Squirrels Pre-School in Colchester

Ofsted rating for Squirrels Pre-School

Last inspected 2 July 2025

What it's like to attend

• Children arrive keen to start their day, greeted by happy attentive staff who are genuinely pleased to see them.
• An individually tailored settling-in process, along with good partnerships with parents, means staff know the children well before they start.
• The management team are committed to providing good-quality teaching. The curriculum is planned to support children to develop skills they need to be independent learners and prepare them for a smooth transition to school.
• Children have established close and trusting bonds with their key person.
• Outdoor learning is promoted throughout the year. Children relish their time outdoors and consideration is given to all areas of learning in the garden.
• Staff have a clear comprehension of how children develop their conversation skills.
• Parents speak highly of the nurturing staff. They comment their children have made very good progress since attending.
• There is an open and positive culture around safeguarding that puts children's interests first.

• 1Support staff to improve the use of effective questioning skills to give children more time to think and respond to questions.
• 2Help staff to provide children with more opportunities to take responsibility for themselves and solve problems when negotiating how to share resources and resolve conflicts.
• 3Strengthen training opportunities for staff to ensure they are effective to raise the quality of teaching to an even higher level.