Jo Jo's on Nunnery Fields had two urgent improvement grades in January. Inspectors returned 100 days later and found none. Four district report cards in full.

A Canterbury nursery that Ofsted graded “urgent improvement” in two areas in January was re-inspected 100 days later and came out with nothing below the expected standard.

Jo Jo’s Day Care Nursery at 40 Nunnery Fields was inspected on 27 January 2026. Inspectors went back on 7 May. In between, the nursery also fixed a breach that had left it failing part of the Childcare Register.

It is the sharpest turnaround in a run of four district early years reports published this year, and the newest of them, for a nursery at Harbledown, appeared on Ofsted’s report finder on 3 September.

What January found

The January report card put two areas in the bottom grade.

Area 27 January 2026 7 May 2026
Achievement Needs attention Expected standard
Behaviour, attitudes and routines Needs attention Expected standard
Children’s welfare and wellbeing Expected standard Expected standard
Curriculum and teaching Urgent improvement Expected standard
Inclusion Expected standard Strong standard
Leadership and governance Urgent improvement Expected standard
Safeguarding Met Met
Compulsory Childcare Register Not met Met

Inspectors were blunt about why. On teaching, they wrote that “breaches to the statutory requirements have a significant impact on children’s learning and development” and that “leaders’ oversight of the quality of teaching is poor”. On leadership they found staff workload “unsustainable”, no room leader in every room, and leaders covering several roles at once. The nursery had only registered with Ofsted on 27 May 2025 and had taken on a number of new staff.

There was a separate problem before that. Ofsted received a concern on 8 September 2025 that the nursery was not meeting staff to child ratios, and carried out a regulatory visit on 18 November 2025. It found the provider was not meeting some requirements and issued an action, due by 1 December, to “implement robust suitability checks for staff”. The provider responded the next day and Ofsted recorded itself satisfied that the action had been met (Ofsted complaint outcome, 20 November 2025).

What May found

The May report reads like a different setting.

  • Inclusion was graded strong. Inspectors described individual plans for disadvantaged children and children with special educational needs, and staff sharing the same resources with parents, such as spinning chairs, “to help children focus at home as well as at the nursery”.
  • Leadership moved to expected. The report says leaders “prioritise staff’s wellbeing, and they ensure that workload remains manageable and staff feel supported”, the direct opposite of the January finding.
  • Curriculum, achievement, behaviour and welfare all reached the expected standard, and both parts of the Childcare Register were met.
Chart comparing Jo Jo's Day Care Nursery Ofsted grades on 27 January 2026 and 7 May 2026 across six areas: curriculum and teaching and leadership and governance moved from urgent improvement to expected standard, achievement and behaviour moved from needs attention to expected standard, welfare stayed at expected standard, and inclusion rose from expected to strong standard
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The new report cards, and why there is no overall grade

If you last looked at an Ofsted report a few years ago, the format has changed. There is no single Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate any more. Each area is graded separately on a five point scale, printed in every report:

  • Exceptional
  • Strong standard
  • Expected standard
  • Needs attention
  • Urgent improvement

Safeguarding sits outside that scale and is recorded only as met or not met. For an early years setting the areas are achievement, behaviour and routines, children’s welfare and wellbeing, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, and leadership and governance. That means a nursery can be strong in one area and need attention in another, and the report will say so rather than averaging it into a single word.

The other district reports this year

All Saints Nursery School, Shirley Hall, Church Street, Whitstable. Inspected 17 June 2026. Every one of the six areas was graded strong standard, with safeguarding met. It is the best report card in the district’s early years sector this year. The setting registered with Ofsted in May 2024 and runs sessional day care.

The Old Station Nursery Canterbury, 50 Mill Lane, Harbledown. Inspected 27 July 2026, and the newest report on the finder, listed on 3 September. Behaviour, attitudes and routines and leadership and governance were both strong standard; achievement, children’s welfare and wellbeing, curriculum and teaching and inclusion were all expected standard, with safeguarding met. Inspectors praised “inspirational leaders” and partnerships with families, and noted two things to fix: group activities not always matched to children’s age and stage, and identified barriers to learning not always addressed swiftly. The same registration was inspected as Choochoos Day Nursery in March 2022 and rated good under the old system.

Primary Sports Giants, at St Anselm’s Catholic School, Old Dover Road, Canterbury. This was not a report card. Ofsted carried out a Childcare Register compliance inspection on 7 August 2026 and confirmed the provision was complying with all the requirements. A compliance check and a full inspection are different things, and the letter carries no grades.

What it means for you

If you are choosing a nursery in the district, three practical points come out of these four reports.

  • Read the date on the report, not just the grades. Jo Jo’s January and May report cards describe the same nursery three months apart and reach opposite conclusions. Ofsted’s finder lists both.
  • Check whether the document is an inspection or something else. A compliance letter, like Primary Sports Giants’, and a complaint outcome, like the November 2025 one at Jo Jo’s, both sit in the same list as report cards.
  • Look at each area separately. Under the new system an “expected standard” is the bar being met, not a criticism, and a “strong standard” in one area does not carry the others.

Every early years provider’s reports are on the Ofsted report finder, searchable by postcode.

Sources