Watchdog rates nursery ‘good’
MAIDENHEAD: A day nursery and pre-school in Maidenhead has been rated Good in all areas by Ofsted following its first routine inspection since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic
Inspectors visited Bright Horizons Maidenhead Day Nursery and Preschool on Monday, July 4.
In its report, the education watchdog stated that children are ‘happy and well cared for in the nursery’ and that babies and toddlers have close bonds with staff members ‘who provide lots of comfort and reassurance and meet their care routines consistently’.
It added that, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff have put a ‘sharp emphasis on supporting children to manage their feelings and emotions’.
All youngsters ‘benefit from a language-rich environment that builds on their communication skills’, the report added, and children ‘freely express themselves in a wide range of role-play activities’.
The report said the nursery had been through a ‘period of change and faced challenges with recruitment in line with national shortages in the sector’, however leaders have addressed this and are aware of the pressures and have a ‘clear vision for the future of the nursery’.
It added leaders also have a ‘clear vision for the learning intentions in each room’, however ‘staff performance management is not sharply focused on developing some inconsistencies in staff practice to raise the quality of the overall provision further’.
The report added staff know the youngsters well and, overall, they plan a ‘broad curriculum with activities that they know children are interested in and will enjoy’.
On safeguarding, the report stated that leaders make sure staff have a ‘good understanding of the setting’s safeguarding policy and they keep their training up to date’.
Discussing further improvements, the report said the early years provider needs to ‘strengthen the monitoring of staff practice so that they receive coaching support that helps them to further improve the good quality of children's learning’, and ‘refine the planning of children’s learning to ensure they are consistently challenged so they can achieve to the best of their abilities’.