Northampton nursery rated ‘good’ in first Ofsted inspection is described as ‘homely’ by parents

A Northampton nursery has been rated as ‘good’ in all areas in its first full Ofsted inspection.

Kiddies@home, based at the Abington Parish Rooms in Park Avenue North, was visited by Ofsted inspectors on Thursday, September 8.

During inspections, the education watchdog considers the quality of education, behaviours and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision - Kiddies@home was graded ‘good’ across all of these categories.

Ofsted inspector Natalie Vaughan Prosser said: “Children leave parents with ease as they arrive at the nursery. They have strong relationships with staff. Babies say 'hiya' to staff as they enter the room, and they enjoy cuddles when they are tired.”

The report commends staff for reading books and singing songs with babies to support their communication and language development. Staff also encourage babies to enhance their physical and sensory skills by exploring paint with their hands and different tools.

Older children work together to build houses with soft play blocks in the garden, develop their imagination and confidence in the role-play area and they are given daily ‘monitor’ tasks to complete such as handing out lunch to their friends, which inspectors said gives them a sense of responsibility.

The Ofsted report said: “Staff have high expectations for children's behaviour. Children are friendly, polite, and react positively to staff's instructions. Older children shout 'team work makes the dream work' as they are praised by staff for putting their toys away.”

Children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) are supported to make good progress in their learning and development, the Ofsted inspector found.

The education watchdog praised the Kiddies@home manager and staff for having a good understanding of what they want children to learn and, through gathering information from parents and the completion of regular assessments, successfully identifying gaps in children’s knowledge.

The nursery’s manager provides staff with regular development opportunities such as baby training to extend their knowledge on how to care for this age group.

The nursery’s SEND coordinator ensures this by sharing strategies with parents to continue learning at home and follows targeted plans to support children’s individual needs.

The Ofsted report said: “Parents are complimentary about the 'homely' nursery and say staff are 'amazing'.”

Parents told the Ofsted inspector that they are regularly updated on their children’s development and they like the enrichment activities offered by the nursery, such as French lessons and forest-school sessions.

To become ‘outstanding’, the nursery needs to support staff to extend children’s learning further during activities by building on what they already know.

Nursery staff also need to increase their awareness of children’s individual backgrounds so they can celebrate what makes them unique and improve their understanding of each other’s similarities and differences.

Kiddies@home registered in September 2019 and is located in the Abington area of Northampton. The nursery had 45 children on roll at the time of their latest inspection.

Read the full Ofsted report here.