URN 2806498 · Inspected 2026-06-16 · Published 2026-08-04 · Inspector: Michelle Blake
Owls Nursery School at Hawksmoor Primary Unique reference number (URN): 2806498 Address: Hawksmoor Primary School, Bentham Road, London, SE28 8AS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 06/09/2024 Registers: EYR Registered person: Owls Nursery School Ltd 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 Achievement Expected standard Typically, children develop age- and stage-appropriate knowledge and skills across the early years curriculum. Older children identify numbers, count, create and match patterns. They learn positional language and develop an understanding of quantities. These mathematical skills help to prepare children for school. However, across the nursery, other children do not explicitly learn mathematical concepts throughout the day during their play. All children join in with songs and rhyme actions, and listen and engage well. Children recall information they hear in stories. They listen attentively and follow instructions to carry out actions. For example, in ballet, children float like a butterfly. This helps children develop their imaginative storytelling skills. Children are confident learners. They feel proud of their achievements. Younger children listen to music and follow instructions to tap up high and down low. This helps children to strengthen small hand and large body muscles. This supports their next stage of development. Outside, younger children slide down the slide, play in the water and explore filling, pouring and emptying. This supports children to explore capacity. They use utensils to mix, pat and strain sand. This helps children to develop curiosity about cause and effect. Older children ride bicycles, draw and make marks with coloured chalks. They notice how the wheel spins when they pour water on the wheel. These experiences help children to develop curiosity about the world around them. Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard Leaders establish routines that support all children to develop positive attitudes and behaviours for learning. For example, during circle time, staff encourage older children to put their hands up when they want to speak. This encourages children to show respect and listen to others. Staff support children to show kindness, play nicely, share and take turns. Children develop social skills and form positive bonds. Staff encourage children of different ages to learn collaboratively and listen attentively to instructions. For example, toddler and pre-school children engage in storytelling, such as through ballet. Children recall information from the story. Typically, staff focus on the positive behaviour they want children to demonstrate. For example, when children call out, staff encourage them to listen. This supports children to develop attention and listening skills needed for future learning. Staff support younger children to wait and say 'waiting'. This helps children to connect the word to the action. They encourage children to feel proud of their achievements. For example, children clap, pat themselves on the back and 'high-five' each other. This helps children to feel positive about learning. Staff remind children of rules and routines, so children are always supported to behave well. They use the 'golden rules' to encourage positive behaviour. For example, staff encourage 'good looking', 'good tidying' and 'kind hands and feet'. Staff praise children when they see the desired behaviour. In this way, children develop habits that prepare them for school. Leaders have a flexible approach to attendance to support parents' and carers' needs. This means children start at different times throughout the day and attend regularly. Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard Leaders establish policies and practices that support children's welfare, mental health and wellbeing. They create a welcoming space where children feel safe and secure. This helps children to seek help when needed. Staff reassure children when they feel upset. Children form warm attachments and relationships with all staff, in particular their key persons. Leaders establish strategies that support children to regulate their emotions. For example, staff teach children to recognise their emotions, talk about how they feel, distract children with a new activity and use emotion faces. This helps all children to manage how they feel and/or seek help from staff. Staff sit facing children at mealtimes to support all children, including those with allergies and/or food preferences, to eat safely. They encourage children to develop healthy habits. For example, children choose fruit they want to eat. Staff encourage children to drink water or milk. They support children to self-serve at snack times. This helps children to develop independence and strengthen small hand muscles as they use tweezers to pick up food. At times, staff do not organise snack time effectively or provide enough resources for all children to self-serve. This means some children have fewer opportunities to practise and develop these self-help and fine motor skills independently. Staff encourage younger children to rest when they are tired. They follow safer sleep guidelines to ensure children sleep safely. Leaders and staff support children to develop consistent positive hygiene routines for handwashing. This helps children to generally develop their independence. Curriculum and teaching Expected standard Leaders establish an early years curriculum that prepares children for their next stage of learning and school. They plan activities that all children enjoy. This encourages collaborative learning and helps all children to engage. During activities, staff ask children questions that encourage children to respond. They consolidate children's existing vocabulary and teach them new words. This positively impacts children's communication and language development and supports children to communicate confidently. Staff adapt teaching to support children who may face barriers to learning. They use clear, simple language and give precise instructions, such as at tidy-up time. This helps children to understand what to do, develop their attention and listening skills and participate confidently in learning. In the pre-school room, staff encourage children to recognise numbers, count and explore patterns using shaped tiles. This helps to develop children's mathematical vocabulary and thinking and prepares them for school. However, across the nursery, while staff use some vocabulary, such as 'more', in children's play, they do not yet consistently weave other areas of mathematics throughout the day. This means children have fewer opportunities to deepen and apply their mathematical understanding across different contexts. Staff plan activities that effectively support children's physical development. They adopt routines that encourage children to strengthen small hand muscles, such as manipulating play dough, scooping sand and mark making using different tools. Staff ensure that children strengthen their large body muscles. They plan activities that encourage children to dance, run and balance. These help to prepare children for their next stage of learning and school. Inclusion Expected standard Staff personalise strategies so all children settle well into nursery routines. This helps children to make progress from their starting points. Staff identify particular areas of need and share information with parents and carers. Leaders use what they know about children, such as their interests, to support children. They use a range of strategies, such as intensive interaction and making adjustments to support children's communication and language needs. However, staff do not yet use personalised visual tools to support individual children. This is something they want to introduce to develop children's independence and communication skills further. Leaders and staff have a secure understanding of children's individual needs. They create plans with parents that support children to meet their next steps and make progress towards their milestones. Leaders help to remove barriers that children and families face. Leaders work closely with professionals to support the needs of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those who may face barriers to learning and/or wellbeing. They attend joint sessions with multi-agency professionals, including schools, to devise a support plan and children's next steps in learning. This helps children to meet their milestones and prepare for their next stage of learning. Leadership and governance Expected standard Leaders have high expectations for what they want to achieve in their setting. They create a culture of continuous learning where all staff strive for improvement. Leaders identify gaps in practice and signpost relevant training for staff to attend. Leaders prioritise safeguarding in meetings and routinely check staff's knowledge. This helps to embed an open culture around safeguarding. Leaders support staff to perform their roles effectively. They check on staff wellbeing, support their practice and maintain a consistent approach of high-quality teaching and learning across the nursery. New leaders transition smoothly into their roles, as the leadership team expands. Leaders, who are responsible for compliance and quality assurance, train and upskill new leaders. This helps to ensure managers are highly trained and competent to carry out their duties efficiently and confidently. They support leaders to quality assure practice and follow compliance procedures. Leaders visit and share feedback that helps leaders to improve leadership and practice across the nursery. They recognise improvement in nursery structure and staff mood. Leaders are very supportive and flexible, so staff are happy at work and at home. Leaders use a key-person buddy system to support staff transitions. This positively impacts all staff and supports end-of-day handovers with parents and carers. Leaders form effective partnerships with the attached primary school. They take children to the school library during the holidays when school is closed. This helps to expose children to a culture of reading and supports school leavers to familiarise with the school setting in readiness for school. Leaders recognise that the current curriculum does not yet fully support the knowledge and skills they want children to develop over time. They are reviewing the curriculum and plan to visit other nurseries to strengthen its design. This demonstrates that leaders accurately identify where improvements are needed and take appropriate action to improve children's learning. For example, they employ key staff members that positively impact children's achievement and progress. Leaders recognise that they are the resource for children and families. They form positive partnerships that support the growth of the nursery community. Leaders plan events that encourage parents to form new friendships. This motivates children and families to support each other. Leaders offer the extended day to meet the needs of families. What it's like to be a child at this setting Children enter nursery happily. They greet staff and friends warmly with a smile. Children feel safe. They communicate their wants and needs confidently and clearly. Children talk to staff about their morning and things of interest. They develop their independence. This helps them to make learning choices based on what they enjoy. For example, children and parents and carers choose extra-curricular activities that enhance children's learning. This encourages children and parents to engage in learning at home. Children listen attentively and respond well to established routines that encourage them to stop, look and listen or tidy up. For example, older children know when they hear staff count to 10, it is tidy-up time and if they do this quickly, they are rewarded. These routines help children to develop positive attitudes to learning. Pre-school children confidently count, recognise numbers and quantities and use language to compare amounts. Children typically achieve well from their starting points. All children learn skills across the curriculum that prepare them for their transition to school. For example, they use the toilet independently, use mark-making tools to draw and write and follow instructions. During ballet, children copy the actions performed by the ballet teachers. They respond to their names and perform requested actions. This supports children's communication and language development and physical development. Children learn skills that help them to play nicely with others. They treat each other with kindness and learn to take turns and share. For example, after lunch, children share play dough with their friends so they can join in manipulating shapes. This helps children to develop social skills and collaborative play. Inspector: Michelle Blake About this setting Unique reference number (URN): 2806498 Address: Hawksmoor Primary School Bentham Road London SE28 8AS Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registration date: 06/09/2024 Children attend sessions regularly at mutually agreed times. This helps families to enjoy the nursery experience, attend events, support children's learning and help staff to prepare children for their next stage of learning. This all helps children to flourish from their starting points. Next steps Leaders should support children to extend their independence in readiness for their next stage of learning, such as by organising resources and managing time effectively. Leaders should implement plans to support the independence and communication of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities, such as introducing visual aids. Leaders should support staff to weave mathematics throughout the day to embed children's mathematical knowledge. About this inspection The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, children and parents and carers 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 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. Registered person: Owls Nursery School Ltd Register(s): EYR Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 07:30 - 18:30 Local authority: Greenwich 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 1 to 4 Total number of places 51 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. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk. You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence, write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk. This publication is available at https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk. Interested in our work? 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