Northampton nursery rated by Ofsted for second time in six months improves rating from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement’

ABC123 nursery, in St George’s Avenue, was inspected by the education watchdog on May 28, this year.

In a report published on Tuesday (July 2), inspectors bumped the nursery’s rating from ‘inadequate’ to ‘requires improvement’ in all categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

The report says: “Children are safe and settled in this nursery. Staff help children to develop close and trusting bonds with them. They do this through meaningful interactions. Staff consistently praise children for their efforts and positive behaviours, building on their self-esteem.”

Due to safety concerns during the previous inspection in December 2023, Ofsted issued the nursery with a welfare requirements notice, which required the provider to take necessary steps to keep children safe and well.

In the latest report, inspectors say safeguarding is effective at the education setting.

Inspectors added: “Leaders and staff have made some improvements since the last inspection. They complete daily checks to ensure that the nursery is safe for all children.

“The premises are secure, and staff make sure no unknown persons gain access to the building.

“There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.”

However, concerns around the curriculum is the main reason why the nursery is rated ‘requires improvement’. Inspectors say the teaching is “inconsistent”.

The report adds: “The teaching of the curriculum is not yet embedded. There are still some weaknesses in the quality of education, which does not fully support the learning needs of all children.

“Weaknesses in the staff's delivery of the curriculum impact the progress children make. Staff do not always sequence children's learning and make activities too challenging.

“For instance, during a counting activity, children practise counting from one to 10. Staff then ask the children to count backwards from 10 to one and then to 100 in 10s, which the children find too difficult. The children quickly disengage from this activity and their learning.”

Ofsted inspectors also highlighted that “staff feel valued” and that “parents have a lot of positive things to say about the nursery”, which the nursery also pointed out in their response to the latest report.

A spokesperson for the nursery said: “The inspection report states we aim too high with our curriculum but we teach a cross section of highly gifted and talented and SEND children and aim our teaching to the whole spectrum. We always want to do better and the fantastic team of caring teachers will continue with the highest of expectations.

“Thanks to 130 reviews we are the second highest reviewed nursery in Northampton. 40 parents reviewed since our last Ofsted in December 23, with practically all of these parents stating all excellents with regards to every area of the nursery.

“In December 2023 when we emailed parents the Ofsted findings no children left us. In fact many wrote to Ofsted. The nursery remained full with a waiting list all year.

“It is a question why Ofsted shares such differing opinions to so many of our parents, who have access to CCTV footage to 'self' view the nursery at any moment of the working day and who send generations of children to us.

“The nursery has 95 percent qualified staff and four qualified teachers. The staff team has toilet trained over 60 children this year. Almost 80 percent of our children are EAL, English as an Additional Language and this year these children are speaking and understanding English within two months of their start date.

“The nursery also teaches almost 35 SEND children and they are appraised, referred and we receive outstanding support, despite minimal WNC funding, unfortunately this is not mentioned in the current report.

“This year we have had the highest EAL, SEN and children not toileting that any of the previous 20 years. Parent and WNC 'non payments' for fees also leave us with challenges and yet we all keep smiling and look forward to a new chapter with the new buyers.”

Inspectors gave the nursery until July 31 to “ensure that delivery of the curriculum is sequenced and offers appropriate challenge for children to reach their full potential”.

Read the full Ofsted report here.

In March this year, the nursery was put on the market for nearly £2 million, with the property advert saying “the business has an annual turnover of just under £1 million and an annual net profit of £270,000”. According to Ofsted, the nursery is still registered to The Nannery Limited, and the property listing is still live on Rightmove.