Ofsted reports
Selected quotes from Ofsted reports about Living Spring
“The setting is highly committed to working in partnerships with others and takes a lead role in establishing effective working relationships. Effective channels of communication between other practitioners and professionals are well developed. Relationships with parents and carers are highly positive. Parents have nothing but praise for the nursery and report that their children are making good progress”.
“Safeguarding children is a high priority in the nursery. The manager and staff have attended recent, relevant training to keep their knowledge up to date. Safeguarding policies are in place, are effective and are clearly understood by staff members to protect children. Robust recruitment procedures are in place and appropriate checks are carried out on all staff to carefully assess their suitability and qualifications. Additionally, the provider ensures ongoing suitability of staff is monitored through an effective appraisal system which identifies individual training and development needs”.
“There are good systems in place to identify children’s starting points, and planning, observation and assessment are used well. The system for identifying the next steps of children’s learning is fully effective. Samples of children’s work are kept in their individual folders. These include photographs of a number of interesting activities that children engage in, both in and outdoors. Overall, the learning environment is very well organised and the rooms are bright and welcoming”.
“Parents reveal that the staff team is the key strength of the nursery as they are ‘very caring’ and ‘quickly get to know their children well’. Parents feel involved in their children’s learning and receive lots of verbal information about their children’s well-being and learning progress. Regular communications enable parents to become actively involved in the nursery. Parent conferences provide time for children to show their parents what they enjoy doing and affords parents time to read and contribute to their children’s learning journals”.
“Children are encouraged to understand how to keep themselves safe as they play with a range of equipment. For example, they put their chairs under the table when they get up and put their mats and resources away when finished to reduce trip hazards. Children develop a very good understanding of healthy lifestyles”.
“A dedicated cook prepares a good range of tasty, healthy meals for the children in a clean, orderly kitchen. The children eat their meals with obvious pleasure, serving themselves and with many having second helpings. They enjoy fresh fruit snacks and they have drinks to hand throughout the day”.
“Older children understand why they should wash the fruits they select for snack each day and enjoy the opportunity prepare the fruits, cut and arrange them attractively on serving plates to share with their friends”.
“The experiences provided, resources available and interaction from staff help to ensure children develop good skills for the future. Children are increasingly independent and exercise appropriate amounts of control over their own behaviour by being well mannered, polite and courteous”.
“The dedicated staff team in this nursery efficiently support children’s needs in a safe and secure child centred environment. The nursery has established a very effective partnership with specialist advisors, parents and carers and their involvement is warmly welcomed and highly valued”.
“The nursery recognises that each child is unique and devises educational plans and learning opportunities to effectively meet the individual needs of each child overall and children are making good progress in their learning”