Woodside Gan nursery rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted

Woodside Park United Synagogue’s nursery, Woodside Gan, has achieved a ‘Good’ rating from Ofsted.

The improvement highlights the enhanced quality of its provision with Ofsted judging it to be ‘Good’ in its quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

The recent inspection follows one 12 months ago where Ofsted’s judgement was that the nursery required improvement.

The Woodside Gan Ofsted report now means that all six United Synagogue nurseries hold a ‘Good’ rating. This follows a difficult 18 months when a number of nurseries were adjudged to be failing or requiring improvement.

Tamar Berman, the United Synagogue’s Director of Schools Strategy, has led on a process to support United Synagogue nurseries with their improvement plans.

Berman said: “We are delighted that all United Synagogue nurseries have now been recognised by Ofsted to be good, warm and welcoming nurseries. This result is testament to a huge amount of hard work on the part of our dedicated nursery managers and passionate nursery staff who have worked incredibly hard to make the necessary improvements required by Ofsted. We look forward now to building on this platform and making our nurseries even better.”

Ofsted noted that “children are happy and show they feel safe and secure. They form secure relationships with staff, and older children engage in lovely conversations with staff and visitors”.

The inspector said that “children are offered cuddles and reassurance when needed, and they quickly settle. These close relationships are highly effective in providing all children with emotional security”.

The inspector highlighted the children’s numeracy, writing that “children’s early mathematical development is very good. Staff make the most of everyday play and opportunities to teach children how to count. For instance, children play hide and seek and confidently count to 10 before trying to find each other”.

The report noted that “children develop a fondness for reading at an early age. They look at books independently and delight as they listen to stories being read to them”.

Parents expressed high regard for the nursery under the new management, praising the wide range of activities for children, the supportive and caring staff, and the improvements in children’s learning and development.

Ofsted praised the “spacious” outdoor area enjoyed by the children and noted that “children have good opportunities to develop climbing, balancing and jumping skills”. The report highlights that meals are “balanced and freshly prepared” and that the children enjoy helping make their own “pasta sauce, sandwiches and pizzas”.

Ofsted also noted the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Katie Firestone, Nursery Manager, said: “I am delighted on behalf of my wonderful team that our nursery has been rightly recognised as providing a good standard of care and education for our children. This is a wonderful Ofsted report. From our numeracy to literacy, our outdoor playground to our arts and crafts, our morning tefilla, music and songs, we are delighted that the inspector really got to understand what makes Woodside Gan so special.”

The report is available here.