Tops Day Nursery, based at All Saint’s Church in Lymington recently underwent their first ever Ofsted Inspection since their opening in September 2016. The team were delighted to share their GOOD news with families and the local community in front of the church with a sign made by the children.
Since opening, Tops Lymington have placed a heavy focus on ensuring the nurseries environment is established enough to provide the children in its care a rich, sustainable learning environment. This was highlighted in the report when the Inspector commented “The learning environment is very stimulating and promotes children’s curiosity and exploration well. It is planned to engage children in meaningful learning experiences and helps them to make good achievements. The staff makes good use of the outdoors and the local environment to fully support children’s physical development.”
Tops Lymington have a highly motivated staff team, who support each other to develop new and exciting ideas for the children. The team pride themselves on knowing each of the children and their families personally, which allows them to not only support the child’s welfare and education but also use their professional knowledge to support the parents too.
Lymington has a strong appreciation for the local community and Tops Day Nurseries believe it is important to reflect this within their provision. From speaking to both staff and parents, the inspector discovered just how important it is to the team to develop strong bonds with families, they said “partnerships with parents are extremely strong. An abundance of information is available to parents to help them carry on their children’s learning at home. Parents report with enthusiasm about the nursery. Parents shared comments on their child’s high-quality relationship with their key person and of the good communication with staff as well as that the staff “cherish each child as an individual and form very strong relationships with them.”
Tops Lymington is part of a group that provides the most eco-sustainable childcare and education in the UK, being respectful of the environment and acting to reduce, re-use and recycle resources is an important part of the culture and routine for the children and staff.
Cheryl Hadland, Managing Director, and CEO of Tops Day Nurseries commented “I am so proud of how much the team at Tops Lymington have accomplished and they deserve the recognition of a GOOD Ofsted status. Upon first opening, we were faced with hesitation within the community but I believe that now, family and community partnerships with Tops Lymington are flourishing more than ever.
There is a perception that as a larger nursery group there is less of a focus on the children and families and it is all about making money, this simply is not the case; this is why we refer to ourselves as being a family of day nurseries, rather than a chain. The children are at the heart of everything we do, we are responsible for educating the next generation and Tops Lymington is a prime example of good practice. I’d like to say a huge congratulations to Mags and the team!”
The welcomed grade means that all nurseries inspected under Tops Day Nurseries are now rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted!
