Staff and pupils at a pre-school near Burnham-On-Sea are celebrating this week after OFSTED inspectors praised the facility as “outstanding”.
Brent Knoll Tadpoles Pre-School, which opened last year in Brent Street and has less than 20 pupils, is one of only a handful of schools in the area to achieve the sought-after top rating.
Owner Cathy Hurley told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We had an unannounced inspection by OFSTED and the inspector was very impressed with the extremely high standard of nursery education. To obtain an ‘outstanding’ rating in nursery education was confirmation that we do a really great job.”
“We’ve worked hard for this and are delighted to be recognised in this way,” she added. “It’s difficult to achieve a ranking as high as this – very few childcare providers in the area have done it.”
The pre-school earned an ‘outstanding’ grade overall, with inspectors praising it for the quality of its teaching and learning, helping to keep children healthy and encouraging them to achieve well.
OFSTED inspector Michelle Tuck also praises staff in her report: “The whole staff team have a really strong commitment to improvement and regularly reflect on the children’s activities and evaluate how well they have supported children’s progress. Staff work together extremely well to ensure that children access a wide range of activities and that all curriculum areas are covered. They plan activities that support development and also respond well to children’s interests and needs. As a result, children are making very good progress towards their early learning goals.”
The OFSTED report concludes: “No recommendations for improvement are made because the quality and standards of nursery education are outstanding.”
Pictured are some of the pre-school’s children celebrating this week and, below, during a visit to a local small holding to observe the progress of five goslings which were brought to the setting in April
