Kenwood Nature Nursery

Kenwood Nature Nursery
Unique reference number (URN): EY543517
Address: Montague House, 294 Cemetery Road, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S11 8FT
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registered with Ofsted: 13/02/2017
Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR
Registered person: Forest Schools Kindergarten Limited
Inspection report: 16 June 2026
Exceptional
Strong standard
Expected standard
Needs attention
Urgent improvement
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.
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
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.

Expected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, are courteous,
friendly and behave well throughout the nursery. Leaders establish clear routines and
expectations for staff to listen to a support children's emotional and personal needs during
their time indoors and out. Staff are consistent in their positive attitudes and caring approach
to all children. This is reflected in the very positive views of the parents for the care and
support staff provide.
Leaders and staff are warm and encouraging role models. For example, they join with
children as they tidy away and purposefully praise them for their teamwork and care. As a
result, children are proud of their efforts and eager to work and play together. Staff build
nurturing bonds with babies and young children that help them to feel safe and confident in
their surroundings. For example, staff work closely with parents to understand daily sleeping
and eating routines to support babies to feel relaxed, refreshed and eager to learn.
Leaders set clear expectations for children's attendance and punctuality from the start of
their relationship with the families. As a result, children attend regularly and parents know
procedures for reporting and managing absences.
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Leaders and staff have a clear focus on promoting children's welfare and wellbeing needs
overall. This starts from establishing positive relationships with parents to understand their
children's personal needs well. This includes any additional support needed for children with
special educational needs and/or disabilities. As a result, children settle effectively into the
daily routines and care of the staff. They enjoy learning both in small groups with children of
the same age and opportunities to play harmoniously with mixed-age groups.
Leaders and staff work together to ensure children are safe indoors and out. They are
vigilant when children travel and play in the open spaces and woodlands. They involve the
children in considering their own safety and encourage them to follow instructions and
consider each other's needs.
Staff follow nationally agreed safe-sleeping routines to ensure babies and young children
get the rest they need in a caring and secure environment. They support children's personal
hygiene and toilet training ensuring children have the privacy and protection they need
during nappy changes both indoors and out. Children are supported and encouraged to
recognise their own needs. For example, they wash their hands thoroughly and regularly
after activities and before eating. Children have full access to drinking water at all times.
Staff help children to recognise and manage their own emotions. Staff make positive use of
well-considered books, songs and games to enrich children's emotional understanding.
They encourage children to share their thoughts and feelings as they play and this
contributes to their confidence and readiness for further learning.

Needs attention
The nursery provides healthy meals and snacks. They support children to use cutlery and to
learn to drink from open cups. They ensure children are safe during mealtimes. However,
they do not take all opportunities to further involve children in developing an appreciation of
healthy eating, for instance, through discussions and opportunities to prepare their own
snacks.
Inclusion Expected standard
Staff complete assessments of children's learning. This begins when children start at the
nursery. This helps staff to promptly identify any children who may need additional help such
as children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) or face other barriers
to their learning. For children who require extra support, staff work with parents and the
special educational needs coordinator to create individual learning plans. They monitor the
progress that these children make towards them regularly and adjust targets to reach the
next levels in children's progress. They know how to seek further help from other
professionals, such as medical specialists and speech and language therapists, if needed.
They work closely with parents to access support and to share information for children with
SEND. Staff receive some support from leaders as they discuss any concerns they may
have about a child's development and to plan next steps for their learning. Parents are very
positive about how staff engage with them to help their children achieve.
Achievement Needs attention
Children, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not
consistently benefit from well-planned, sequential learning opportunities, particularly in
mathematics. As a result, they do not always make the best possible progress in readiness
for their next stages in learning, including school.
Babies and children achieve in their personal and social skills overall. Staff encourage
children to make decisions about the songs and stories they would like to hear. They
encourage children to make choices about their learning and to become increasingly
independent. Children enjoy creating their own games, such as developing a role-play pirate
ship and building an anchor with wood and string.
Children build their fine and large physical skills well. Young children enjoy handling small
pieces of wood and observing them drift down the stream and completing jigsaws. They
order wood by size and identify larger and small stones. Children enjoy using spray bottles
of paints on a large fabric sheet hanging between tree so create patterns and begin to learn
about colour mixing.

Curriculum and teaching Needs attention
Leaders have designed a curriculum that generally follows children's curiosity and interests.
However, they are not sufficiently focused on the skills and knowledge that children need to
be taught directly. This includes teaching children mathematical skills and asking questions,
to deepen their thinking and extend their learning. For example, children spend much of the
day in the woodland and grassy areas of local parks and other grounds they can walk to.
Staff have created adult-led activity packs on themes, such as, 'People who help us', to use
outdoors. However, they are not sufficiently focused on skills and knowledge that children
need to be directly taught, such as aspects of mathematical learning, and, therefore, do not
support opportunities for practice and deepening learning. As a result, children are not
always as engaged by the activities as they could be to ensure the very best rates of
progress.
Staff are enthusiastic and very committed to the ethos of the forest school experience the
setting promotes. They make some use of assessments and information sharing with
parents to understand what children, including those with special educational needs and/or
disabilities need to learn next. Staff generally interact well with children and promote
communication skills effectively. However, they do not always make full use of questioning
strategies to help children reflect on and extend their learning.
Leadership and governance Needs attention
Leaders and staff are enthusiastic and committed to the forest school ethos the nursery
promotes. However, leaders' oversight of the nursery is not consistently rigorous and firmly
based on first-hand monitoring of the curriculum, teaching and learning to ensure the
highest standards of provision are achieved. There have been recent steps taken to sharpen
monitoring and supervision procedures, but these are at too early stage to have a maximum
impact. Staff feel well supported in their roles and comment positively on their wellbeing.
Staff are well-qualified for their roles overall and there are positive procedures for
recruitment and induction into the nursery. Leaders ensure all staff have training in
paediatric first aid and safeguarding. However, further opportunities for staff training are not
fully based on analysis of the curriculum and learning the nursery provides.
Leaders take positive steps to help children who have special educational needs or/
disabilities or have other possible barriers to their learning. Leaders work well with parents
and carers to share ideas on what will help children to continue to develop their skills
outside of the setting at home. Parents are very positively committed to the nursery's ethos
and warmly appreciate the relationship and communication with staff.

Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Compulsory Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
Voluntary Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.
How we check if a provider meets the requirements of the Voluntary Childcare
Register
When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can
have the following outcomes:
Met
Not met
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Babies and children enjoy frequent opportunities to play and learn in the fresh air and open
spaces. However, inconsistencies in leaders' and staff's curriculum planning and the quality
of teaching means children do not always make the best progress they could in all aspects
of their learning.
Children typically build positive relationships with each other and the adults who care for
them. Babies become increasingly confident and sociable as they play alongside each other
blowing bubbles or watching their sticks float under the bridge along the river. Older children

work together to make an anchor from wood and branches for their role-play pirate ship on
the fallen trees they climb. Children build their appreciation of books as they settle with a
friend and member of staff to share a well-loved story or learn about people who help us and
other topics.
Children feel safe. They learn about road safety on their daily walks and understand the
importance of listening to and responding promptly to instructions when in the park and
woodlands. Babies and young children follow safe routines for healthy eating and sleeping.
They become increasingly independent in learning to look after themselves. They typically
learn to take turns and be patient in response to staff's guidance and calm approach. They
build their stamina and physical wellbeing as they walk, run and climb or play chasing
games with staff between the trees.
Children attend regularly and leaders ensure that parents understand the importance of
communicating any absences promptly. Parents welcome the frequent communication and
detailed information sharing that helps to keep their children safe and engaged.
Next steps
To meet the requirements of the Early years foundation stage and Childcare Register the
provider must take the following actions by the assigned date:
Action Completion Date
Design a curriculum that ensures consistent
progression in all areas of learning, that identifies
aspects that need to be directly taught and provides
frequent opportunities for children to practice and
repeat their knowledge and skills in different contexts.
30/09/2026
Create rigorous procedures based on first-hand
monitoring of teaching and learning to evaluate and
analyse the quality of provision and ensure staff receive
training and support to achieve the highest levels of
teaching.
30/09/2026
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, including the special educational needs coordinator, staff
and children during the 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

Inspector:
Andrew Clark
About this setting
Unique reference number (URN): EY543517
Address:
Montague House
294 Cemetery Road
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S11 8FT
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
Registration date: 13/02/2017
Registered person: Forest Schools Kindergarten Limited
Register(s): EYR, CCR, VCR
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 08:00 - 18:00
Local authority: Sheffield
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
This data is from 16 June 2026
Children numbers
Age range of children at the time of inspection
0 to 4
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.

Total number of places
70
Our grades explained
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of
them.
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.
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary
improvements.
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of
education and/or care.
The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspects
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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