The nursery outside Bristol celebrating a ‘Good’ Ofsted report just over a year after opening

A nursery and preschool on the outskirts of Bristol is celebrating earning a ‘Good’ Ofsted report just 13 months after opening. Happy Days Nursery and Pre-School, located within Charlton Hayes near Patchway, was inspected on October 9 and was rated as ‘Good’ in every key judgement.

The nursery and preschool has 84 children aged up to four years old on its school roll. Having registered as an educational provider in July 2023 and welcomed in children for the first time in September, the school said that it is “absolutely delighted” with the report.

The inspector, Holly Smith, praised staff for warmly welcoming children and their families into the setting, described as “well-resourced”. The report said: “They [staff] support children to quickly settle and provide extra cuddles and reassurance to children who need it.

“Children learn what is expected from them because staff provide them with simple rules and boundaries to support their good behaviour. Staff gently reinforce these rules throughout the day. Children play cooperatively with their friends and are learning to share and take turns.”

All children at the setting display a positive attitude to learning and make good progress from their starting points, due to staff designing a well-sequenced curriculum that builds on prior knowledge and skills. Children excitedly explore the learning environment as babies develop their senses, older babies develop core strength and preschool children develop problem-solving and teamwork.

Early communication skills are prioritised by the nursery and activities are planned around this in order to promote developing those skills. Staff engage children in meaningful conversations throughout the day and take children to the local library for song and rhyme sessions, attended by parents. Whilst staff have some methods in place to further children’s communication and language skills, these are not always consistent and fully embedded to fully support all children.

The report said: “Most staff know children well. They meet with parents during the induction period to gather information about children's past experiences and interests and staff use this information alongside their own observations to plan for children's learning. However, this information, including children's next steps in learning, is not always shared effectively with all staff that work in the room, as some staff do not always have the knowledge they need to fully support children's play and learning and help them make the best possible progress.

“Staff provide children with a range of experiences to support their understanding of the world around them. Children learn about the importance of recycling food packaging, and staff teach children about the positive impact of this on the environment.

“As well as learning to respect the environment, children learn to respect the needs of others. Staff take them to visit their elderly friends at the local care home. Children learn to adapt their behaviours to meet people's needs.”

Staff help children to be ready for the next stage in their learning by planning engaging activities to enhance social skills and confidence in children. The nursery and preschool has high aspirations and aims to deliver the best care and education possible, staff participate in regular meetings to discuss practice and areas for improvement and receive training.

The teaching team forms partnerships with local schools that children will attend, with teachers from those schools being invited into the nursery to meet children and discuss learning needs with staff. During the summer, staff help children become familiar with the school setting by taking children to play in the playground where children can meet school staff and make new friends. Ofsted noted that this supports children’s emotional well-being and eases anxiety.

Steph Jones, Nursery Manager, stated, “After only being open for 13 months at the time of inspection we are absolutely delighted to be recognised as ‘good’ across the board. As the report states, we have very high aspirations, aiming to deliver the highest quality care and education for our children every single day.

“We are an ever-growing team as our occupancy increases and we now aim to embed our practices as we continue to grow. I am incredibly proud of the team and everything they have accomplished in such a short space of time. There are no limits to what we wish to achieve as a setting.”

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