Grove Park Playgroup Receives Ofsted Praise

Report singles out quality of children's social and emotional development

The Grove Park Playgroup was delighted to report the excellent results of its first Ofsted Combined Inspection Report since it joined the Early Years Development Childcare Partnership scheme two years ago. 

The Playgroup, which has been operating for 11 years, joined the Early Learning Partnership enabling parents to receive Government funding for 3 and 4 year olds.

The report praised many aspects of the Playgroup with special mention for the quality of the personal, social and emotional development of the children: “Children have excellent opportunities to make decisions, access resources independently and be spontaneous in their play” and their physical and creative development: “Children enjoy good spontaneous access to indoor and outdoor play. They explore their own ideas as they develop a wide range of skills”.

The report also praised the good organisation of the Playgroup and the quality of the teaching as well as the strong partnership established with parents. It noted that “children are enthusiastic, self-assured and motivated learners”.

Cecile Parfitt, Chairperson of the Playgroup said “We are very pleased with the results of the Ofsted report; we are a small community based group and, to have achieved such a high grading on our first assessment is a fantastic achievement. Special thanks must go to our staff for their exceptional commitment and we would also like to thank the parents, both past and present for their help. We will build on the report to aim for a higher degree of excellence in the months ahead.”

The full report can be obtained on Ofsted’s web-site www.ofsted.gov.uk. Grove Park Playgroup received an overall rating of good (based on the following scale: “Very weak”, “Unsatisfactory”, “Satisfactory”, “Good”, and “Outstanding”.)

Playgroup operates from Monday to Friday term time only between the hours of 09:15 to 11:45 and takes children from the age of 2 ½.  It is committee run and operates from recently premises of St Paul's Church affording the children access to a wonderful garden on the Church grounds. Nearly all the staff are qualified to NVQ2 level or above.

Grove Park Playgroup also runs a Bumps and Baby Group in conjunction with the local branch of the National Childbirth Trust on Tuesday mornings and a Toddler Group on Thursday afternoons.

January 10, 2005