‘Toughest journey’: Cleckheaton nursery owner’s pride at ‘Good’ Ofsted verdict

Kids Come First, a nursery for babies to five-year-olds, based on Bradford Road, was rated as ‘Inadequate’ in March last year by the education watchdog.

However, following an inspection in December, Ofsted have now stated that “the manager and staff have worked hard to address previous weaknesses in their practice,” and that “children arrive excited and eager to explore the well-planned learning environment.”

The positive report also says: “Children build close attachments and relationships with staff, who are warm, welcoming and friendly. Staff act as positive role models to children with their kind and nurturing approach.

“Children settle in at the nursery well. Staff take the time to get to know each child and their families from their starting points. They gather key information from parents about their child. Staff use this to plan familiar care routines and activities according to their interests.”

Cathy Sewell-Wilson, who has owned the nursery for 17 years along with her partner Peter, admitted she was “proud” reading through Ofsted’s latest findings.

She said: “The staff and the whole team have just worked together to turn something which was so negative into something very positive.

“The staff could have left us and the parents could have left us - but they didn’t. We hit it head on and we had a meeting with the parents where we explained all the things that had been documented.

“The staff found a renewed passion and determination and just sheer grit - they all dug so deep to give everything they had just to prove everybody wrong that we weren’t this setting that had been portrayed.

“That first report was damning and I challenged anybody that wanted to believe that report to come and spend some time in the setting and see that it wasn’t us. It just was not us.

“Our setting is a home-from-home setting and every child that comes to us is loved like they are our own. That is how we are. There was nobody to blame for what happened but as a team we turned it around and did amazing things.

“It was my toughest journey in those 17 years but I want to say a massive thank you to everybody who has been on this journey with us.

“I can’t thank our local authority and Kirklees Early Years enough for the support that they gave us and the belief they had in us. Other local settings in Cleckheaton were really supportive too. We all work together and we are all in it for the same thing - the children.

“And our children are amazing, they make everything worthwhile. Seeing their smiling faces - that’s why we do what we do. They are the everything.

“Every single child is happy and progressing and loved more than anything.”