Highfield Nursery Group
LEADERS: Pupils and staff from Highfield Community Pre-School celebrate after being rated ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted

Special praise for high-flying Keighley kids

Children and staff at a Bradford pre-school had another reason to celebrate over the festive period after receiving a perfect report from Ofsted.

Highfield Community Pre-School, located on Drury Lane, Keighley, impressed across all areas when inspectors visited last year, claiming the highest rating of ‘Outstanding’ in every category.

Based in the Highfield Centre since 2004, the pre-school has been running for 35 years now and provides free early education to children aged between two and four-years-old.

Playgroup manager, Shazia Mehrban, heads the place of education along with eight members of staff and was delighted to see the team’s and children’s efforts rewarded.

“All the staff work incredibly hard throughout the year supporting the children through play and providing a strong foundation to build on,” she said.

“There are meticulous systems for monitoring the quality of teaching and staff have consistently high expectations of what they and children can achieve, which is evident in the report from Ofsted.”

Amongst the areas praised in the Ofsted report was how well the pre-school met the needs of all children who attended the group. It adds that the staff’s ‘comprehensive knowledge’ enables them to know how children learn most effectively with the young children described as ‘active, inquisitive and independent learners’.

The effectiveness of the leadership and management of the early year’s provision and the contribution of the early year’s provision to the well-being of children was also signalled out as ‘Outstanding’.

Ms Mehrban thanked all those who had helped Highfield succeed over recent years, including parents, teacher and pupils.

She added: “I would like to say a special thanks to the Pre-School Committee, who support and enhance the Pre-School by giving their time on a voluntary basis.

“Furthermore the Pre-School Committee have a strong partnership with the staff which enables our ideas to go to a further level.”

Highfield Community Pre-school runs five days a week from Monday to Friday with all staff fully trained in their early year’s qualifications.