A Blackburn nursery which “worked hard to address the quality of provision” has seen its Ofsted rating rise from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’.

Queen Elizabeth’s Nursery School, in West Park Road, was inspected on September 11 and improved on its ‘requires improvement’ given in 2023.

A report published on October 7, described how the pre-school is ‘good’ at the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management.

In the latest report, inspectors said: “Children arriving at the setting are met by cheerful, welcoming staff.

“Staff create a calm and purposeful atmosphere in the setting. This promotes children's engagement and enjoyment. Children develop a positive attitude to learning and behave well.”

The layout of the building was also commended for encouraging development as well as offering encouragement to children moving between rooms.

Since their last inspection, arrangements for supervised sleeping had been thoroughly revised and their comfort and safety had been unfailingly promoted by staff.

The report added: “Staff worked hard to address the quality of the provision after the last inspection.

“The setting engaged positively with local authority support. This has helped the team to examine and improve practice.”

Staff training was also praised and particularly their strong focus on enabling staff to try their own ideas and develop their leadership skills.

Additionally, schemes to improve children’s literacy had been well introduced and they supported children through active conversations and book of the week.

The report added: “Staff help children to think about the feelings and motives of the characters and to remember the sequence of events in the story.

“Children join in with repeated refrains and experience the rhyme and rhythm of rich language.

“Children learn that books are interesting, and this encourages them to become readers themselves.”

Physical development was also promoted, and children took part in yoga to promote balance and core strength.

Safeguarding procedures are also conducted effectively and check the welfare and whereabouts of absent children in a timely way.