TWO playgroups in Monmouthshire have been awarded a ‘good’ rating from education inspection authority Estyn. Little Tigers playgroup in Rogiet, and Alphabet Playgroup in Undy were inspected by Estyn in November 2015, and both received glowing reports.

To make a judgement, Estyn marks its establishments as either excellent, good, satisfactory or unsatisfactory.

Little Tigers playgroup, Rogiet, was opened four years ago, and at the time of the inspection had 20 three and four-year-olds registered.

In the report, published last Thursday (14th January), the playgroup was judged ‘good’ across the board in areas including teaching, wellbeing, leadership and management. The inspectorate praised staff at Little Tigers by stating: “Effective care, support and guidance assures children’s wellbeing.”

Pam Curtis, owner and manager of Little Tigers, said: “The inspector spent two full days with us in November.

“He recognised the hard work that is put into the running of Little Tigers to ensure we provide high quality care and education.

“Staff are very pleased with the outcome of this inspection and I am very proud to have such a fantastic, hard working team of staff.”

The second playgroup, Alphabet Playgroup, based in the grounds of Undy Primary School, and at the time of the inspection provides day care and education for 19 children under eight years old.

In the report, published on 18th January 2016, inspector Michael T Ridout said: “The teaching is lively and enthusiastic.

“Practitioners skilfully promote a sense of fun, so that children are often enthralled.

“They have very good relationships with children and consistently promote high expectations of behaviour and achievement.”

Louisa Sutton of Alphabet Playgroup, said: “This was the first Estyn inspection that the current Alphabet team have gone through and we are thrilled with the outcome.

“The team works hard to provide a rich learning environment that we have developed a lot over recent years.

“We have learnt so much from the process and are already working towards further improvements in our provision and practice.