Keren's Nursery

Keren's Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): EY441637 Address: Belsize Square Synagogue, 51 Belsize Square, LONDON, NW3 4HX Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 20/12/2011 Registers: EYR Registered person: Kerens Gan Belsize Ltd

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Safeguarding standards met

The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.

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How we evaluate safeguarding

When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:

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How we evaluate safeguarding

Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children make excellent progress from their starting points across the areas of learning and development. They confidently recall their previous experiences, apply new vocabulary and explain their thinking during play and group activities.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children build secure mathematical understanding. They have consistent opportunities to count, compare and apply number knowledge in daily routines and play. Children develop increasing independence through established expectations and responsibilities that prepare them very well for their next stage of learning, including school readiness for older children.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children facing barriers, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, achieve well because staff tailor support precisely and review impact regularly. Parents and carers report noticeable gains in children's confidence, communication and independence, reflecting the sustained impact of teaching.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders establish a positive environment where expectations for behaviour are clear, consistent and securely embedded. Staff model respect, kindness and patience in all interactions. Children understand routines well and move confidently between activities. This is because staff prepare them carefully and maintain calm and predictable transitions. When activities attract high levels of interest, staff respond swiftly and thoughtfully. For instance, they adjust group size and redeploy support so children remain engaged and their learning continues purposefully.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Children demonstrate highly positive attitudes to learning. They sustain attention, persevere with tasks and collaborate well with their peers. Staff support children to recognise and manage their emotions through shared language, visual prompts and consistent reinforcement. Children respond promptly to agreed cues and understand boundaries because expectations are applied consistently across the team.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Outdoor routines further strengthen children's behaviour and skills to regulate their feelings. Children follow clearly embedded systems for turn-taking and waiting, using number-based expectations to manage popular equipment. This ensures fairness and minimises children's frustration. Leaders promote attendance rigorously and follow up absences promptly. This reinforces the importance of routine and stability. As a result, children behave well, show confidence in their environment and demonstrate a deep engagement in learning throughout the day.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children benefit from excellent care that consistently promotes their physical and emotional wellbeing. Staff establish secure attachments through a deeply embedded key-person approach. They respond sensitively to children's cues, offering reassurance, comfort and encouragement as needed. Children demonstrate trust and confidence, approaching adults readily and settling quickly into routines. Staff use props and visual aids to support children to manage their emotions and talk about how they are feeling.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Care practices meet children's individual needs effectively. Leaders ensure that children's additional needs, including special educational needs and/or disabilities, are carefully planned for and managed sensitively. Staff follow agreed care routines consistently and communicate closely with families about children's sleep, toileting and dietary requirements. Freshly prepared meals support healthy choices and independence. Children serve themselves appropriately for their age and develop positive eating habits during calm, sociable mealtimes.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Children develop a secure awareness of personal safety. Staff teach children how to assess risk during outdoor play and reinforce road safety procedures during outings. Daily risk assessments and careful supervision ensure environments remain safe without limiting children's exploration. Leaders monitor accident records and wellbeing concerns systematically. They respond proactively where patterns emerge. This oversight ensures children feel safe and flourish in a nurturing and well-organised environment.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders design and implement a broad, ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum that builds their knowledge securely. They organise children into 3 rooms to match teaching precisely to developmental stages and ensure progression over time. Leaders embed review processes into daily practice so staff evaluate activities and refine provision responsively. This systematic approach ensures the curriculum remains purposeful and sharply focused on children's next steps.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff consistently and securely promote children's communication and language across all areas of learning. They model ambitious vocabulary, use precise questioning and give children time to think and respond. For example, during incubator and planting activities, staff encourage children to describe growth and change. They strengthen children's understanding through rich dialogue. Staff embed early mathematics intentionally. They encourage children to count during routine activities, recognise numbers during self- registration and apply number knowledge in play.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders prioritise children's physical, personal, social and emotional development through daily outdoor access and carefully planned physical sessions. They arrange for experienced music specialists to support children's listening, rhythm and expressive skills. Leaders ensure all external professionals are supervised and aligned to the setting's curriculum priorities. Staff use ongoing assessment securely to tailor teaching so that all children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, access an inclusive and challenging curriculum.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders create a highly inclusive culture. Staff identify children's needs early and act decisively to reduce barriers to children's learning and wellbeing. From entry, staff assess children carefully and review their progress frequently through a secure approach. Leaders ensure staff understand how to observe, plan, implement and review support so that adjustments are purposeful and consistent. Staff respond swiftly when children require additional help. They adapt routines, environments and interactions so children can participate fully alongside their peers.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those with additional needs benefit from carefully structured strategies. Staff use visual prompts, consistent language and predictable routines to help children manage their emotions, sustain attention and navigate transitions successfully. Leaders provide targeted professional development so staff apply these strategies securely across the team. Staff also share approaches with families. This strengthens consistency between home and nursery.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Children who speak English as an additional language develop confidence. Staff model vocabulary precisely and create regular opportunities for children to communicate in meaningful contexts. Leaders monitor the impact of support rigorously and refine plans where needed. Parents and carers report that leaders act promptly, maintain clear communication and ensure children make secure progress from their starting points.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders did not notify Ofsted of a notifiable event within the required timescale. They have since strengthened their understanding of notification requirements and are now better equipped to ensure that significant events are reported to Ofsted promptly.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders provide highly effective strategic direction and maintain ambitious expectations for children's education and care. They embed self-evaluation securely into daily practice and involve staff meaningfully in reviewing provision. Leaders act decisively when areas for refinement are identified. This ensures continuous improvement remains purposeful and focused on children's outcomes.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders meet statutory responsibilities consistently and securely. Robust recruitment, suitability checks and ongoing monitoring ensure staff remain appropriate for their roles. Leaders track qualifications and training systematically and renew paediatric first-aid certification more frequently than required to maintain high levels of confidence and competence. Safeguarding knowledge is reviewed regularly through meetings and professional dialogue, ensuring expectations remain clear.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders manage staff wellbeing thoughtfully. They maintain open communication, provide structured supervision sessions and align professional development with children's needs and staff aspirations. Staff report feeling valued and supported. Leaders work effectively with families and external partners to strengthen provision and ensure continuity of care.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children experience an excellent sense of belonging in this warm and purposeful nursery community. Staff know children extremely well. They gather detailed information from families about children's routines, interests, languages spoken at home and any learning barriers or additional needs they may have. They use this knowledge to shape settling-in arrangements and daily interactions to ensure children feel understood from the outset. Robust key-person relationships help children to form secure attachments quickly. Children separate confidently from their families, seek support when needed and show genuine enjoyment in being part of the nursery community.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children achieve well. Staff consistently and securely build on what children already know. They engage in meaningful, curiosity-led experiences, such as observing eggs in the incubator and confidently predicting when chicks will hatch. Staff model ambitious vocabulary and extend children's thinking skilfully. They encourage children to explain what they notice and recall previous learning. Children apply early mathematical knowledge in purposeful contexts. For example, they count steps while singing on the stairs, recognise numbers during self-registration and use counting and comparison language within play.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children develop confidence, resilience and physical strength through daily access to the outdoor and regular forest-school visits. Staff reinforce clear safety expectations consistently. Children respond promptly to agreed cues and practise road safety rules on outings. They manage turn-taking through sand timers and number-based routines in the garden. This structured approach helps children to regulate their behaviour and remain engaged in sustained, purposeful play.

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What it's like to be a child at this setting

Children demonstrate increasing independence through well-established routines. They self- register in age-appropriate ways, manage hygiene routines before meals and take responsibility during transitions. Staff promote attendance rigorously and follow up absences promptly, strengthening family's confidence in children's wellbeing. Children thrive because leaders provide very effective oversight of their safety, learning and care. Staff supervise attentively. They adapt provision thoughtfully and maintain high expectations so that all children, including those facing barriers, flourish with confidence.

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Next steps

Leaders and those responsible for governance should sustain their work to ensure continued improvement and high standards. They should focus on creating a transformational impact on the outcomes and experiences of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known (or previously known) to children's social care and those who may face other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing.

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Address:

Belsize Square Synagogue 51 Belsize Square LONDON NW3 4HX

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Kerens Gan Belsize Ltd

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday : 08:00 - 18:00,Friday : 08:00 - 14:00

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff and children and considered written feedback from parents and carers during the inspection.

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About this inspection

We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.

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About this inspection

The inspection started on 24 February 2026. Inspectors returned on 7 July 2026 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: Deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy. This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Exceptional

Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.

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Strong standard

The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.

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Expected standard

The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.

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Needs attention

The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.

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Urgent improvement

The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care.

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Urgent improvement

services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

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Urgent improvement

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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