Blossom Barn Nursery Hatfield Broad Oak

Blossom Barn Nursery Hatfield Broad Oak

Unique reference number (URN): 2814550 Address: School House - 34 High Street, Hatfield Broad Oak, Hertfordshire, CM22 7HH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 22/10/2024 Registers: EYR Registered person: Blossom Barn Nursery 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 benefit from warm and responsive relationships with the attentive staff team. They make excellent progress from their starting points, including children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, or those facing other barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing. Children are caring towards each other. They are aware of how to keep themselves safe, for example by wearing sun cream and sun hats and drinking plenty of water on hot days.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children collaborate well with others. They demonstrate a 'can-do' attitude while playing outdoors. Children enjoy completing tasks independently and display pride in their achievements. They also demonstrate independence through daily routines, such as serving their own meals. This prepares children to move on to the next stage in their education, including school.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children are confident and capable communicators who use an increasingly broad vocabulary. For example, they enthusiastically engage in conversations about starting school, sharing their thoughts, feelings and experiences. Children benefit from purposeful and high-quality interactions and meaningful conversations that encourage curiosity, critical thinking and the use of new and ambitious vocabulary.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff swiftly identify children who may experience barriers to their learning or wellbeing. They respond promptly to meet their individual needs. Staff provide consistent guidance, support and opportunities to ensure that every child is fully included and able to participate. They carefully build on children's existing skills, helping them to settle confidently into daily routines at their own pace.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff foster a culture of mutual respect throughout the setting. Children develop warm, secure and trusting relationships with their key persons. They demonstrate confidence and a deep sense of belonging. Children consistently display positive manners and respond positively to the high expectations embedded throughout the setting. Children form positive friendships and show kindness, care and consideration towards one another.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff maintain high expectations for children's behaviour. For example, when older children become excited by an unexpected change in routine due to extreme heat, staff remind them to use a quieter voice and take deep breaths. Children respond promptly and regain their focus with their activity.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff recognise the importance of regular attendance and closely monitor children's absences. They promptly contact parents and carers when children do not arrive as expected. When patterns of absence emerge, leaders work with families to understand and address any concerns. This promotes consistent engagement in learning, enabling children to make sustained progress over time.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff know children well and provide care that reflects their individual needs. The key-person system ensures children receive consistent support and reassurance. For example, when children first start, staff tailor settling-in sessions to individual children's needs. Staff nurture children's self-esteem, resilience and emotional wellbeing. For example, they teach children to use positive affirmations, such as 'I am capable' and 'I am loved'.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders prioritise children's health and physical wellbeing. Staff supervise toileting sensitively while maintaining children's privacy. They support younger children's autonomy by respecting their preferences during intimate care routines, such as nappy changes. Staff are knowledgeable on how to keep children safe when they are sleeping and eating. They use bags containing resources to support children with transitions, such as toilet training, a new baby or starting school. Staff share these with parents and carers to support their children's wellbeing at home.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff consistently reinforce positive healthy practices. For example, children brush their teeth daily. Staff promote healthy lifestyles through initiatives. For example, the nursery is part of a campaign which encourages balanced food choices and supports families in making healthier changes. In addition, staff teach children how to keep themselves safe. For example, they encourage children to practise road safety outside the setting. As a result, children develop a deep understanding of how to care for their own health, wellbeing and safety.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders have developed a well-sequenced and ambitious curriculum. Children benefit from a wide range of opportunities to strengthen their physical development in the well-resourced outdoor environment. Children thrive as they immerse themselves in play. Staff skilfully tailor their teaching to extend children's knowledge, for example by introducing language such as 'moat' and 'gully' when children are playing in the sand.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Children confidently apply and demonstrate their learning during play. For example, children count 4 scoops, hold up 4 fingers, and say that they are '4'. This demonstrates children's growing understanding of number and their ability to make meaningful links between their learning and their own experiences. Children benefit from regular extra-curricular activities, including visits from Spanish teachers, who share their language and culture with them. This helps to expand children's knowledge of the diverse world they live in.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Younger children benefit from being immersed in an environment rich in language. Staff nurture their emerging skills through play, reading stories and singing rhymes. Responsive staff promote babies' physical skills. They are in tune with children's curiosity and extend children's learning. For example, they add balance beams and varied textures for children to walk on.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Staff's in-depth knowledge of children and their skilful implementation of the curriculum through excellent teaching and interactions aid children to make rapid progress. For example, when staff take a group of children to the library, they discuss the route with them. They encourage children to picture the journey and describe it, thereby extending their understanding of 'left' and 'right'.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders promote a very inclusive culture in the setting. Staff work well with parents and carers and other professionals to meet the individual needs of all children, particularly those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Children benefit from an enabling environment in which staff make adaptations to ensure that all children have opportunities to engage with the wide range of experiences on offer.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff closely monitor children's progress. For example, staff check in with children who speak English as an additional language during daily routines and activities, such as story time. This ensures that assumptions about their knowledge and understanding are not made. Staff receive targeted training from the setting's special educational needs coordinators to support individual children with SEND. They monitor, assess and review children's progress promptly and rigorously. This helps staff to identify and reduce gaps in children's learning effectively.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Staff skilfully adapt activities to meet the child's individual needs. For example, they recognise children who find it difficult to sit in group activities. They therefore tailor activities that capture children's interests and provide positive learning experiences. Leaders work proactively with children's social care to ensure that children who are known to, or have previously been known to, social care receive the support and opportunities they need to thrive and achieve positive outcomes.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

The inspirational leaders have a clear understanding of their responsibilities. They take decisive action to ensure the nursery is safe, inclusive and managed effectively. Leaders establish a highly effective culture of continuous professional development. They are deeply committed to their team and have created a collaborative environment in which staff work well together. Professional development is carefully planned. Leaders tailor it to meet the needs of individual staff and the children and families they support. Leaders have an excellent understanding of each staff member's strengths, learning preferences and development needs. This enables them to provide bespoke training and coaching that maximises staff's confidence and effectiveness in practice.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders give staff's wellbeing a high priority. They foster a positive and supportive working environment through regular recognition and appreciation initiatives. Staff speak highly of the setting and feel genuinely valued, respected and supported. This investment in staff wellbeing and professional growth contributes to consistently high-quality practice and positive outcomes for children. Parents and carers consistently express their gratitude to the leaders and their team for providing their children with the best start on their learning and development journey. They report that the nursery is setting up the next generation for success through the foundations they provide.

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

Children thrive at this nursery, where their welfare and learning are at the centre of everything that leaders and staff do. Children arrive enthusiastically and receive an attentive greeting from staff, who warmly support children to start their day. Children aged 1 to 4 years sit together to share breakfast. Older children independently select their breakfast and brush their teeth when finished. Younger children receive support with this from their key persons.

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

Children quickly immerse themselves in play, such as exploring the sandpit. They decide they need wet sand to make sandcastles. Staff give children opportunities to independently use a hose to fill a large tub with water, then children work together to carry it to the sand. Staff skilfully tailor their teaching to extend children's knowledge.

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

Children who speak English as an additional language, children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those facing barriers to their learning or welfare receive consistent support to participate fully. As a result, children feel fully included and develop a secure sense of belonging. Partnerships with families are very effective. Staff work closely with them to support children through significant life events and key transitions, such as the arrival of a new sibling, starting school or moving house.

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

Children have extensive opportunities to practise their physical development skills in the well-resourced garden. Staff encourage children's ideas, and value and extend their interests. Children benefit from regular extra-curricular activities, including yoga, early literacy, Spanish and balance bicycle sessions. They also visit another setting by bus to participate in forest school sessions.

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

Younger children run to staff knowing that they will be greeted with open arms. Children receive encouragement to recognise and manage their feelings through affirmations, group activities and staff providing reassurance when needed. Positive behaviour is maintained by staff skilfully modelling strategies so that children can resolve conflict themselves.

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Next steps

Leaders 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

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Address:

School House - 34 High Street Hatfield Broad Oak Hertfordshire CM22 7HH

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Registered person: Blossom Barn Nursery Ltd

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 17:30

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection. disabilities and those who are known (or have previously been known) to children's social care.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, parents and carers and children 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. This data is from 9 July 2026

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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. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.

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Urgent improvement

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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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