A PRE-school is celebrating after being rated ‘good’ by Ofsted, with one area even deemed to be ‘outstanding’ by inspectors.

Charminster Pre-school, based at St Mary’s First School, was inspected by Ofsted in January and has now been handed the ‘good’ rating.

It was rated to be good in three of the four areas assessed; effectiveness of the leadership and management’ quality of teaching, learning and assessment and outcomes for children.

It was rated as outstanding for personal development, behaviour and welfare.

The report praised staff, the manager and the children.

It stated: “Staff know children very well and meet their individual needs superbly. Children form very strong attachments with staff and benefit enormously from the focused support for their social and emotional needs. They are very confident and happy, and eagerly join in with and initiate games and activities, showing an excellent attitude to learning.

“The manager and staff assess children’s development accurately to help them identify and target individual gaps in learning quickly. Children with developmental delays routinely receive carefully planned, effective support.

All children make good progress.

The manager uses assessment information successfully to monitor the effectiveness of teaching and learning, and, overall, promptly implements plans to close any gaps in children’s progress.

For example, staff are currently focusing on developing children’s skills and understanding with technology toys and equipment.

“The manager continually evaluates the quality of the provision and successfully identifies how to deliver positive outcomes for children.

This is helping her to look at how they can make children aware of the full range of available learning experiences.”

Sam Mercer, play leader and safeguarding lead at the preschool, spoke of her pleasure at the result.

She said: “We’re so pleased. It’s a great result that we’re very happy with. It’s a massive team effort by everyone.”