stories. Many use labels and displays to write letters and words. A few are beginning to connect letter sounds and can write the appropriate letter. Children can count competently up to ten during play. They make simple additions and are beginning to learn about ‘less than’. They put a price on items in their shop using the language of number and money. They can sort and match a variety of interesting materials. In play, they measure their constructions. They have measured themselves and can talk about who is taller or shorter with understanding.

Curriculum and meeting learning needs

Staff provide a good range of activities and experiences across the key aspects of learning, based on their knowledge of children’s interests. They involve children in planning and record their ideas using simple mind maps. Staff have begun to explore the new experiences and outcomes in Curriculum for Excellence. Staff provide opportunities to develop literacy and numeracy very effectively in a variety of contexts including outdoors. They do not yet provide sufficient opportunities for children to explore simple ideas in science or to work things out through problem-solving. Older children attending after school engage happily with most nursery resources and use these in their own ways. A variety of age-appropriate games and resources are also available for them to choose from.

Staff are very good at meeting children’s learning needs. They know children very well. As a result of a high ratio of adults to children, staff are able to support children very well. Staff interact very skilfully with children. This helps children think for themselves and learn effectively. Very effective support is provided for children who need additional help in their learning. Staff record useful observations of children’s learning and achievement, save significant pieces of work and discuss children’s learning informally to ensure activities are appropriate and help children to make progress. Staff do not yet collate this information on individual children’s progress in a way that is easily accessible for staff, parents and children to engage with. They track progress in line with local authority guidance and share reports with parents termly.

4. How well do staff work with others to support children’s learning?

Parents are actively encouraged to ‘share a session’ at the nursery. Staff share children’s experiences daily with parents through the use of a digital photograph display and a ‘we have been learning to’ display board. Regular newsletters include ideas for learning at home. Resources are shared, including books, story sacks and a travelling soft toy. Parents had an opportunity to meet and get advice from the link health visitor, school nurse and dental nurse at an informative health promotion event. Staff work in partnership with a range of local agencies to support children’s additional needs. The children actively participate in community events and fundraising for charity. Visitors and visits to places of interest extend the curriculum. Nursery children use the local school gym for physical activity in the winter months. This, and opportunities to attend school events, help children to get to know the school environment. A planned programme of visits and a talk to parents by a local headteacher supports children starting school. There is scope to develop these links further to ensure continuity in children’s learning.

5. Are staff and children actively involved in improving their centre community?

The management and staff are committed to continuous improvement. They have taken steps to overcome the limitations of the building and improve the learning opportunities for children. The manager monitors staff practice and provides helpful feedback. This now needs to be more closely linked with improvement plans. Staff consult parents and children about the nursery and value their views. Parents are extremely positive about nursery improvements and that their views are acted on. Staff are enthusiastic to develop their practice. Increased opportunities for staff to reflect on and discuss their work as a team and to see practice in other pre-school settings has raised confidence and ambition. They have successfully improved opportunities for children to explore number and language in play which has impacted positively on children’s progress. Together with the recently appointed teacher staff are evaluating and planning further curriculum development. Children know that staff listen to their ideas and they can influence changes to the activities and materials available. Children evaluate their own and other children’s work.

6. Does the centre have high expectations of all children?

The management team and staff have established a caring, nurturing environment where children are valued. Children’s achievements are celebrated in a variety of ways. Staff are aware of their responsibilities in keeping children safe. The high quality of staff interaction supports children in developing positive behaviour. Staff model appropriate strategies for dealing with any negative behaviour from others which has improved children’s skills. Children are very well behaved, respectful and well mannered. Staff sensitively promote equality and challenge children’s attitudes to gender stereotyping. Children can make healthy choices when choosing snack menus and parents support the nursery by following guidance and providing well chosen packed lunches.

7. Does the centre have a clear sense of direction?

The owner of the nursery and the manager work hard to provide a service that meets the needs of children and families effectively. They successfully share their vision with the staff team and have established very positive relationships between themselves, the staff team, parents and children. They take very good account of the views of all in developing the service. Previous inspections have informed the development plan and improved learning for children. Taking forward Curriculum for Excellence is a key area of the nursery’s development plan. The service is well placed to improve further.

8. What happens next?

We are confident that the centre will be able to make the necessary improvements in light of the inspection findings. As a result, we will make no more visits in connection with this inspection. The centre and the education authority will inform parents about the centre’s progress in improving the quality of education.

Quality indicators help centres, education authorities and inspectors to judge what is good and what needs to be improved in the work of a centre. You can find these quality indicators in the HMIE publication The Child at the Centre. Following the inspection of each centre, the Scottish Government gathers evaluations of three important quality indicators to keep track of how well all Scottish centres are doing.

Here are the evaluations for Ankerville House Nursery.

We also evaluated the following aspects of the work of the centre.

Managing Inspector: Maureen Mathieson
23 December 2009

When we write reports, we use the following word scale so that our readers can see clearly what our judgments mean.

If you would like to find out more about our inspections or get an electronic copy of this report, please go to www.hmie.gov.uk.

Please contact us if you want to know how to get the report in a different format, for example, in a translation, or if you wish to comment about any aspect of our inspections. You can contact us at HMIEenquiries@hmie.gsi.gov.uk or write to us at BMCT, HM Inspectorate of Education, Denholm House, Almondvale Business Park, Almondvale Way, Livingston EH54 6GA.

Text phone users can contact us on 01506 600 236. This is a service for deaf users. Please do not use this number for voice calls as the line will not connect you to a member of staff.

You can find our complaints procedure on our website www.hmie.gov.uk or alternatively you can contact our Complaints Manager, at the address above or by telephoning 01506 600259.

You can also contact the Complaints Coordinator, Headquarters, Care Commission, Compass House, Riverside Drive, Dundee DD1 4NY, telephone 0845 603 0890.

Crown Copyright 2009
HM Inspectorate of Education

Footnote

1. Throughout this report, the term ‘parents’ should be taken to include foster carers and carers who are relatives or friends