Avebury Playgroup

About this day nursery

15 pm. It provides full-day care for children aged 2 to 4 years, with a total of 20 places available.

The playgroup was rated "Good" in its most recent Ofsted inspection on 5 September 2024, maintaining its previous "Good" rating from 2018. During the inspection, Avebury Playgroup received "Good" ratings across all areas: the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and leadership and management.

The playgroup prioritises children's emotional well-being by offering tailored settling-in sessions to help children build strong attachments with staff, ensuring they feel happy and secure to thrive and learn. Staff base learning experiences on children's interests, fostering positive attitudes towards learning and supporting significant progress in academic and personal development.

The curriculum is carefully planned to address gaps in learning for all children, including trips to museums and local parks to broaden their understanding of the world, often encouraging parent participation. Staff have high expectations, teaching important social skills such as sharing and showing respect.

A particular strength is the support for language and communication, with staff using diverse vocabulary, asking meaningful questions, and incorporating visual communication like simple sign language to benefit all children, including those learning English as an additional language. The playgroup also focuses on promoting healthy lifestyles through nutritious snacks, hygiene education, and encouraging physical activity both indoors and outdoors.

Children are given opportunities to explore emotions, preparing them to understand and moderate their behaviour. The leaders actively develop the provision around children's needs, for example, by creating a 'forest school' area in the garden to enrich learning about the natural world, as many children lack such opportunities outside the setting.

While the playgroup excels in many areas, the Ofsted report suggests further developing opportunities and vocabulary for children to understand mathematics, numbers, shapes, and measurements.

Our ethos

The playgroup prioritises children's emotional well-being by offering tailored settling-in sessions to help children build strong attachments with staff, ensuring they feel happy and secure to thrive and learn. Staff base learning experiences on children's interests, fostering positive attitudes towards learning and supporting significant progress in academic and personal development. Leaders have actively developed a 'forest school' area in the garden to enrich learning about the natural world.

What it's like

Staff create a safe and welcoming space for children, prioritising their emotional well-being through tailored settling-in sessions. This child-centred approach, based on children's interests, helps all children make significant progress in their academic and personal development. Staff have high expectations, teaching social skills and broadening children's curiosity through planned activities like museum visits.