Active Kids Day Nursery: Ofsted's praise for North Leeds where children are 'happy and ready to learn'

Active Kids Day Nursery were handed an overall rating of ‘Good’ completing an impressive turnaround with inspectors previously rating the nursery as ‘inadequate’.

During the inspection which took place in October, inspectors for Ofsted, the office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, praised the education, children’s behaviour and leadership of staff displayed at the nursery.

Inspectors said: “Children arrive happy and ready to learn at this nursery. Staff develop positive relationships with children. They are sensitive to their needs and support them to feel safe and secure. Children are familiar with the nursery routine and independently follow this with ease.

"Even in the youngest age groups, children help to tidy up after themselves and gather in groups for circle time and story time. Children are learning how they are part of a community.”

The report praises the overall kind and polite nature of the children, noting that they “say 'please' and 'thank you' and are kind to each other”. It also praises staff for regularly praising the good behaviour of the children and notes that the children are “learning a sense of what is right and what is wrong”.

Parents have also heaped praise on the nursery for being a “happy place for their child”. They also acknowledge that the children's communication and language skills develop well while attending the nursery. Describe how their children are more confident and have “built relationships with other children and staff”.

Despite this inspectors do note that the nursery should do more to ensure that all “all parents understand how they can further help their child to develop their learning at home.”

They note that leaders and managers have made “vast improvements” since their last inspection, with regular opportunities for staff to talk to managers about children's learning and development. In addition, regular coaching sessions with staff enable the manager to identify any learning and development needs.

To improve further inspectors note that staff should “develop skills in how to use questioning to encourage children to recall past learning” and “further improve communication with parents so that all parents have information

about how they can further support their child's learning at home.”