A PRESCHOOL’S confident, curious children and nurturing staff have been praised by an inspector.
Ofsted visited Wrigglypeeps, which is based at Bromley Heath Infant School in Quakers Road, in October.
The regulator’s report found the preschool was ‘good’ in all areas: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, leadership and management, and personal development.
Inspector Michelle Grayling said the preschool, which has 59 children aged from two to four on its roll, has an effective “key-person system” to help children settle.
She said: “Children form strong bonds with nurturing staff, who prioritise their emotional security.
“Staff value conversations with children and strongly support their communication and language development.”
The inspector said children show “positive attitudes to learning”, are curious and “immerse themselves in the broad range of learning experiences staff offer”.
She said: “Staff plan an ambitious, well-sequenced curriculum that builds on what children know and can do.”
Children learn physical skills, basic maths, about the wider world and how to be independent. They become “confident communicators” thanks to the effective promotion of speech and language by staff.
The inspector said staff form “effective partnerships” with parents and actively involve them in learning.
She added: “Parents speak highly of the setting and of the care their children receive from staff.”
To further improve the inspector said staff should give some children extra support to increase their involvement in activities.
Wrigglypeeps Preschool registered in 2016, and its only previous inspection was six years ago, when Ofsted said it was ‘outstanding’.
Owner/manager Sarah Meyers said that, while she was disappointed that the inspector did not give the same rating this time around, she believes her team is now “better than we’ve ever been”.
Sarah said: “We felt that the report was a really wonderful report, full of things we feel are really important to us, like a nurturing environment, where children have strong bonds with staff, and an effective key person system.
“We have a very skilled team: everyone has strengths in different areas and we all bring something different, to make a strong team as a whole.
“We all love being here and feel that we’re in a really good place. Everything we do is the best we can do.
“At the end of the day an Ofsted report is just a one-day snapshot – the thing that’s most important to us is what our families think of us, and that everyone is happy to be here.”