Park School Nursery Celebrates Outstanding Ofsted Grading
Park School Nursery staff are celebrating after being graded ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted in its first inspection since extending their age range to include children under 2. The nursery, which welcomes babies to children rising 5 and is part of independent day school, Park School, were visited by Ofsted on the 2nd of May. Prior to this, the popular and successful nursery had been inspected by the Independent Schools Inspectorate (ISI) and both Park School and its nursery were found to be ‘Excellent’ in all areas. Then, following an increased demand, children under the age of 2 were welcomed into the nursery in 2022.
During their inspection, the inspectors were impressed by the leadership team and staff, and praised them for being “highly skilled, enthusiastic and nurturing”. They noticed that babies were keen to begin their learning and that the staff promoted the children's communication and language skills exceptionally well, commenting that, “[Staff] expertly model communication through verbal and sign language.”
The inspectors also observed that children’s “physical development is promoted exceedingly well both indoors and in the covered outside classroom and the two exceptionally well-resourced outside areas.” They went on to recognise that, “staff place a high emphasis on the prime areas of learning, which enables babies to feel secure and make meaningful relationships with the staff and the other children.”
When learning of the result, the nursery’s Manager of 15 years, Rebecca Mellowes, proudly commented, “Receiving an outstanding rating isn’t something you can achieve alone, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank the management team, the entire nursery staff team who always go above and beyond for the children and of course to all our families who allow us to play a key role in their child’s learning journey. Park Nursery wouldn’t be what it is without the whole community working together.”
Mr. John Forsyth, CEO of Forfar Education and Chairman of Park School and Nursery added, “I’m exceptionally proud of this outcome, which follows on from another extremely positive inspection at our Dean Park Day Nursery in Bournemouth. These successive and encouraging inspections are testimony to the professionalism, dedication, and ability of the teams at both Park School Nursery and Dean Park Day Nursery.”
The report also highlighted the positive relationships that the nursery forms with parents and found that, “Highly-effective partnerships with parents ensures that they are fully informed about their babies' time in the setting.” This was echoed by parents who were keen to share their thoughts with Ofsted. A parent, whose daughter attends Park Nursery, said, “My daughter is so happy [at Park], the team are looking after her well, supporting her development and doing such a wide variety of activities. The level of communication is amazing with regular updates, pictures and daily diary updates.” Another parent shared, “We love receiving the daily diary and Golden Moments. We have been very impressed with the progress our daughter has made towards her milestones thanks to the support of the nursery.” Parents also commented that they were pleased with how the nursery had been preparing their older children for entry into Reception at Park School in September.