Ardnahoe Nursery
2022 - 2023
Key Developments (Leadership of change QI 1.3):
Over the past year there has been a number of changes in the staff team. Our Child Development Team Leader successfully move on to take up a promoted post. We have therefore welcomed a new member to our senior leadership team albeit on a temporary basis currently. We also lost one member of staff through retirement and another who wanted a change and moved on to take up a new career in Social Care. A career break allowed one member of staff to travel, check in with family and participate in races across Europe, she has excelled in her achievements. A new arrival to the Ardnahoe extended family came in the healthy arrival of a new baby girl for one of the Child Development Officers - she is stunning and both mother and baby a doing great. Our Lead Practitioner of Attainment has been seconded to an acting Team Leader position.
New staff have therefore been introduced to the team as a direct result of this and because there had been so many changes it was necessary to look at and refresh at our vision, values and aims for the nursery to reflect the opinions of the new staff, parents/carers and children.
A consultation process took place over a few weeks, we initially consulted staff, then quickly reached out to the children, their families and then any visiting specialists/agencies. Analysis of the data saw the development of the Ardnahoe tree with the roots signifying the five most important values necessary to create a foundation that nurtures individual children to develop and learn,
Relationships, Family, Safe, Loved and Communication.
Communication starts with you and me,
building relationships is the key,
feeling safe and loved we all agree
are the foundations of the Ardnahoe family.
‘Learning to Learn’
(John Dewey 1958)
Developments in learning teaching and assessment Q1 2.3
We have continued to work alongside and received training from the Leaders of Early Learning for the completion of the early level trackers for literacy and numeracy. Co-ordination of the training has provided time for staff to work through the programme in groups or on a one to one basis depending on their skill set. As such all of the staff team have benefited from this input and almost all are confident in their ability to accurately assess and complete the trackers. Within the training staff were shown where to access ideas for activities that would support taking the learning forward creating more opportunities for breadth and challenge. As a direct result almost all staff have a better in-depth understanding of the aspects within the trackers and how to support children to make progress and achieve success.
Data taken from a random selection of 31 pre-school children for literacy revealed that almost all children are on track in 50% or more of the aspects within each section of the trackers. Trackers supported staff to determine which children required further challenge or support to move on. We intend in the coming year to move on to use the electronic trackers to streamline the use of technology, to have all information for children recorded using staff iPads. This will create improved data access, collection and monitoring of learning and the curriculum for the Senior Leadership Team.
Changes in the staff team inevitably lead to changes in staff leadership roles. As such two members of staff were supported and received training from our link Leader of Early Learning for the delivery of the Phonological Awareness Programme. Their confidence and team work has grown and we are seeing evidence of progression for the majority of pre-school children as they demonstrate their ability and confidence for listening and following instructions, rhyme awareness, phonemic awareness for initial sounds and syllable segmentation for their names and the names of their friends.
Over the course of the year almost all of the children were involved with Young Writers’ for ‘My First Poem’. On completion of the poems and pending parental consent the poems were published in a book that could be purchased. A free copy of the book was allocated to the nursery and a celebration of the poems shared with the children.
Over the year ahead and to support the delivery of literacy and instil a love of reading and books we will engage with Glasgow Life for the delivery of the Sharing Stories programme. This will involve working with parents and children together both in nursery and in the local community. Taking the lead on this will be out Child Development Team Leader and one of the practitioners. We are the first nursey across Glasgow to sign up for the programme so watch this space.
In January 2022 we were allocated a Lead Practitioner of Attainment. Within her remit plans were put in place to lead numeracy for pre-school children living in banding areas one and two of the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation. Unfortunately, this has not taken off due to a number of issues and her subsequent move to take up an Acting Child Development Team Leader position. A replacement has not been organised to date.
Despite this staff have continued to work within all aspects of numeracy for all children. Data retrieved from the same group of 31 pre-school children revealed that almost all the children were making progress and achieving success in 50% or more of the aspect for learning in numerals, counting, place value and knowing that they can check estimates by counting within 0-10. The data also revealed that there are areas of numeracy, e.g. Money, Time, Measurement (Length, Mass and Capacity), angles, symmetry and transformations that we will have to address, to ensure we are delivering appropriate learning experiences shaped by the children’s interests and to ensure progressions in these aspects of numeracy is being supported.
Sustainability is being led by two Child Development Officer and has taken off this year. They have received support and training from our early years’ colleagues from Stramash Outdoor Nursery in Fort William. An initial training visit by the Head of Ardnahoe to Fort William was followed up by one member of the staff team presenting a video application for selection to participate in their training programme. The successful application has resulted in the Stramash training leaders visiting Ardnahoe to provide further training for the whole team in our own garden. Risky Play was a focus for staff training during our in-service day and then during a further training session with Stramash.
Advice from Stramash saw changes in the garden. Our construction area and bungee line had to be moved and removed to protect our very well-established Cherry Blossom trees. The impact of these concerns reverberated across the whole team and change became a priority. The construction area was moved and the area became ‘The Deep Dark Wood’ in which shade loving plants were introduced, a Bug Hotel and sensory pathway created. Little by little it is our intention to protect the environment by rotating which areas cannot be used to allow nature to take ownership again. We are also at the very early stage of developing a ‘Wild Flower Meadow’ to encourage and protect the endangered Bumble Bee and other insect.
On return to nursery one Friday the children in particular and staff were all shocked by the vandalism that had occurred overnight to the willow den, someone had cut down a number of the trees and had left the debris lying in the garden rendering the areas unsafe for the children to use. Some children voiced their annoyance by saying;
“They need to be caught and locked up”
“They’re bad people fur doing that”
“That’s no a nice thing to do”.
A quick clean-up was arranged and the incident reported to the Police. To date no one has been held accountable for the vandalism. However, this has not dampened our enthusiasm and the drive to carry on remains intact and more determined.
We have celebrated fantastic success in the Royal Horticultural Campaign for School Gardening by achieving over the past year up to and including level five. The children have enjoyed seeing the certificates displayed in the outdoor garage space. Planting and growing has played a significant part in achieving this success as children have planted from seed and harvested a range of produce e.g. lettuce, broad beans, carrots and radish, companion planting to attract insects for germination and pest control worked a treat for a bumper crop.
Harvest time allowed the children to then use the produce to bake carrot cake, make soup and taste the unfamiliar produce e.g. radish to determine if it was a thumbs up or down for taste.
Children, families and neighbours were encouraged to pick apples straight from the tree when passing as there were too many for the children to use in nursery.
Progress in children’s learning /raising attainment and recognising achievement QI 3.2
Health and Wellbeing
Parents/carers were asked to participate in a survey via Seesaw. The results received reflect the responses from 21 parents out of a possible 95. Response numbers were low however they did provide a range of opinions and suggestions for change/improvement moving forward. When sharing the data with all service users we used the format of;
‘We asked’ - ‘You said’ - ‘We did or will do’.
Questions asked: -
How well would you rate Ardnahoe Nursery School? (1 poor, 5 excellent) = 4.7 Average Rating - In the time your child has attended the nursery do you or your child have any fond or key memories of your time at Ardnahoe Nursery?
- What have you valued about your child’s time with us?
- If you could change or improve anything about the nursery and our care, what wold it be?
- If you could describe the nursery in one word what would it be?
Results and responses: 4.75 average rating
"The understanding, love and support he received from all the staff
when he first started and was trying to detach from mummy".
"The garden is always a big hit for Xxxxx as she loves being outside”.
"Yes"
"He is now more independent, very vocal and focused."
"I feel as though Xxxxxx has came a long way while being at nursery, as she always preferred being on her own and now I feel she has made a lot of new friends"
"Great"
"I think Ardnahoe staff are doing a great job already."
"I would prefer that the meals for lunch were placed in front of the kids rather than a self service"
“Homely”
“Good”
“Accommodating”
" Everything is perfect "
Over the past year we have had the luxury of support from and English as an Additional Language (EAL) Teacher for the first time in a number of years. This has come at an ideal time for us as we have seen a large increase in the number of children with English as a second language enrolling.
Training provided via this support has enhanced the skills of staff when completing the ‘All about my languages’ form,’ therefore providing almost all staff with a better understanding of the importance of gathering accurate information at the enrolment stage and how this information can be used to support inclusion and cultural diversity for language and the celebration of festivals. In response we have celebrated Eid, Ramadhan and for the first time this year "Mata Tirtha Aunshi" a Nepalese festival for Mothers which captivated and delighted us all as one of our pre-school girls demonstrated a traditional dance she had been doing at home with family and friends. Her parents and visiting grandparents were delighted to receive the Seesaw video clip of this.
Progress in promoting well-being equality and inclusion QI 3.1
Over the last four years training to up skill staff to be confident in their ability to support and plan for all children has been a priority. Over time and as the nursery role for children with an additional support need increases we have found the training extremely beneficial. A number of staff have participated in Video Enhanced Reflective Practice (VERP) training whereby they video their interactions or a child at play and then use what they have observed to reflect and plan next steps to support the child to develop and learn. This has produced a number of ‘lightbulb’ moments for staff as they observe and reflect on their or others interactions. During these training sessions staff were informed and advised to participate in ‘Up, Up and Away’ training as a follow on to VERP; this took place during one of our August 2023 in-service days.
During the February 2023 in-service day staff participated in a Moderation session at St. Brigid’s Primary alongside a further two primary schools. As the only early years establishment there our staff recognised that they had to fly the flag and bang the drum for the hard work, dedication and support given to children prior to them moving on to primary one. Almost all staff found this interesting but on reflection did not feel they got a great deal from it.
The whole staff team participated in Milestones Training with our link Educational Psychologist in May 2023. This course was aimed at Target Setting for Children with Complex Additional Support Needs and Planning Personalised Pathways for Learners. The Up, Up and Away training complemented this.
Space in Ardnahoe nursery is very tight when holding events, particularly over the winter. Our depute has established links with Sanctuary housing and Langside College to begin partnership working for different events. As such we have gained access to a hall, cooking facilities and the ‘Living Room’ space furnished with sofa’s, tables and chairs that can be used with larger group, which is a luxury we do not have in the nursery building without closing off a playroom areas. We have already used the space to consult with parents about our future plans and to find out what they would like to use it for. These events being organised will provide opportunities for larger groups of parents to engage with nursery staff to;
- Increase their knowledge on how to support their children at home and to raise attainment of all learners.
- Provide opportunities to upskill parent/carers ready for employment
- Participate in English Classes via ESOL for our parents and others one day per week
- Bookbug sessions for attending families and those on our waiting list as part of our transition process and links with the community.
Collaborative Self-evaluation Visit (CSE)
Over the course of the year the Head of Ardnahoe along with a number of other Heads across the city participated in a selection of visits to collaborate, share good practice and evaluate their own self-evaluation of specific aspect of provision. The tables then turned and Ardnahoe had the privilege of being visited by a team to look at specific aspect of our self-evaluation. All in all, this process was a very positive experience; our scores allocated were endorsed and agreed by the visiting team.
Reflection and collaboration was key and a significant aspect of the visit, as such it provided an opportunity for an opened discussion about how we were delivering lunch and questioned why we were not operating an open-door free flow policy for children accessing the garden for outdoor play.
Further reflection and discussions with the staff team resulted in us opening the doors to allow the children to independently choose when they want to use the nursery garden. Giving the children the autonomy to make these decisions is an important aspect of their development, learning and self-regulation. It allows them to respond to how the feel, discover their preferred place to learn - inside or out - and of course allows them to self-regulate and get to know their own body; how different temperatures have an impact on how they feel therefore giving them the freedom to decide how long they want to be outdoors as the seasons and weather changes.
As a direct result of the CSE process we visited some other establishments across the city to see how they were operating for the delivery of rolling lunches. Observations and advice from these colleagues became the catalyst for change. Prior to the spring break we began the process of introducing rolling lunches; children can self-regulate when they are ready to eat and self-serve to determine how much they need on their plate. The impact of this has reduced interruptions to play and learning, increased time adults spend engaged with the children and it has given the children the autonomy to recognise when they are hungry and how much food they need to satisfy their appetite. The kitchen staff have also noticed a fall in the amount of food required and waste incurred.
Children with additional support needs are encouraged to go to the lunch area when it is quieter and are supported by the Support for Learning Workers leading the provision to follow the routine and make choices. Almost all of our children with additional support needs are making good progress to be able to follow the routine and enjoy their lunch time experience. Children with specific dietary needs or limited pallets are also catered. Where necessary the staff will encourage children to try new or unfamiliar foods to extend their pallet range.
The positives from the visit were very important to us in Ardnahoe as the inspection team recognised the staff team as nurturing, supporting and reflective in their practice to ensure the delivery of appropriate support for children with additional support needs and others. They also recognised the whole team approach whereby everyone has a voice in the support process. Further validation of this became evident when the inspection team talked to parents during their visit.
Moving forward we plan to extend and further develop some of the areas mentioned above and to take on new opportunities as they arise and in response to the children. Should you wish to learn more about the nursery you can pop along for a look around or find us at;
- http://www.ardnahoe-nursery.glasgow.sch.uk/
- Twitter - Twitter@Ardnahoe
- School Handbook QR Code below
- Seesaw for attending families - allocated links are given during enrolment
- Newsletters and flyer communication slips are given out as required, posted on Seesaw, Twitter and the nursery Website
- The School Improvement Plan, is displayed in the foyer for parents to access
- For further enquiries please do not hesitate to contact the Head of Nursery on 0141 647 8934 or email at HeadTeacher@Ardnahoe-nursery.glasgow.sch.uk
