Parents say, their children enjoy coming to the nursery and are making good progress. They say they feel well informed about their child's time at the nursery, and are impressed with the progress their children make.
Senior Nursery Manager, Deborah Cobb, said: “We are delighted with the results of this Ofsted inspection. Our team has worked hard to ensure our Nursery offers a quality environment with engaging facilities where childen feel safe, happy and secure. We take pride in offering a wide variety of learning experiences and resources to help our children develop confidence, independence and make good progress and it is wonderful to see this reflected in this report. We would like to thank all parents, children and staff for their constant support over the past 12 months, and we will continue to strive to be the best we can, offering the highest standards of care and education.”
Among the comments from the OfSted inspector were:
“There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first”.
“Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum tailored to support all children to make good progress in their development. Staff's teaching is good. They are clear in what they want children to learn. Staff regularly check the impact of their teaching. This allows staff to provide activities that focus on each child's learning needs. Leaders work with parents and other professionals to provide children with the support they need to succeed at the nursery”.
“Children benefit from a well-planned settling-in period when they start at the nursery and when they move to new rooms. All staff show genuine interest in children and support children's emotional well-being.”
“Leaders and staff are reflective and always striving to further develop the already good-quality care and education that children receive. Staff value the development opportunities and feel supported”.
“Staff provide a wide range of inspiring activities designed to meet the children's interests and needs. Children spend long periods of time immersed in their learning”.
“Children have fun developing their physical skills. Staff ensure all children have access to daily fresh air and exercise. Babies build on their walking skills as they hold staff members' hands. Younger children explore the garden. Older children take part in daily yoga sessions, where they practise different yoga poses and breathing techniques. Staff support children to develop their independence well. They teach children skills such as serving their food, pouring drinks and putting away their belongings. They encourage children to try to do things for themselves first and they praise their efforts and achievements”.
"Children behave well. Staff are good role models and clearly explain to children what they expect. They give children choices and use positive language, for example kind hands and walking feet. This helps boost children's self-esteem and encourages them to make appropriate choices on their own as they get older”.
The Apricot Group Operations Manager, Nick Douglas added “We brough in a new management structure, focusing on the education and learning which was identified in our previous report. It is wonderful to receive such a positive Ofsted report. At Apricot Nursery, our ambition is to provide every one of the children in our care with the best opportunities and high aspirations. Top quality early years provision is key to building a successful foundation for the next steps of education and I’d like to thank the team at Apricot Nursery for all their efforts in making our Nursery such a success.”