Hikmat NurseryOfsted report card, 15 Sept 2026

Hikmat Nursery

Unique reference number (URN): 2538877 Address: Indian Muslim Welfare Society, Al-Hikmah Centre, 28 Track Road, Batley, Yorkshire, WF17 7AA Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 03/06/2019 Registers: EYR Registered person: Pandor, Safira

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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

All children, including disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those known to children's social care and those who may face barriers to learning, make excellent progress from their starting points. For instance, children with SEND who start at the nursery with no language skills progress to using 2 or more words in a sentence. Children with barriers to their learning say, 'moo, quack' and 'ribbit' to show they know what the animal is in the book. They show how they have the skills to express themselves to their peers and adults.

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Achievement Strong standard

Children show their enjoyment of exploring and confidence to try new things. For example, they cut cucumber into pieces with safety knives. Children make handprints with paint outdoors and enjoy the sensory exploration of the brush on their fingers and palm. Children look at themselves in the mirror and create their self-portrait, adding their unique facial features. They demonstrate their imagination and extend their own play. For instance, children create a crocodile from dough and say, 'snap', showing their knowledge of the world. Children confidently identify colour, such as the red bird, blue horse and the white dog. They are incredibly well prepared and ready for the next stage in learning and transition to school.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders and staff hold high expectations for the achievement of all children in terms of their behaviour and attitudes. Staff are excellent role models. They demonstrate and teach children the importance of treating others with kindness and respect.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Staff consistently enable children's best possible behaviour. They make reasonable adjustments and support interventions that allow all children to express their feelings appropriately. Children have opportunities to speak about and label emotions throughout the day. For example, they explain how characters feel when they read books together with staff. Children use resources to decide whether the mouth shape on their self-portrait will be happy or sad. All children demonstrate a consistently positive attitude to their learning and to each other.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Key-person arrangements, care practices and routines are highly effective in supporting children's emotional development. Children who are new to the setting leave their parents with ease and enter the setting confidently. They build strong bonds with their key person and all staff from the start.

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Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Strong standard

Leaders ensure any absences they are not informed of are followed up swiftly. This reflects leaders' unwavering ethos to support and protect children's welfare. Leaders promote attendance and support families to develop positive routines and habits for children's learning in preparation for starting school.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Leaders and staff implement well-structured routines that motivate all children to develop and understand healthy habits. They are aware of local data and health statistics for young children, such as high obesity rates. Consequently, leaders and staff work with all parents to ensure they provide healthy packed lunches for their children. Positive hygiene practices are carried out consistently with all children. Children enjoy brushing their teeth, which supports their awareness of oral health. Staff ensure mealtimes provide a platform for children to learn essential social skills, such as sharing, taking turns and active listening.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

Staff offer stimulating activities that support children to build physical strength, emotional regulation and mindfulness through playful movement and breathing exercises. Children enjoy daily outdoor play, including opportunities to explore and learn in the forest school. Indoor activities also support their physical development. During yoga, children listen attentively and follow instructions to move their arms. They persevere as they practise balancing on one leg and proudly show staff when they have mastered the pose. Staff remind children how breathing techniques can help them feel calm.

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Children's welfare and wellbeing Strong standard

All children develop a sense of belonging through warm, positive relationships with all staff, which promotes their wellbeing and welfare effectively.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Leaders and staff ensure they provide all children with a high-quality, motivating and ambitious curriculum. Staff successfully combine adult-initiated experiences with child-led ideas to expand on what children already know and can do. Staff understand that every interaction they have with children is an opportunity for teaching and learning. They also offer targeted time for children, who may face barriers to their learning. This enables all children to have full access to the curriculum.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Mathematical learning is fully embedded in everyday play and routines. For example, staff encourage children to count their eyes and ears as they create their self-portrait. Children learn about size as they take part in exercise routines. Staff use words such as bigger, huge and enormous as children move their arms.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

There is an extremely sharp focus on developing children's communication skills and their love of books. Staff use signs and symbols alongside words to support children, who may face barriers to their learning. Children point to their eyes to confirm that they are looking at the book. Staff read stories with bright, bold illustrations, which encourage children's engagement and interaction with the story.

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Curriculum and teaching Strong standard

Resources within the nursery reflect the diverse communities the children come from. This inclusive approach helps to promote respect, inclusion and an understanding of different cultures and family backgrounds. Children feel represented and valued within the setting.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Inclusive practice is fully embedded in this setting. Leaders and staff provide a welcoming and nurturing environment. Children are fully accepted, respected and valued regardless of their background, ability or culture.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff identify children's emerging or changing needs quickly and accurately. This includes the needs of disadvantaged children, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those who are known to children's social care and those who face barriers to their learning.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Staff offer small-group work so children who are reluctant to play with their peers can take part. They use visual cards when children need support with regulation. This helps children choose a calming strategy, such as a favourite toy. Staff combine speech with signs and symbols to help children with communication difficulties express themselves. They provide consistent support to help reduce barriers to children's learning and/or wellbeing.

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Inclusion Strong standard

Leaders and staff collectively speak many languages. This helps to reduce barriers for children and families who speak English as an additional language. Leaders and staff are very aware of the impact that moving to a new country with a young child and entering them into a nursery provision has on parents and children. They maintain open, regular communication with all parents and serve as the primary introduction to local community life and friendships for many parents.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

This highly inclusive setting consistently and thoughtfully supports all children and families. Leaders and staff have an excellent understanding of the community they serve. They offer stay-and-play sessions and workshops for parents and grandparents. This helps them to better support their children's learning and development at home. These social activities also help combat isolation for some families in the community by connecting them with others. This impacts greatly on children's wellbeing. Leaders and staff offer trusted advice and act as a frontline service, connecting families with local charities and resources. This goes beyond expectations. Parents and grandparents speak highly of the care and learning children receive. They value the individual support leaders and staff provide to their families.

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Leadership and governance Strong standard

Leaders are aware of staff's wellbeing and carry out regular supervisions and observations of staff's practice. This helps staff to feel listened to and valued. Professional development is given high priority. Staff attend specialist early intervention training to support the development of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Leaders implement well-targeted action plans to continually review and improve all aspects of the provision. This demonstrates highly reflective and ambitious leadership.

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

Children thrive in this nursery. Each child has a key person, who provides consistent, warm and nurturing care. Staff highly value families' contributions to their children's learning. Consequently, children quickly develop a sense of security and show they feel safe in the care of nurturing staff.

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

All children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, those known to children's social care and those who may face barriers to their learning, benefit from clear routines. They enthusiastically find resources that interest them and welcome staff into their play. Children enjoy their learning immensely and confidently engage with tasks. For example, outdoors, children persevere with pushing the petals of flowers and fruit through the narrow neck of a bottle. Children use spoons to scoop up water and add this to their bottle. They observe how the petals break into pieces and explore floating versus sinking, acting as little scientists. Children use rich communication as they describe the texture, colour and changing floral scents of the flowers. They also giggle with staff as they discover the lemon's sour taste, showing their enjoyment of play.

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

Children have repeated opportunities to develop the hand muscles needed for later writing. For instance, they use tweezers to pick up small pom-poms. Children use blocks to create items of their choice, such as castles and houses, which shows their imagination skills. They practise important mathematics skills, covering measurement, number and balance as they build. Staff weave mathematics into all play. For instance, children talk about the 200 potatoes in the story book. They learn about direction as they take part in yoga movements. Children stretch to the side, roll their shoulders back and move their head back and forward.

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

A broad curriculum and sequential learning enable children to develop across all areas of learning. Children are extremely well prepared for the next stage of their education.

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Next steps

Leaders should sustain the setting's high standards by ensuring that staff interactions remain highly responsive, purposeful and impactful in advancing children's learning and development.

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About this inspection

The inspector spoke with staff, leaders, the provider and special educational needs coordinator during the inspection.

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Address:

Indian Muslim Welfare Society Al-Hikmah Centre, 28 Track Road Batley Yorkshire WF17 7AA

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Address:

Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises

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Address:

Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:30 - 11:30,Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 12:15 - 15:15

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Facts and figures used on inspection

This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.

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Age range of children at the time of 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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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.

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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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