Good rating for Tydd St Mary Playgroup where ‘children are encouraged to be independent’

A playgroup where ‘children are encouraged to be independent’ has been rated as good.

Ofsted inspectors visited Tydd St Mary Playgroup in October, highlighting how staff ‘model how to be polite and use good manners’.

As well as its overall effectiveness, it also rated good good for the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management.

“Children are encouraged to be independent,” said the report said, which highlighted youngsters ‘raising their self-esteem’ by being given responsibilities to help one another at snack time.

When highlighting what the playgroup does well, the report said: “Staff use observations and assessments as well as children's interests to help identify what they need to learn next.

“Staff model how to be polite and use good manners. This results in children copying and saying 'please' and 'thank you' at snack time when they want and receive food.

“Staff offer children a nutritious range of snacks and drinks, contributing to a healthy diet.

“Children help staff to plan and grow fruit and vegetables in the garden, such as carrots, beetroot and strawberries.

“They harvest these with staff and eat them for a snack.”

The report added staff work well together to support children with SEND, but added that sometimes staff focus their attention on listening to the confident children who like to answer the questions, instead of encouraging less-confident children to join in.

The report also suggested ways the playgroup could improve.

These included strengthening staff's interactions to support less-confident children to participate during planned group times and supporting staff to use words correctly when they play alongside children to help build on their speaking skills.

Tydd St Mary Playgroup, which has 18 children on roll aged between two and four, was also rated Good at its previous inspection in November 2018.