Ofsted tells Cambridgeshire pre-school it 'requires improvement'

Busy Fingers pre-school has been rated 'requires improvement' by Ofsted
-Credit: (Image: Google)


A Cambridgeshire pre-school has been criticised over its provision for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in a 'requires improvement' Ofsted report. The inspection of Busy Fingers Pre-school in Little Downham, near Ely, represented the first time Ofsted had visited since it came under new management in 2023.

The report was published on Tuesday (September 17), based on an inspection in July. It said: "Overall, most children gain the necessary knowledge and skills that they need for their future learning, including school.

"Although the curriculum meets the needs of most children attending, the changes that the management team has made have yet to be embedded to benefit those children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)."

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However, the inspectorate pointed to work being taken to improve support for children with SEND, stating that the management team and special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) have "swiftly" acted on concerns in this area, and are making improvements.

Support for younger children was also criticised by inspectors, who stated: " Staff demonstrate new skills to children, encourage them to have a go and praise their efforts and achievements. This helps to nurture children's positive attitudes to learning.

"However, staff tend to follow the routines and do not always adapt their practice to meet the needs of the younger children. For example, staff do not always give enough time and support to help those children who are still learning to follow the routines.

"Therefore, younger children do not always gain as much from teaching as possible."

Ofsted was positive about children's behaviour at Busy Fingers Pre-school. The report praised staff members' positions as strong role models, whose work to encourage children to "use kind hands and words" has paid off as most children behave appropriately.

The pre-school's voluntary committee, which is made up mostly of parents, said: "Please read our Ofsted report. We feel the inspector made some positive comments about our provision.

"However, the grading seems to be mainly based on our provision for children with special educational needs. We truly believe that we do our very best for all our children and it was noted in the report the new manager acted swiftly to put interventions in place for children with additional needs where there were gaps in provision.

"The problem arose that these interventions were not yet fully embedded at the time of our inspection. We are excited for things to come and to continuously improve our preschool over the coming year."

The Little Downham pre-school was rated 'requires improvement' in every area assessed: educational quality, personal development, leadership and management, and behaviour and attitudes. It looked after 40 children aged between 2 and 4 at the time of the inspection.