A's Pre-School & Day Nursery

Recycling trips linked to imaginative play gave A's Pre-School & Day Nursery a practical, community-facing character in January 2022. Children carried items from home to a recycling centre, then explored similar ideas through play back at nursery. Everyday experiences became learning material.

At its January 2022 inspection, Ofsted rated the nursery Good and found safeguarding effective, alongside good support for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those learning English as an additional language. The nursery is at 25-27 Horns Road, Ilford, IG2 6BN, and has capacity for 75 children aged 4 to 59 months.

The early years foundation stage sets the requirements for children's learning, development and care: their day combines play and learning with support for their wellbeing. In January 2022, activities covered the different areas of learning and helped children practise skills for starting school.

During that month, outings brought environmental learning and road safety together. A recycling centre within the home corner extended those experiences indoors, using recycling bags, games and creative materials to encourage imaginative play. The connection mattered: children could revisit an experience rather than leave it behind after an outing.

Physical play also had a clear place in January 2022. A climbing area and ball pool gave children opportunities to balance, climb and develop strength. Carefully chosen books introduced vocabulary and ideas, while staff listened to children's conversations and planned activities around their interests.

The January 2022 account connected these resources with what practitioners did alongside children. Books supplied new language, but conversation gave children opportunities to use it: adults took time to hear their ideas and respond. Activity planning combined familiar interests with an appropriate challenge. For parents, that is a useful distinction between simply supplying toys and using play to extend a child's learning.

Environmental learning in January 2022 also crossed the boundary between home and nursery. Children contributed items from home for recycling outings, giving them a practical part in the activity. Back indoors, the home corner brought recycling into pretend play, with materials children could use creatively. Road safety was part of community exploration too, so outings combined learning about the environment with practising how to stay safe beyond the nursery.

In January 2022, key people helped children build familiar relationships, and older children showed consideration towards younger or less confident children. Staff gathered health information from parents and discussed exercise and nutritious food with children, connecting care with everyday learning.

At the January 2022 inspection, Ofsted found that practitioners used advice from other professionals in their support for children with additional needs, while multilingual staff helped children learning English as an additional language; close supervision and daily safety checks also contributed to effective safeguarding. These findings give substance to the judgement: support involved adult interaction, professional guidance and attention to the spaces children used.

In January 2022, risk assessments addressed hazards around the building as well as in soft play. Adults also guided children on stair safety and safe play. Community outings also involved safety instruction. The relevance for families is practical: the inspection considered supervision across different parts of the children's day, including movement around the building and activities outside it.

The social picture in January 2022 included children offering kindness to one another, with older children taking care around those who were quieter or less confident. Alongside relationships with key people, this gave children experience of receiving reassurance from adults and consideration from other children.

Communication was also an improvement priority in January 2022. Some parents wanted more information about their child's development to help them continue learning at home. Teaching oversight needed further work too: staff observation of colleagues was being introduced, and the monitoring system needed to become more established so practice was consistently strong.

The address is 25-27 Horns Road, Ilford, IG2 6BN. The nursery operates across the year, closing for bank holidays and Christmas.

In January 2022, it provided funded early education for children aged two, three and four. This is an inspection-era funding position.

• Development updates. January 2022 brought a call for better information-sharing with parents. How are learning updates now shared, and how can families use them at home?
• Teaching consistency. Monitoring staff practice was another January 2022 improvement priority. This matters alongside the engaging activities: children need dependable teaching across their day.

For families who value learning connected to ordinary community life, the January 2022 picture offers concrete reasons for interest: recycling outings, imaginative play and physical activity worked together. The Good judgement provides a dated quality reference; communication with parents and consistency of teaching remain the important decision points from that inspection.