Horsham children's nursery rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted

Now staff at Catkins Nursery in Three Acres, Horsham, are celebrating their glowing Ofsted report.

In it, inspector Natalie Moir said: “Children make superb progress in this exceptional, nurturing nursery. Staff forge excellent relationships with children and their families. All staff have in-depth knowledge of children, what makes them unique and their individual, avid interests. These are carefully intertwined into each child's daily experience.

"Staff warmly greet children as they confidently arrive, eager to start their day. Staff are attentive to those who need a comforting cuddle on arrival, quickly supporting children to settle with ease.

“Staff plan a variety of rich, and exciting experiences for children. Children delve into activities and instantly become engrossed in their play. Interactions between staff and children are of exceptional high quality.”

Catkins’ owner and manager Cathy Walden said that the inspector observed activities the children were undertaking – and ate a roast lunch with them. She reported: ‘Mealtimes are wonderfully social and promote opportunities for high levels of independence.’

Cathy added: “This is the most amazing report I have ever seen in my 24 years of undergoing Ofsted inspections; in my playgroup I previously ran in Southwater, and at Catkins Nursery.

“It really captures the essence of what we are about at Catkins, as our USP’s are our high-quality food, our exceptional staff team and the fact that we are a small setting with that ‘family feel’ running with above the required ratio of staff, which enables us to give the children more attention.

Have you read? New shop opens in Horsham town centre

“At a time when government funding is expanding and parents are seeking more child-care places, the actual investment and application of the government funding needs a rethink. Children are the most precious things we have and it’s a huge responsibility to care and educate them to the highest possible standards. We never remain complacent at Catkins, there is always more to do.

“For the moment though, we are going to celebrate as a staff team. Catkins staff have bonded exceptionally well, and are excellent in supporting each other and the children to be the best that we can be, so congratulations to them, and of course, our stars of the show, the children!”