2 days Ago
A nursery in Bolton that prioritises children’s "emotional needs" has retained its positive Ofsted rating. Highview Kindergarten in Belmont Road was inspected on February 19 and achieved "good" scores in all five judgement criteria. The report followed a "good" rating it was given in 2019.
Inspectors praised the nursery’s "nurturing" staff who are "positive role models" for the children. Their report said: “Children's emotional needs are prioritised by staff who take pride in the care they provide. “They take opportunities to develop children's understanding of different feelings.
“Staff are calm and demonstrate manners and respect. "Children follow these expectations – meaning they behave extremely well and play cooperatively.” The children get a strong sense of belonging in the nursery and “eagerly take on tasks like being the 'special helper'”.
Parents are also well supported and "can’t praise the 'calm' and 'homely' nursery any higher". The report said: “Staff ensure parents are fully involved in nursery life and provide them with a wealth of information to extend their children's learning at home. “These strong partnerships help the children make good progress in their education.
” And learning is easy as the nursery boasts an “aspirational curriculum” full of “fun, interesting activities”. Inspectors wrote: “Staff use their knowledge to plan exciting activities for the children, to widen their experiences and build a love of learning. “They regularly assess the curriculum’s impact on their development to see if they would benefit from additional support.
"The curriculum is based on a sound understanding of how children learn." Still, some group activities can have planning issues. Inspectors wrote that group time is not “planned in a way that helps keep all children focused and engaged”.
"Group sizes can become too large or noise levels can rise", meaning some children can lose interest or wander away. Still, staff focus activities that build children’s creativity, “encouraging them to express themselves through music and a range of media and materials". The report said: “Babies join in with the actions and words to their favourite songs, saying 'row, row'.
“They joyfully move their bodies along and make marks on paper as they listen to different music. “Staff provide instruments for older children to explore as they sing, such as xylophones.” The youngsters are supported in their first efforts at learning to read.
The report said: “Staff use core stories to help embed children's early literacy skills. “Children remember phrases from their favourite stories and join in excitedly as staff read aloud to them. “Babies cuddle up with staff and find their favourite pages, giggling as they find a fish and use the sign for fish confidently.
” Children are given “strong” opportunities to build writing skills as well – as teachers give them a “range of tools” to practise their “early mark making”. They also have a lot of outdoor activities to learn physical skills and coordination – and staff get training to understand the “nutritional value and portion sizes” of their meals. The report said: “Leaders place high importance on supporting children's physical development and well-being.
“Babies eagerly crawl over different surfaces, such as small bridges, and pull themselves up to see the exciting activities on offer. “Older children run fast then slow on the signal of the adults. Children become confident in their physical abilities.
” And the nursery’s management is described as “dedicated to its continuous improvement and progression”. The report said: “They are proactive in monitoring staff through observations and regular supervisions. “Staff say they receive excellent support.
“This level of oversight and reflection from leaders helps all staff to build on their skills over time to ensure children receive high-quality care.” Highview Kindergarten’s nursery manager, Julie Fry, said: “We’re extremely proud of the team and the staff. “Everybody here works extremely hard every day.
This is just a small reflection of the work that we do. “The nursery has been here a long time and is well-established. This year two of managers and myself are celebrating 20 years of being here.
“We got great feedback from the Ofsted inspector and parents gave us a lot of comments about how happy they are with the nursery. “The inspection report reads really well and we did come very close to getting an ‘outstanding’ rating.”.
