A CHILDREN’S nursery on Canvey has been rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted less than a year after it was told it must dramatically improve.

Just Imagine Day Nursery had its second inspection within a year in December, after a previous inspection from Ofsted in February said it required improvement.

Since the report, the nursery has changed hands, with Stuart Cloke being appointed as nursery manager and Victoria Weeden as deputy manager since October 1.

In its latest report, Ofsted praised the leadership, quality of teaching, personal development of the children and the skills they are taught.

Inspectors said: “There are rigorous procedures to ensure that children play in bright, clean and risk-free areas indoors and outside.

“The management team takes clear and well-considered steps to evaluate the quality of provision and plan for future improvements. It considers the views of staff, parents and children to meet children’s needs.

“Staff have, for example, reorganised the use of playroom space to help children sustain their concentration and engage well with all activities.”

Inspectors also praised the staff as “positive role models” for children, with strong bonds being formed with babies when they first join, and the children were growing in confidence and developing good social skills as a result.

The nursery, in Oak Road, cares for children between the ages of six-weeks-old and five-years-old and can cater for 74 children.

Manager Mr Cloke said: “It was an excellent report for us and we’re very pleased we’ve managed to turn the nursery around. The inspector praised lots of things about our work and the new cosmetic refurbishments we have made to the interior, plus there were many good pointers to take going forward.”

“We have some ideas to improve further, we plan to have our staff on a lot more training programmes across the borough to ensure they bond well with the children and know the best ways to teach them the skills they need for starting primary school.”