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Bright Horizons Canterbury Day Nursery and Preschool

Ofsted: Good
(Oct 2023)
·
4.1(20 parent reviews) ·Spring Lane, CANTERBURY, CT1 1SW · Kent
Number of places
148 places
Age range
0–5 yrs
Last inspected
Oct 2023
Local authority
Kent

About this day nursery

Bright Horizons operates approximately 300 nurseries and preschools across the UK, offering comprehensive childcare services to support families with their work-life balance. Their core philosophy, the Nurture Approach, prioritises both learning and emotional well-being, aiming to provide a supportive environment where children can be healthy, happy, and reach their full potential.

This approach is integrated into daily nursery life by dedicated practitioners who focus on fostering a sense of emotional safety and belonging. The nursery group also emphasises the importance of a smooth transition for children and families, offering non-chargeable settling-in sessions for up to six weeks before a child's start date.

These sessions are designed to help children become familiar with their new surroundings and to build trust between the child, their parents, and their designated Key Person. Throughout these sessions, parents are encouraged to stay initially, gradually extending their time away as their child adapts.

Bright Horizons also highlights its Bright Beginnings Curriculum, which focuses on five key learning areas to develop practical and life skills, and places a strong emphasis on outdoor activities, including Forest School and Eco-Schools programmes. They provide freshly prepared meals, cater to allergies, and offer guidance on various childcare funding options to help families manage costs.

Our ethos

Bright Horizons' Nurture Approach prioritises learning and emotional well-being, fostering emotional safety and belonging. Their Bright Beginnings Curriculum focuses on developing practical life skills, with an emphasis on outdoor activities and Forest School.

What it's like

Staff at this welcoming, inclusive, and safe setting prioritise children's happiness and emotional well-being. They effectively support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) through targeted interventions, helping them make good progress and develop strong social skills. The curriculum is tailored to individual needs, with staff skilfully fostering language development and critical thinking through engaging activities.

The Nurture ApproachBright Beginnings CurriculumSettling-in SessionsOutdoor AdventuresSupport with Childcare Funding

Pricing & funding

Funding accepted

Tax-Free Childcare
Pricing on request

This nursery doesn't publish its fees online. Contact them directly for an up-to-date price list and availability.

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Key facts

Opening hours

Monday to Friday from 7.30am until 6.30pm, all year round.

Food

Freshly prepared food, allergy management

Term time / All Year

All Year

Established

2005

Ofsted Inspection

Ofsted rating for Bright Horizons Canterbury Day Nursery and Preschool

Last inspected 27 October 2023 · Victoria Salisbury

Safeguarding effective
Overall effectiveness
Good
Quality of education
Good
Behaviour and attitudes
Good
Personal development
Good
Leadership and management
Good

What it's like to attend

Staff at this welcoming, inclusive, and safe setting prioritise children's happiness and emotional well-being. They effectively support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) through targeted interventions, helping them make good progress and develop strong social skills. The curriculum is tailored to individual needs, with staff skilfully fostering language development and critical thinking through engaging activities.

Inspector highlights

  • Leaders and managers are passionate and proactive, with ambitious plans for the setting's future and effective external support for children and families.
  • Staff promote children's personal development effectively, utilising a key-person buddy system and liaising with other settings for continuity.
  • Stimulating and engaging activities are provided, with staff acting as good role models to build children's confidence and communication skills.
  • Children with SEND are well supported, with individual care plans tailoring the curriculum and effective use of funding for resources.
  • Partnerships with parents are positive, with good communication and appreciation for the nurturing environment, leading to reported progress in children's development.

Areas to develop

  • 1To further improve the quality of the early years provision, the provider should support staff to recognise when to encourage children to do things for themselves, to further enhance their independence skills.
Inspection #10313771 · Source: OfstedView full Ofsted report

What parents say

Verbatim quotes recorded in the Ofsted inspection

Parents report that their children have made progress in their communication, language, social and emotional development.

Inclusion & environment

How they support every child

SEND provision

Staff support children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) effectively, ensuring they receive targeted support to help them make the best possible progress. Leaders and managers use funding effectively to purchase new resources to support children's engagement, and the special educational needs coordinator spoke to the inspector about how they support children with SEND.

Outdoor space

Older children sustain high levels of interest in learning about road safety when riding their bikes. Younger children eagerly get ready to go outside to catch the bubbles, talking about how high they go. The inspector observed the quality of education being provided, indoors and outdoors, and assessed the impact that this was having on children's learning.

Parent Reviews of Bright Horizons Canterbury Day Nursery and Preschool

4.1
(20)
C B
7 months ago

We are so happy here at Bright Horizons. My little girl has learnt so much and comes home every day smiling and telling me about her day. Thank you to all the wonderful staff for the amazing messy play activities you do and time you take at the end of the day to tell me how my little one has got on. Personally I love the size of the nursery as it gives a school feel which I believe has been beneficial to my daughter in prep for pre-school/school. The new refurbishments are great, it feels like a brand new nursery. I would 100% recommend you to friends and family. Thank you!

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vikam singh
7 months ago

the nursery is well maintained and clean. the staff is super experienced, professional & supportive. my son is learning so many things on daily basis and pretty amazed to see that thanks to bright horizon team

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Damon Hoford
8 months ago

Our son had many regular accidents here and we were constantly having to sign unexplained accident reports. He regularly came home dirty faced, snotty nose, with soiled clothes and shoes. There is no curriculum for learning or structure they followed, mostly free play as minimal staff watch over them running wild and fighting. When my son fell off the school’s equipment and suffered a 1.5 inch laceration to the back of the skull, concussion and other related prolonged medical issues, they refused to accept responsibility and failed to follow protocol to make timely accurate Reports to relevant Professional Bodies/Department eg Ofsted and HSC. After escalation and a lengthy investigation which resulted in no action, we have had to remove him for his own safety and is now thriving, learning and comes home clean, happy and so talkative. Other parents we have spoken to have mentioned numerous accidents here, but no one really knows about other kid’s accidents, and this information is not posted in the public domain. Be aware and keep you child safe.

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Charly Ryan
10 months ago

My son has been attending this nursery since he was 9 months old, he is now 14 months. The staff are absolutely lovely. The manager is always willing to help. 100% recommended. Safe, clean!! And friendly.

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Ewa Da Silveira
a year ago

No clue what the previous reviewers were drinking but my children are mixed race and from a multilingual background and we have never had any issues with getting a place or with bad treatment. The nursery has always been very accommodating - we went from two days to three to four down to two again. No issues ever. In my daughter’s group lots of diversity- more than in her primary, sadly, which I believe is a reason why she thrived- there were other children who looked like her who were happy. Great team as well, great SENCO (son had some stammering issues an intervention was immediately put in place with home support).

Read on Google

Reviews from Google for Bright Horizons Canterbury Day Nursery and Preschool. See all on Google Maps

Inspection history

Date: January 2012

  • October 2023Good
  • August 2018Good
  • September 2015Good
  • January 2012Good

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