Nurseries and pre-schools across Kent are celebrating after being honoured with prestigious awards to recognise their commitment to supporting continuous improvement.
Five nurseries and pre-schools were honoured with a prestigious Threads of Success Improvement and Achievement Award. They were Bertie’s Nursery in Faversham, Discovery Day Nursery in Maidstone, Kiddie Kapers Neighbourhood Nursery in Ashford, Magpie Pre-school in Faversham, and Next Steps Pre-school in Dover.
The awards, which were presented by Alex Gamby, Head of Early Years and Childcare for The Education People, at Holiday Inn Ashford Central in November, recognised the commitment of the county’s nurseries and pre-schools to undertaking an action research project designed to secure and demonstrate improvements in the quality of provision.
Winners and members of the Early Years and Childcare team celebrate the awards
These projects focussed on areas such as improving communication and language, discovering the community and improving outdoor environments. They challenged settings to look critically at their own learning practice and environments, to ultimately improve the quality of teaching and learning for Kent’s children.
Jane Nolan, Improvement and Standards Manager for The Education People’s Early Years and Childcare Service, said: “The quality of the projects for the 2018 Awards was of a very high standard. Settings demonstrated strong commitment to working as a whole team, self-evaluating their practice, involving parents and focusing on making a difference to all children. I am delighted we were able to acknowledge and celebrate these settings’ achievements.”
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To find out more about the Improvement and Achievement Award scheme, please visit www.theeducationpeople.org/our-expertise/early-years-childcare/
| Improvement and Achievement Award Winners 2018 | ||
| Setting | District | Level of Award |
| Bertie’s Nursery | Swale | Enhancing |
| Discovery Day Nursery | Maidstone | Enhancing |
| Kiddie Kapers Neighbourhood Nursery | Ashford | Developing |
| Magpie Pre-school | Swale | Enhancing |
| Next Steps Pre-school | Dover | Developing |
The Education People (TEP) is a company wholly owned by Kent County Council and was established to provide services and products to and on behalf of KCC. TEP supports the full age range from early years to young adults, offering a variety of services to help education professionals improve learning, wellbeing and children’s development. Providers can source training materials, resources and support via the company’s website (www.theeducationpeople.org). The product offer covers areas as diverse as school improvement to outdoor learning, safeguarding to school finance, supported employment to governor support, and equality and inclusion to early years and childcare.