Oakwood Nursery Achieves Ofsted Outstanding Rating

We are delighted to announce that Children 1st @ Oakwood has been judged to be ‘Outstanding in All Areas’ following its first Ofsted inspection.

Children 1st @ Oakwood become part of the Children 1st family in 2019 and was officially launched in 2022 following an extensive refurbishment to create what we believe to be Derby’s largest nursery. Set across four floors within 2.5 acres of land, the nursery has exceptional indoor and outdoor learning environments for children in Oakwood, Breadsall and the surrounding areas.

The nursery provides 167 places for children aged from 6 weeks to 5 years as well as after school and holiday care.

During the recent visit the inspector scrutinised all aspects of daily life at the nursery. This included a learning walk with two senior nursery leaders, observations of the quality of education provided indoors and outdoors, discussions with staff, children, numerous parents and a review of all relevant documentation and procedures.

The resulting report begins with a description of excited children arriving each day at ‘this well-organised, high-quality nursery’ with the children then becoming ‘deeply engrossed in a wealth of captivating and highly challenging activities and experiences.’

Reading on, the report provides examples of the outstanding provision observed at Oakwood.

Inspirational Leadership/ Excellent Role Models

The report praises the staff who work well as a team to achieve a shared vision of outstanding provision with the focus on putting children first. Leaders are described as ‘highly motivated, inspiring and passionate about providing children with the best start.’ The excellent role models provided by the staff were noted as having an impact on the children’s interaction and language development.

Kind and Considerate Children

The children’s behaviour and learning impressed the inspector. She observed the genuine respect, and interest shown to others, their ability to explore their feelings and their desire to be kind to each other. This care extended to other living things such as the animals living in the extensive grounds.

Knowledge of the World Around Them

Outdoor learning is an outstanding aspect of the provision at Oakwood. Set in large grounds which are part landscaped and part woodland, the nursery offers boundless opportunities for a rich variety of experiences to support the children’s level of development. Looking after animals, growing vegetables, adventures in the forest are all part of the extensive opportunities for children to learn about the world around them. Not surprisingly the children were found to be ‘exceptionally well prepared for the next stage in their learning.’

Exceptionally Strong Relationships with Parents and other Professionals

Staff were found to work closely with parents to the benefit of all children but especially those with special needs. Children with special educational needs or disabilities ‘thrive at the nursery’ with the experienced special educational needs teacher having ‘high aspirations for all the children.’ Parents described levels of care as ‘fantastic’ with the inspector agreeing that ‘effective supervision and robust assessments ensure the children’s safety’. Parents particularly appreciated feeling involved in their child’s learning journey and praised the feedback received through the online parent app.

Reflecting on the report centre manager Laura Wildin said:

“The exceptional quality of the provision at Oakwood is testament to the vision of the owners of Children 1st who had the ambition to remodel the existing premises, transforming them from a domestic dwelling and small nursery into a truly remarkable, highly resourced, dynamic, early years learning environment.”

“The stunning internal areas are complimented by superb outdoor areas which we make full use of to provide an immersive learning environment for the children. We are all delighted that the inspector appreciated the impact that all our hard work in creating the nursery is now having on the children’s love of learning.”

Margaret Mason OBE, Children 1st Founder and Executive Chair adds: “I want all young children to have access to the best possible early years education and have fought hard to raise standards across the sector since the 1980s. As a company, we have invested millions of pounds in all our nurseries to create amazing environments for our children, and are delighted that Oakwood, our latest setting, has received so many accolades since it opened.”

“We have enjoyed hearing such positive feedback from parents and from the Ofsted inspector and  hope that Children 1st @ Oakwood will become a real asset for the local community for decades to come, not just for the children who attend, but for local families who can use our free events and classes in the community rooms. I’m especially delighted that the inspector found that staff love coming to work! High praise indeed from our very dedicated team!”