A north Lake District nursery has received a glowing Ofsted report and received an overall ‘outstanding’ rating against all areas graded.
The privately owned Little Monkeys Day Nursery at Braithwaite received an “outstanding” for the quality of its education, behaviour and attitudes of the children, personal development, leadership and management and overall effectiveness since the previous inspection.
This year’s inspection took place on June 15 and was the first since the Covid-19 pandemic began with the provider joining the inspector on a learning walk during which staff and children were spoken to. There are 77 children on the roll and 20 members of childcare staff.
The report said that parents speak extremely highly of the nursery and the outstanding experiences that children receive.
“They comment that staff truly go ‘above and beyond’ with the support they offer,” says the report, adding: “Parents comment on the incredible progress their children are making. They say that staff are ‘fantastic’ and know their children well and parents say they feel involved in their children’s learning.”
Children are said to develop a love of stories, books and songs from an early age, becoming enthralled as staff bring the stories to life.
Leadership at the nursery was described as being “inspirational” with the highly qualified and experienced staff ensuring that their strong vision and clear ethos are threaded throughout the play-based curriculum.
It concludes that leaders and staff have developed a bespoke curriculum that details the building blocks for the children’s learning and development.
“Children are incredibly happy, content and highly enthusiastic in this nurturing and fully inclusive nursery,” it says.
“We are absolutely delighted that we’ve been graded outstanding once again!” said nursery manager Amy Britcher.
“We truly believe we are and it’s fantastic to have that recognition from Ofsted too. All the staff work so hard everyday to do what’s best for our children and their families, they are dedicated to making sure every single child thrives in their early years and so we want to say a massive thank-you to each and every member of the team.
“Thanks also to all the families that have supported us throughout the years, their kind words played a massive part on the day of the inspection. And of course a thank-you to the children who couldn’t wait to tell the inspector all about their learning here at Little Monkeys; from explaining how they have grown vegetables from seeds to talking about the recent visit we had from the local mountain rescue.”
