A TYNEDALE pre-school has been awarded a 'Good' Ofsted rating.

Corbridge Preschool was inspected on October 21.

In all four of the key areas of assessment - which include effectiveness of the leadership, quality of education, personal development and behaviour and attitudes - the pre-school was rated as "Good".

The pre-school has 20 places and employs three members of childcare staff.

Inspector Julie Foers said: "Staff have lovely relationships with the children in their care. They are respectful, calm and kind."

She also acknowledged that staff provide good support for children to become increasingly independent, as well as good support for their developing communication and language skills.

The report added that the staff have a good awareness of how to keep children healthy and safe.

Manager Claire Anderson said: "We're really happy. The inspector was lovely as well so she put us all at ease."

She added: "We used the time when we were closed over lockdown to do as much online training as we all could, and to do work behind the scenes that you don't normally get the chance to do on a day-to-day basis.

"It was a good opportunity to refresh all our knowledge."

Claire said they have made improvements to their learning environment over the last couple of years, including a revamp of their outdoor area and the installation of new flooring.

They have also adopted 'The Curiosity Approach', removing all plastic toys and bright colours on the wall.

"The equipment that the children use, for example in the home corner, are all real things, such as real teapots, real china plates," said Claire.

"We've found that it helps the children learn how to respect things. They learn that they can actually break if they don't handle them well, rather than if they're using a plastic teacup where they can throw them all over the place and nothing happens."

They have also recently bought a large wooden pirate ship, which Claire said helps the children develop their imagination, as well as their physical skills.

Corbridge Preschool is based in the grounds of Corbridge First School, and provides funded early education for two to four-year-olds.

They currently have spaces available.