Sense of self-worth fostered at pre-school

Published on 31st May 2007 in News

Hemingbrough Pre-School has been given an official thumbs-up by Ofsted following a positive report.

The pre-school was judged 'satisfactory' in every aspect of the Ofsted report carried out in early May, and was praised for its teaching techniques, its encouragement of children to achieve well and enjoy what they do, and its approaches to healthy living.

Ofsted inspector Diane Lynn Turner found that staff encourage children to make a positive contribution and as a result, the children's spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is fostered.

In her report, Ms Turner wrote: "Staff value all children as individual and find out as much as they can about them before they start at the group. Children are welcomed as they arrive, their photographs are displayed and they are given a card when it is their birthday, which promotes a sense of belonging and self-worth."

Ms Turner added that the quality of teaching and learning is satisfactory as staff organise the space well, which enables children to initiate their own play and learning, and they use open-ended questions effectively to promote children's thinking.

Activities cover all six areas of learning and are a balance of adult-led and child-initiated learning. Long-and-medium-term plans are in place and a weekly overview sheet is drawn up showing the resources provided to support children's learning in the different areas.

The promotion of the children's health was also praised, and the report found that staff pay good attention to providing children with healthy and varied snacks, which contribute to a well-balanced and nutritious diet.

Snacks are provided by the group's 'Sunshine Cafe,' where a parent-helper comes into the session to oversee the activity. Children are offered foods such as crumpets and fresh and dried fruit.

Children are kept safe because there are effective safety measures in place and the premises, both inside and out, are kept secure at all times. A record of visitors is kept, which includes those parents who come in to help at snack time.

The report highlighted further areas to be improved at the pre-school including an improvement to the assessment system, to ensure staff's observations of children's responses to activities are used to help chart their progress towards the early learning goals and plan for the next steps in their learning.