A NURSERY that operates like a ‘small community’ is thrilled to be declared outstanding following a recent Ofsted inspection.

The inspector said The Farmhouse Nursery School in Witney has ‘exceptionally passionate’ leaders as well as an ‘abundance of exciting and challenging play and learning experiences’ for its children.

Staff at the nursery said they were delighted with the result and hope to continue to sustain its high standards into the future.

Nursery team leader Josie Richman said: “We are absolutely over the moon. It’s taken a lot of hard work but we have a very dedicated team who work very hard with our children.

“It’s my first year as manager and I’ve had to implement a number of changes to improve practice and how the nursery is run. "From a personal point of view I’m always striving to reflect on practice, and it’s lovely to have this result because we’ve all worked so hard.

“We have a great partnership with parents at the nursery and they really support us. They do fundraising and various events. We feel like we’re a small community.”

Inspectors visited the nursery at the end of March and published their findings earlier this month.

The report had high praise for staff and said children made rapid progress with their learning.

The report reads: “The manager is highly supportive and ambitious to offer a high-quality service for children and their families.

“She uses her qualifications and experience to great effect to support staff and identify training needs, for example, to help staff support children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities.

“Staff are kind, caring and committed to their roles. They help children to settle extraordinarily quickly and they tailor learning to meet children's individual needs.”

Ms Richman said she made use of the previous Ofsted report, in which the school was awarded a grade of ‘good’, to make improvements.

She continued: “What I did was go through the old Ofsted in 2015 and looked at the key areas to improve and worked hard to identify gaps and form strategies.

“We like to foster learning independence and skills in that area by offering opportunities to enhance their critical thinking with open ended tasks and activities.

“We always strive to improve things and we will continue to sustain our standards of excellence in practice and teaching.”

The nursery has a total of 58 children on its roll and has 13 children in each of its sessions.

It is privately run by J and A Education Ltd.