Ofsted name Piglets Pre-School in Chessington 'Outstanding' for third consecutive time

Piglets Pre-school in Chessington was awarded an "Outstanding" rating by the Ofsted inspection team who reviewed the school earlier this year.

It's the highest rating a school can achieve from the government department, whose full title is the Office for Standards in Education.

Piglets Pre School achieved the 'Outstanding' rating on their two previous inspections by the state education standards body, in 2012 and 2015 respectively.

This year, the school was shown to have built on those successes and maintained very high standards — being awarded 'Outstanding' ratings in each of the four main categories that were examined, namely 'Effectiveness of leadership and management', 'Quality of teaching, learning and assessment', 'Personal development, behaviour and welfare' and 'Outcomes for Children'.

In the Ofsted report on Piglets, seen by the Comet, the school and staff were praised for the "fantastic" progress made by children who attend the school and the "extremely strong" partnerships built between staff and parents.

"The manager has established extremely strong partnerships with parents and professionals, in particular, staff within the school.

"The highly effective collaboration that she has created promotes outstanding development for all children within the setting," the report said.

Sarah Bettinston with pre-school children and her granddaughter

Further, the remarkably positive experiences of the children during the time they spend at the pre-school was also highlighted by Ofsted.

"Staff nurture children's emotional well-being exceptionally well.

"All children settle extremely quickly and have very secure bonds with staff. As a result, children are very happy and show high levels of self-esteem," the report said.

Following publication of the report, the Comet spoke with the pre-school's Manager Sarah Bettinson about how staff approached their work and discussed some of the secrets behind their success.

Ms Bettinson, who has owned the nursery for 28 years, praised her team as the real champions of the excellent environment the pre-school has created for children who go there.

"I have very loyal and dedicated staff and many are very long term — I don't have staff leave me...I really feel like we have a massively ensemble team," she told the Comet.

"Without my team we wouldn't have achieved this. They're the ones who put in all the real hard work in with the children and without them it wouldn't work."

Ms Bettinson added that the inclusive approach she and the staff adopt to creating a positive space at the pre-school was also integral to their success.

"It's not just about the learning, but the love too. We spend a lot of time nurturing the children — the parents in their thank-you cards talk to us about the love the children are given too.

"They feel content, they feel safe in our environment and with the same faces day-in, day-out, they have that consistency and really get know our staff."