Castleton Baptist Church Playgroup in Newport can display the Primary Quality Mark to show that it provides a framework for continuous improvement of the basic skills of the 43 children in its care. To gain the award, the playgroup was visited by accredited assessors who had to be satisfied that it placed a high priority on developing each child's numeracy and literacy skills by assessing and reviewing progress, encouraging parents to work with children, implementing an action plan to improve children's skills and providing staff training.
Alan Wells, director of the Basic Skills Agency, said, 'The Quality Mark will help schools and pre-schools to ensure their pupils are not restricted by poor basic skills, but are enabled to achieve the best they can.
'Castleton Baptist Playgroup show that they are taking literacy and numeracy seriously and making a real commitment to giving the children in their care the best possible start.'
Information about the Quality Mark can be found at www.basic-skills.co.uk.
