Education: Gomersal nursery ‘over the moon’ with recent ‘good’ Ofsted report

Stepping Stones Day Nursery, on Reform Street, has achieved a ‘good’ rating in all areas after a visit by the education watchdog in January, less than 12 months after being graded as ‘requires improvement’.

The positive latest report states: “Children develop their curiosity as they play and explore at this warm and welcoming nursery. Children develop their physical skills in a variety of ways. Opportunities for children to build their independence skills are well thought out.

“Children carry out special jobs, such as setting the tables for snack and mealtimes. As a result, their confidence and self-esteem grow. Children explore with enthusiasm as they take part in activities led by adults.

“Children learn to name their emotions. They can place their photo in a bowl labelled 'happy' or 'sad' to share with staff how they are feeling. Staff teach older children to recognise other emotions, such as angry or scared. This supports children to understand how they can express their feelings.”

The report goes on to say: “Parents and carers say that their children look forward to their time in the nursery. They are supported to help their child continue their learning at home.

“The manager works with staff to identify where they need further support. She provides coaching to help staff work on individual areas for development. Leaders recognise the achievements of staff. This motivates staff to continue to improve their teaching skills.”

Bernadette Muffitt, who has been with the company - which has eight nurseries within a chain - for ten years and who has been manager for five years, said:

“The last report was quite deflating for myself and the team because, despite knowing that we give high level care and education for children, you’re waiting for that next visit and it’s nerve-wracking thinking that someone’s coming in to watch and judge everything you do in a single snippet.

“You want to show off all of the amazing things that you do all of the time. But it was a really good day and I feel like we were able to showcase all of our exciting learning activities that we provide for the children.

“We are over the moon with the outcome compared to the previous one and all of our hard work has paid off. Now we are striving to get the outstanding mark the next time they come.

“It shows that everything that we are striving for is highlighted within the report. Of course there are always things to be working on but it was nice that it was noticed we take independence really seriously and give children that start in life to be independent and not rely on other people. As a setting, we believe mental health is important and we talk about emotions a lot and how not to be embarrassed to speak about these things.

“It was nice that things like this got picked up on and mentioned in the report.

“Our families have continued to support us since the last report. They all gave amazing feedback. The most important thing for me is making sure our families are happy and that we are doing the best we possibly can every day for the children, as well as having a nice working environment for the team.

“It can be quite deflating when you don’t get the result you want the first time round, so it’s about picking your team back up and saying, ‘we can do this.’

“I just want to say a massive thank you to everybody who stuck by us and helped us to show what we actually do here.”