Roydon Early Years still going Good following Ofsted inspection

A Roydon nursery which has taken on a new way of working since Covid has been given a Good rating from Ofsted.

Roydon Early Years, based at Roydon Village Hall and which has been going since 1974, was given the rating across its quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and its leadership and management.

Tammy Batchelor, its manager since 2009, said: “We were really happy with it, I think it shows the parents we have now and those looking at us that we are very consistent and have a high quality in what we do, which I hope is very reassuring for them.”

In the report, inspector Kathryn Irvine commented on how well the children settled into their days on the site.

She said: “Children are greeted by friendly staff when they arrive at the setting. They happily leave their parents at the gate to explore the learning activities in the outside area.

“Children settle quickly and enjoy spending time with their friends and the staff.”

Tammy said she was very proud of that and felt that reducing the number of children in their sessions has really helped.

She said: “During Covid we only had two or three children when it was only for key workers and we noticed when we got our numbers back up that only having 15 at a session instead of our previous numbers of around 30 completely transformed the day.

“With fewer children, we are able to support everyone including those with additional needs and it means we can safely accept emergency places if needed, which is great.”

On the support Roydon Early Years has from the community, Tammy said it could not be better.

She added: “We get emotional when we talk to parents at the end of the year, because they are just an amazingly supportive group of families, grandparents, childminders, aunties and uncles who are all involved.

“Also our staff are such a really fantastic supportive group of girls, we are very lucky and I can’t thank everyone enough.”