‘We are ecstatic’ - Jarrow nursery celebrates an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted inspection

The community at Bede Burn Kindergarten, on Bede Burn Road, in Jarrow are celebrating maintaining an ‘Outstanding’ Ofsted rating following an inspection at the end of January.

The nursery achieved the top rating in all key areas, which include the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, and overall effectiveness.

During their visit, inspectors noted: “Children benefit from a wonderful start to their early education in this welcoming and nurturing nursery.

“They become fully immersed in their play, showing high levels of concentration and enjoyment.

“This creates a lovely atmosphere, which is calm and purposeful.”

Sarah Hegney, the manager at Bede Burn Kindergaten, has told the Shields Gazette how she felt when the Ofsted grading was revealed and praised her team for the work that they do at the nursery.

She said: “It was probably one of the happiest 30 seconds of my life when I was told the rating in the feedback meeting.

“We worked incredibly hard as a team to put together our own curriculum pack, which is completely unique to our company, the Early Learning Partnership.

“We sent this out to Ofsted ahead of the inspection so when they visited the nursery, they could see that it is embedded throughout the entire nursery.

“The team are fantastic and on the day, they all did really well answering questions from the inspector but most importantly, they were there for the children and doing the same thing that they do every day.

“They were all ecstatic when they found out we had been rated Outstanding as we’d been working on it for such a long time.

“It is such a challenging grade to meet in the first place so to maintain it since our last inspection is just fantastic - you could see by their faces how much it meant to them.”

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Sarah also highlighted that the result is very important to the parents at the nursery as it gives them comfort knowing their children are getting the best possible start to education.

She added: “The parents have had so many lovely things to say since we shared the final report with them.

“It is very important for them to know that their children are getting an outstanding experience during the early years part of their education.

“Our owner, Eamonn Gribben, puts a lot of time into the nursery and he is always there for moral support so he deserves a big thank you.

“The team have all done really well and our operations manager, Sammy-Jo Bettley, deserves a special mention for her help on developing the curriculum and providing support to all the nurseries in the group.”

You can read the Ofsted’s full report on Bede Burn Kindergarten by visiting: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50269989.