Behind the Inspection Rating: Kids Planet helps toddlers explore

For Jill Dutton, manager of Kids Planet Beamont, the nursery’s move from a “good” to an “outstanding” Ofsted rating is down to refining things they were already doing well, rather than making great leaps forward.

“I don’t think there has been a big change,” she says. “I don’t think it’s any one thing you change. It’s about constantly working towards outstanding, making tweaks and looking for ways to improve. It’s an ongoing thing.”

While the Warrington nursery’s journey to outstanding is the product of incremental improvement, its latest Ofsted still gives it plenty to shout about. The quality of teaching is billed as “outstanding” with staff using their expert knowledge to deliver “a rich and varied range of experiences that inspire children to investigate and explore”.

The nursery’s close co-operation with other professionals, including teachers at the primary school it shares its site with, was deemed excellent as were its efforts to encourage independence among the children, including those with special needs.

“We try to promote independence throughout the nursery, even in the nought to two years room,” says Dutton. “In that room the tots are starting to want to come out into the corridor and get their coats themselves and wanted to know where the clothes pegs were.

“So we moved the pegs into the room so if they wanted to go outside they could go to the pegs and get their own coat and then, when they come in, leave it back on the pegs. Maybe they don’t always put it on the right peg, but they are practising and feeling independent for t