GRAND CAYMAN (GIS) – Little Trotters Farm and Nursery School has earned an ‘excellent” rating after last month’s schools inspection. The assessment is the highest award received by a Cayman Islands pre-school in recent history and follows a two-day assessment visit by an Office of Education Standards (OES) inspection team (15-16 January 2019).

The inspection framework, organised around judgements, uses a four-point scale, from excellent, good and satisfactory to weak. Schools inspections reports aim to support improvements to educational quality and to provide rigorous, independent and detailed information to key stakeholders including parents, civil servants and Government Ministers.

The inspection team’s evidence-based report is on Little Trotters is now available online at http://bit.ly/LTFNS . The 42-page document covers key assessment areas including leadership and management, the achievement of students, teaching, learning and assessment; safety and support, children’s behaviour, special needs provision; evaluating data extrapolated from staff/parent surveys and the links forged with staff, parents and the community.

Given the report’s recommendations designating Little Trotters as a “centre of excellence”, the pre-school is encouraged to continue supporting other early childhood centres by allowing visits to see best practice at work.

 “We are delighted and grateful for our recent rating by the Office of Education Standards,” said the pre-school’s Principal Josie Hoare. “It is an honour to hear that the talent, dynamism, hard work and passion of the staff has been acknowledged as excellent. We owe it to the children to be nothing less. Moving forward, we will continue to support increased unity and collaboration between all schools across all three islands.”

Acknowledging the support from the Education Ministry the Principal said: “The advice and corroboration that we have received from the Early Childhood Care & Education Unit (ECCE) has been invaluable. We have benefited from a strong relationship with its staff, who are tireless in the quest for standards of excellence in pre-schools.”

All of Cayman’s early childhood centres, both government and private, are offered support by the ECCE Unit. It provides advice and resources which include additional training (e.g. curriculum support and behaviour management); as well as setting up learning centres and providing of programmes for parent engagement.

The Education Law (2016) requires the regular inspection of all public and private educational institutions from early childhood to compulsory school age on the Cayman Islands. The Law places responsibility for inspection on the Office of Education Standards within the Cayman Islands Government.