26th Jul 2011 - Wild toddle at Airedale's nursery which gains top marks

Creative children at Airedale Hospital’s nursery took a walk on the wild side and dressed up as animals for the day raising around £250 for Barnardos charity during a fun sponsored toddle.

Toddlers, aged between 18 months and four years old took part in different levels of walks at Nightingales Day Nursery depending on their age and ability – alongside the staff.

The Big Toddle is a short sponsored walk for toddlers with all the proceeds going to help the UK’s most disadvantaged under 5s. Around half a million children across the country take part every year in Barnardo’s Toddles and this year it was animal themed.

The nursery, used by NHS staff across the district has just received a glowing report from Ofsted inspectors. It was given an overall rating of ‘good’ and received six ‘excellent’ ratings – which is an improvement on the last report where we scored ‘good’ in all areas.

The nursery was praised for its capacity for continuous improvement, effective leadership and management, its ability to evaluate its success, and successful working relationships with parents, carers and other agencies.
Val Hogg, childcare provision manager is delighted with the report.

She said: “I am so proud of our nursery team who have worked so very hard to achieve these fantastic results.

“Their efforts, together with the valued input from our supportive parents and carers, ensures that all the children in our care receive the best possible start in life - which they deserve”.

Some comments from the inspectors were:

“Parents confirm that the fantastic two-way channels for communication are successful and established. They feel involved and their comments are acted upon. They are provided with superb information about their child and what the provision is doing to promote their child’s progress.”

“Those in charge have high aspirations for quality through effective self-evaluation and identification of realistic and achievable action plans for improvement.”

“Children move freely in a rich and stimulated child-oriented environment. The learning environment is fully inclusive, safe and secure, positively promoting the children’s independence and their very good behaviour.”

However staff are not complacent, they will be taking further steps to make sure all procedures for limiting infection are followed by all staff and have arranged a training session around supporting children in their learning and play outdoors.
Nightingales nursery is owned by Airedale NHS Foundation Trust and was registered in 1969. It is based in a separate building in the hospital grounds with three fully enclosed outdoor play areas. It has 120 children on its register. Any health care worker interested in registering with the nursery should contact 01535 294092.