Happy Hands Pre-School: 'Outstanding' Sheffield nursery where 'children thrive' praised by Ofsted - again

Inspectors heaped praised on Happy Hands Pre-School, in McIntyre Road, in a faultless new report published on July 1.

The education watchdog gave the Stocksbridge nursery a top score in all areas, meaning it has now held its ‘Outstanding’ rating for 15 years straight.

The report reads: “Children thrive in the stimulating home-from-home nursery.

“Staff skilfully plan opportunities to inspire children's imagination and curiosity and build on their interests and experiences.

“Children enjoy every moment of the time spent in the company of the caring and experienced staff and behave extremely well.”

The nursery, which opened in 1999 and is attached to nearby St Ann’s Catholic Primary School, has now been consistently rated ‘Outstanding’ since 2007.

Inspectors were impressed with how children were challenged in how they played. One activity they saw was when the boys and girls were tasked with painting a garden shed with water, and watched as they worked as a team to reach the higher bits.

An emphasis in reading, music and rhyming games was also noted.

“Staff have high expectations for every child to make excellent progress,” the report reads.

“Children love the many songs, stories and rhymes that staff fill their days with and which contribute to the rich vocabulary they acquire.

“The well-qualified manager inspires her tight-knit team of staff to constantly deepen and develop their understanding of how children learn.”

Manager Angela Moffat told The Star they were planning a celebration in the coming months.

She said: “We’re very proud of this result.

“Our staff have been wonderful and work very, very hard. I think what came across to the inspectors was all our staff were singing from the same hymn sheet.

“I think as a nursery we’re very passionate about our provisions and our setting, and we treat people and all the children inclusively. We welcome everybody and have a really great environment we’ve worked hard to create in the past 23 years.”

Happy Hands, which calls itself a ‘committee run’ nursery, has 82 children on its roll with 25 places.