High marks for High Barnet nursery

8:10am Friday 22nd February 2008

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"Extremely warm and approachable" staff at a High Barnet day-care centre have contributed towards its first top-class Ofsted inspection.

Woodland Day Nursery, in Orchard Road, achieved a rating of "outstanding" in six out of nine categories, including quality of its nursery education, helping children to achieve well and enjoy what they do, and leadership and management.

In the report, published last week, Ofsted inspector Naomi Bold wrote: "Children are making excellent progress towards the Early Learning Goals as staff have a firm knowledge of both the Foundation Stage Curriculum and children's developmental progress.

"Children are treated extremely warmly in the setting by a demonstrative and approachable staff team. Children are learning about the diversity of our wider world. They are exposed to a very wide range of positive images of cultural and religious diversity, and the setting has also provided books, dolls and small world resources that demonstrate positive images of individuals with differing needs."

Woodlands, run by independent company Child Base, has been operating since 2001 and has capacity for 52 children, aged from six weeks to eight years. All 16 staff have access to Child Base's Sound Foundations training programme, which Woodlands Day Nursery manager Caroline Sewell believes is the basis of the nursery's success.

She said: "We are absolutely delighted with this report. Child Base operates a unique and progressive form of training for all of its employees with its Sound Foundations course. The impact of this training on the day-to-day child care at Woodlands Day nursery is evident in the outcome of this report."

Kathy Maughan, a parent of one of the children attending the nursery, added: "I am not only delighted, but proud to be associated with Woodlands Day Nursery. This report only confirms my opinion that my daughter attends one of the best nurseries in the Barnet area. Their attention to care, development and education is exceptional."