Magherafelt pre-school gets 'outstanding' report from inspectors

Slievegallion Pre-school, which was visited by inspectors last November, teaches a total of 23 children, who are all funded by the Department for Education.

In its report, the inspectorate rated the school as outstanding on achievements and standards, while both school leadership/ management and provision for learning were give a rating of 'very good'.

With five staff, all of whom have childcare qualifications, the school was said to have "a high level of capacity for sustained improvement in the interest of all the learners".

In the report it said: "The children have very positive attitudes toward their learning; they sustain high levels of concentration and purposeful engagement at activities throughout the

session. They are very independent in the daily routines and have excellent attention and listening in skills."

And speaking about the day-to-day running of nursery it said: "There is a high level of exploratory play as the children use their senses to

investigate and discuss the wide range of natural materials available in the playroom" adding "the playroom is organised and resourced thoughtfully and skilfully to provide an

excellent language-rich learning environment".

Overall it said: "Slievegallion Pre-school Centre has a high level of capacity for sustained improvement in the interest of all learners. The ETI will continue to monitor how the playgroup sustains improvement."