Two nurseries in Bristol have been named among the best in the South West - including one that recently had a damning Ofsted inspection.
Honeytree Day Nursery and Pre-School in Horfield was listed in the top 20 day nurseries in the region, based on reviews from parents and carers on the website Daynurseries.co.uk.
That’s a kind of TripAdvisor site for parents and carers to post their own reviews and ratings of their own experiences of a nursery school - and only two nurseries in Bristol made the top 20 list for the South West region - Honeytree and Mama Bear’s Day Nursery at Stanbridge in Downend.
Read more: Bristol nursery receives damning Ofsted report criticising its safeguarding
The annual award is seen as one of the most prestigious in the country, because it comes directly from reviews from parents, and the accolade is coincidental and timely, given the Ofsted inspection earlier this spring at Honeytree, which was published last week.
Inspectors visited the nursery, which is on Filton Road in Horfield, on May 16, and downgraded the previous ‘good’ rating to ‘inadequate’. The nursery, which is run by the Storal chain of nurseries, was judged by Ofsted to not have effective arrangements for safeguarding in place.
In response, Storal said an action plan was in place to make changes and improvements to the nursery since that inspection, there has been a change in management at the nursery, and inspectors returned last month and ‘were satisfied with the actions taken so far and were able to see first hand the progress that is being made’.
The award from Daynurseries.co.uk was made because of the high scoring reviews - it had 28 five-star reviews out of 39 and only one - last week from a parent whose place was cut - was less than three stars.
Mama Bears is best-rated in Bristol
The only other nursery in Bristol to be named in the awards is Mama Bear’s at Stanbridge in Downend - where every single review on the site was five-star.
Anna White, the area manager for Mama Bear’s, which is based at Stanbridge Primary School and recently took on the Mama Bear's name, said: “It's a time for celebration for us this year, with Mama Bear's Stanbridge featuring in the top 20 individual nurseries in the South West, and the Mama Bear's group identified as one of the top 20 nursery groups in the UK.
“There is no better recommendation than one based on personal experience, and since the reviews that form the basis for the Daynurseries.co.uk awards are all based on the personal experience of the families and carers of the children we look after, that says it all really.
“A huge thank you to everyone who contributed their feedback and to all our wonderful staff who are what makes Mama Bear's the great nursery and pre-school it is,” she added.
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