A WEYMOUTH pre-school owner has praised her staff after Ofsted rated the establishment as 'good.'

Angela Morris from Smarties Pre-School on Dorchester Road said she had a “great team” and she was delighted that Ofsted had found the children in their care were happy, safe and made good progress in their development.

The pre-school in Broadwey received a rating of good in its previous 2010 inspection and retained the rating for this latest inspection.

The report found that the “manager and staff worked well together.”

It stated: “Staff have confidence in the management and enthusiastically attend training, improve their qualifications and reflect on their practice. This all helps to maintain good standards and influence children's outcomes.

“Children develop emotional bonds and trusting relationships with staff, and these relationships help children develop self-esteem and confidence. This motivates their learning and preparation for starting school or attending other settings.”

The report stated that the leadership and management, quality of teaching, learning and assessment, personal development, behaviour and welfare and outcomes for children were all good.

The report said: “Teaching is consistently good.

“There are many opportunities for children to develop their literacy skills and practise their early reading and writing. This effectively boosts their self-esteem and helps them to develop a good understanding of sounds and letters.”

The report found that staff “provide a welcoming and safe environment for all the children.”

It stated: “Staff know the children and their individual routines extremely well, and they are very kind, caring and supportive. This helps children to form secure attachments. Staff promote a healthy lifestyle and are good role models to children.”

It added that children “learn to identify with the wider world and to respect each other, giving them a good grounding for the future.”

The school was not yet graded 'outstanding' according to the report because the “structure of group learning time does not always hold children's attention and help them to fully engage in the learning opportunities,” and “the room is somewhat busy and noisy and this sometimes makes the environment overwhelming for quieter children.”

Angela Morris Smarties Owner said: "We are all delighted that we have been awarded a 'good' by Ofsted.

"I have a great team of staff who work well together to ensure that children in our care are safe, happy and progress in their development and the inspector has recognised this in the report."

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