Summary
What we read, and from where
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- Achievement verified
Expected standard
- Behaviour, attitudes and routines verified
Expected standard
- Children's welfare and wellbeing verified
Expected standard
- Curriculum and teaching verified
Expected standard
- Inclusion verified
Expected standard
- Leadership and governance verified
Expected standard
- Framework verified
Report card
- Group verified
Little Angels (NorthWest) Limited
- Inspection datesingle source
11 May 2026
- Inspectors verified
Amy Wilkinson
- Postcode verified
WA3 3TH
- Name on report verified
Little Angels St Thomas
- Safeguarding verified
Met
- URN verified
2768546
Deep dive
What this report says
In plain English
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Grade profile
Each judgement on its scale, weakest to strongest.
- AchievementExpected
- Behaviour, attitudes and routinesExpected
- Children's welfare and wellbeingExpected
- Curriculum and teachingExpected
- InclusionExpected
- Leadership and governanceExpected
Tone of the report
How positive or critical the inspectors' language is, from the words they chose. No AI involved.
In line with other reports of this type.
How the report reads, start to finish
Every paragraph in order, sized by length. Tap one to see it on the page.
Strengths
Quoted from the report. Tap to see it on the page.
- Overall, staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and support them to understand the boundaries of the setting in a positive way. p.2
- Children are well settled at the pre-school and have formed close bonds with the staff that know them very well. p.2
- They are very well supported to develop independence skills. p.2
- Parents highlight their children's progress and enjoyment at the setting as some of the biggest strengths. p.3
- They state that their children love coming and are making positive progress. p.4
Concerns
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No strong criticism found.
Next steps
Quoted from the report. Tap to see it on the page.
- This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register. p.4
- This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register. p.5
- Leaders should continue to support staff to access further professional development opportunities to help to develop their teaching skills to an even higher level. p.6
- Leaders and staff should continue to build on ways to further support children that speak English as an additional language to make the best possible progress in their learning. p.6
What the report dwells on
Topics by how often they come up, coloured by how they are described. Open one for an example.
Anatomy of the report
How the report is built, against others of the same type and grade.
- Pages
- 8
- Words of findings
- 1,747
- about usual (typical 1698)
- Reading level
- Hard
- Flesch 47, typical 43
- Average sentence
- 17 words
- Next steps
- 4
- typical 3
- Hedged sentences
- 3%
- “some”, “not always”, “most”…
Where the words go
Full report text
Little Angels St Thomas
Unique reference number (URN): 2768546 Address: St. Thomas C Of E Junior & Infant School, Church Street, Golborne, Warrington, WA3 3TH Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises Registered with Ofsted: 12/12/2023 Registers: EYR, CCR, VCR Registered person: Little Angels (NorthWest) Limited
p.1
Safeguarding standards met
The safeguarding standards are met. This means that leaders and/or those responsible for governance and oversight fulfil their specific responsibilities and have established an open culture in which safeguarding is everyone's responsibility and concerns are actively identified, acted upon and managed. As a result, children are made safer and feel safe.
p.1
How we evaluate safeguarding
When we inspect settings for safeguarding, they can have the following outcomes:
p.1
How we evaluate safeguarding
Met: The setting has an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not met: The setting has not created an open and positive culture of safeguarding. Not all legal requirements are met.
p.1
Achievement Expected standard
Children evidently make effective progress in relation to their starting points. They are very well supported to develop independence skills. For instance, they put on their coats to go outdoors, wash their hands before eating and unpack their own lunch boxes independently. They also show confidence in pouring their own drinks and serving different fruits at snack time. Furthermore, children show well-developed social skills as they take turns, listen to each other and play cooperatively together for extended periods.
p.2
Achievement Expected standard
Children show positive attitudes towards learning and are motivated to join in and try new things. This is evident when they enjoy drawing in sand. This nurtures their fine motor skills and interest in early writing in a fun way. Children also show enthusiasm and high engagement when playing in the mud kitchen. They discuss their intentions and ideas with their peers and enjoy making mud pies. In addition, children develop their imagination as they pretend they are going on holiday and discuss what they need to pack in their suitcase. They also use lots of mathematical language as they explore play dough and discuss different sizes, lengths and shapes. Overall, children are suitably well prepared for their next stage of learning and eventual move to school.
p.2
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Leaders and staff are positive role models for children. They encourage them to join in and try new things and acknowledge their efforts and new achievements. Overall, staff have high expectations for children's behaviour and support them to understand the boundaries of the setting in a positive way. They encourage children to tidy up and treat the resources with care. Staff use a range of objects to help children understand different transitions throughout the day. For instance, staff show children a plate to indicate it is time to eat lunch. Children are well mannered and polite. They listen well throughout the day and understand the expectations of the setting. They also show kindness and consideration and help each other. Furthermore, children show well-developed concentration and perseverance skills when imaginatively playing in the mud kitchen and engaging in potion making with bubbles.
p.2
Behaviour, attitudes and establishing routines Expected standard
Children frequently explore stories and resources that help them develop an understanding of different feelings and emotions, such as 'The Colour Monster'. Staff regularly support children to articulate how they feel. This supports children's emotional wellbeing, confidence and personal development. Leaders and staff place a sharp focus on the importance of regular attendance. Parents highlight the positive support they receive from staff to ensure that children attend regularly.
p.2
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Children are well settled at the pre-school and have formed close bonds with the staff that know them very well. They frequently smile, laugh and invite staff to join in with their play. It is evident they feel secure. Children are very independent and lead their own play well. They enjoy making choices and spending equal amounts of time indoors and outdoors. Outdoors, they play a variety of ball games and engage in balancing on obstacles, crates and planks. This helps to build their stamina, balance and coordination. Staff generally work closely with parents to promote healthy lifestyles. For instance, they provide a recommended packed lunch list that encourages foods with high levels of nutritional value. They also engage in oral health projects with children and parents to help them to understand the risk of too many sweet drinks and how to ensure that children's oral health is best promoted.
p.2
Children's welfare and wellbeing Expected standard
Staff follow their policies and procedures in a diligent way. They are attentive and responsive to different children's needs. They quickly notice when children are unwell and provide tailored care and support until they are collected from the setting. They also provide quieter children with encouragement to join in and express their needs and feelings.
p.3
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders and staff offer an engaging curriculum that captures children's interests well. For instance, children have fun participating in an 'environmental sounds' activity, where they listen and identify different sounds in the garden such as birds, trains and cars. This helps to develop their attention and listening skills in an effective way. Children also explore different mathematical concepts, such as 'full' and 'empty' when experimenting with water and bubbles. This also supports their imagination and creativity as they pretend to make different drinks and potions. Children also join in with eagerness when dancing and playing structured ball games. This fosters their physical skills and coordination skills. Furthermore, children also delight in exploring play dough, role play and different construction resources and generally receive helpful support to hear new language and vocabulary. Despite the
p.3
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
staff members' warm and encouraging interactions with children, they do not always extend children's thinking skills and new knowledge to the very highest level.
p.3
Curriculum and teaching Expected standard
Leaders and staff monitor and assess children's ongoing development and progress. They gain helpful information about children's interests or recent experiences to help them plan new activities to support them to develop new knowledge and skills. Parents highlight their children's progress and enjoyment at the setting as some of the biggest strengths.
p.3
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders and staff create an inclusive environment. They work with parents to understand individual children's interests, home routines and stages of development. They swiftly identify when children may need additional support with their learning and make adaptations to their teaching and environment to ensure that they meet each child's different needs. Leaders and staff build positive relationships with other professionals to ensure that the correct support and funding is in place to reduce barriers to children's learning. They use funding effectively to buy resources and healthy foods to support children's health and development. Staff implement recommendations and strategies from the local authority inclusion team. For instance, they use real objects, such as a nappy to help children to understand what is going to happen next.
p.3
Inclusion Expected standard
Leaders and staff generally support children to learn about different cultures and backgrounds. For instance, they decorate a giant Chinese dragon when teaching children about Chinese New Year and participate in hand painting when learning about Eid. Despite these strengths, staff do not fully explore all ways of supporting children and parents that speak English as an additional language and gain an in-depth understanding of their culture.
p.3
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders and staff engage in ongoing evaluation and reflective practice and have an accurate view of the strengths and areas for focus at the setting. Staff benefit from a thorough induction and complete mandatory training, such as safeguarding and first aid, when they join. This helps them understand the setting's policies and procedures and their roles and responsibilities. They also have frequent supervision meetings where they can discuss their practice and personal effectiveness. Furthermore, they participate in termly staff meetings where they focus on planning the curriculum and identify what their different groups of children need. Despite these strengths, staff do not engage in a breadth of professional development opportunities that focus on further developing their teaching skills. This means that children's learning and development is not always fully developed and extended to the very highest level.
p.4
Leadership and governance Expected standard
Leaders and staff build effective partnerships with parents. When sharing feedback, parents express high levels of appreciation for the staff. They state that their children love coming and are making positive progress. They also express that staff 'go over and above' when supporting their children to move forward in their development. Leaders and staff have high integrity in relation to supporting children with special educational needs and/or disabilities and children that may face other barriers to their learning. They establish close working relationships with other professionals and use funding effectively to support positive outcomes for children.
p.4
Compulsory Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the compulsory part of the Childcare Register.
p.4
Register
When we check if settings meet the Compulsory Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:
p.4
Voluntary Childcare Register requirements
This setting has met the requirements of the voluntary part of Childcare Register.
p.5
Register
When we check if settings meet the Voluntary Childcare Register requirements, they can have the following outcomes:
p.5
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children show they feel happy and safe at the setting. They build secure relationships with adults and their peers. Consequently, they are relaxed and comfortable and show positive levels of enjoyment and emotional wellbeing. Children understand the routine and boundaries of the setting extremely well. They demonstrate well-developed play skills as they explore, take turns and persevere with activities for extended periods. Children benefit from a varied curriculum that supports their learning and development across all areas of learning. They have fun exploring the story 'We're Going on a Bear Hunt' and hear lots of new vocabulary, including mathematical language such as 'over' and 'under' as they act out the story and participate in an obstacle course. Children also learn about different animals and how penguins and polar bears live in cold and snowy habitats. They discuss how polar bears have fur to keep their bodies warm and how penguins swim in the sea. Children enjoy
p.5
What it's like to be a child at this setting
dancing to a 'good morning' song and enthusiastically dance and sing the words, showing that this is a popular and well embedded part of the children's day.
p.5
What it's like to be a child at this setting
Children's development and progress is carefully monitored during their time at the setting. Staff complete baseline assessments to identify their starting points and any areas they may need additional support with. Staff also carry out language and communication assessments to plan targeted support for children that need to boost their speech and language development. Staff work in close partnership with parents and other professionals to ensure that children with special educational needs and/or disabilities receive timely and effective additional support and funding. Consequently, all children make significant progress in relation to their starting points and are suitably ready for their next stage of learning and move on to school.
p.5
Address:
St. Thomas C Of E Junior & Infant School, Church Street Golborne Warrington WA3 3TH
p.6
Address:
Type: Childcare on non-domestic premises
p.6
Address:
Registered person: Little Angels (NorthWest) Limited
p.6
Address:
Operating hours: Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday,Friday : 09:00 - 15:00
p.6
Next steps
Leaders should continue to support staff to access further professional development opportunities to help to develop their teaching skills to an even higher level. Leaders and staff should continue to build on ways to further support children that speak English as an additional language to make the best possible progress in their learning.
p.6
About this inspection
The inspector spoke with leaders, staff, parents and children during the inspection.
p.6
About this inspection
We carried out this inspection under sections 49 and 50 of the Childcare Act 2006 on the quality and standards of provision that is registered on the Early Years Register. The registered person must ensure that this provision complies with the statutory framework for children's learning, development and care, known as the early years foundation stage.
p.6
Facts and figures used on inspection
This data was available to the inspector at the time of the inspection.
p.7
Exceptional
Practice is exceptional: of the highest standard nationally. Other settings can learn from it.
p.7
Strong standard
The setting reaches a strong standard. Leaders are working above the standard expected of them.
p.7
Expected standard
The setting is fulfilling the expected standard of education and/or care. This means they are following the standard set out in statutory and non ‑ statutory legislation and the professional standards expected of them.
p.7
Needs attention
The expected standards are not met but leaders are likely able to make the necessary improvements.
p.7
Urgent improvement
The setting needs to make urgent improvements to provide the expected standard of education and/or care. services providing education and skills for children and learners of all ages, and inspects and regulates services that care for children and young people.
p.7
Urgent improvement
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p.8
Urgent improvement
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p.8
Urgent improvement
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Urgent improvement
T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted
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