Ofsted inspected our nursery school at the Hadley Wood Association (HWA) centre for the first time on 24 June 2026. The setting was graded Strong standard in all six evaluation areas.
Category: Early Years Foundation Stage
The Reception year is a pivotal time in every child’s educational journey. It builds on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework and marks the transition to more structured learning. As a parent, understanding what’s expected during this year can help you prepare your child for success, emotionally, socially, and academically.
To help parents feel more confident and well-informed, a fantastic new resource, Starting Reception, offers clear guidance on what to expect and how to support your child during this exciting transition. Here is an outline of the key areas of development aligned with that guidance:
A new study published in the Journal of Personality identifies how early psychomotor development is associated with personality later in life through childhood cognition, self-regulation, and social competence. Drawing on data from over 9,000 children from the United Kingdom, the research explores the long-term pathways linking infants’ motor and communicative functions to personality traits in late adolescence.
Categories
Ofsted: Outstanding in all areas
Alphablocks Nursery School was inspected by Ofsted in the Summer Term of 2024. Our school is pleased to announce the results of this latest inspection by Ofsted, which can be read in full here:
There are a few aspects of child development that teachers, parents and carers often talk about when it comes to nursery-age children. These include aspects of development such as the physical, social, and emotional growth of a child, early literacy and numeracy abilities, or self-regulation skills. However, an area of development that has been relatively overlooked is that of social cognition. It includes a complex set of skills that are crucial for development and have long-lasting impact, well beyond childhood. In this post, we briefly discuss the basic dimensions of social cognition in early childhood, and summarise some recent findings that have come out of our work at Alphablocks Research Lab in collaboration with leading academics.