Inspiring Nurseries is a series of informal events (Ofsted Masterclasses and training) offering nursery managers and owners relevant and developmental training provided by an early years specialist. Kate Wilson and Marnie Wills, the people behind Inspiring Nurseries, have been working with children for decades in their own field. Marnie, founder of Sporty Minis, is an expert in children’s physical development whilst Kate, co-founder of Hello Mums, has been providing childcare for over two decades.

“ We understand how challenging the life of a nursery owner or manager is, and we want to facilitate their everyday practises. With this in mind, we realised that providing a space for managers and owners to connect was vital to achieving a better practice, and so we set out Inspiring Nurseries to help nurseries managers and owners to learn about good practice and network with other local nurseries. We wanted to find a way to inspire and inform nurseries and offer training at a location and time convenient for those running the nurseries. Therefore, each event takes place on a weekday evening, so managers and owners do not have to worry about taking a whole day out of work.”

The first Inspiring Nurseries event was with Alison Featherby, an award-winning early years trainer who presented a fantastic Ofsted masterclass and workshop event to 45 nursery managers. 

There were so many take home points from her presentation, however, and these are the main ones:

  1. Know your Early Years Inspection Handbook. Share and discuss it with your Leadership team: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/828465/Early_years_inspection_handbook.pdf
  2. Ofsted videos are an excellent way to up-skill yourself and your managers: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtYmuiI5uKi27aN92rQ1H-JsvKU2dC4Lk
  3. The Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage; this is an important document to share with your team: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/596629/EYFS_STATUTORY_FRAMEWORK_2017.pdf
  4. Update your Safeguarding and Child Protection reporting or referring and amend your policy if needed. This document will help you:  https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/828763/Inspecting_safeguarding_in_early_years__education_and_skills.pdf
  5. Many practitioners need to know more about SEND identification.  This website will help with SEND and identifying children who have additional needs: http://www.thecommunicationtrust.org.uk/early-years
  6. This document is where the Ofsted definition of teaching was first circulated: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/444147/Teaching-and-play-in-the-early-years-a-balancing-act.pdf

To check out our next Inspiring Nurseries events via Eventbrite – Inspiring Nurseries