ABERPORTH Playgroup has received an ‘excellent’ rating following an Estyn inspection.

The playgroup at Plas Howni is registered for 21 children aged two to four and offers early years education sessions from 9am-noon during school term time, for five days each week.

There are four full-time and two part-time members of staff including two full-time setting leaders. One leader took up their post in September 1985 and one in September 2017.

Both its current performance and prospects for improvement were rated ‘excellent’ by inspectors.

The report says: “Most children make very strong progress from their starting points, especially in developing their Welsh language skills and have excellent attitudes to and show enjoyment in learning, developing strong independent skills across all areas of learning.

“Practitioners plan exciting, stimulating and fun activities for children that develop their skills progressively and make highly creative use of children’s ideas as part of curriculum planning.

“Practitioners are highly skilled and have an excellent understanding of when to intervene in children’s learning and when to allow them to experiment with their own ideas.

“The provision for supporting children with additional learning needs is highly effective and practitioners support children well in their learning and physical development.

“It provides a welcoming and very inclusive environment where practitioners know all children well and ensure they have equal opportunities to all activities.

“There are a wide-range of highly effective partnerships including with parents, other settings and the local community. Practitioners access a wide-range of beneficial training that improves their own performance and has a positive effect on leadership, provision and children’s standards.”

Estyn has asked the playgroup staff to prepare a written case study, describing the excellent practice identified during the inspection.