A STIRLING nursery has achieved the rare distinction of receiving the top grade in all areas of its inspection.

Hillview Nursery was awarded a mark of six – a rating of ‘excellent’ – for both its quality of care and support, and quality of management and leadership by the Care Inspectorate.

Only one per cent of nurseries earned this recognition from the 3,518 day-care services inspected by the national regulator in 2018.

The nursery becomes only the second establishment in Stirling to achieve this accolade in the 2018/19 academic session following Cowie Nursery.

Located in the St Ninian’s area of the city, Hillview Nursery cares for up to 36 pre-school children, along with a maximum of eight primary school pupils during the school holidays.

Irene McPherson, head of the nursery, said: “We are all absolutely thrilled with this report. 

"We are particularly pleased that the report recognises our nurturing, responsive educators and excellent compassionate care.  We are also overwhelmed by the heartfelt positive feedback from families, which validates the dedication of the staff team."

The report from the Care Inspectorate stated: “Nurturing interactions between the team and the children were very evident. The ethos was warm and inclusive which supported children to feel safe and secure.

“High quality communication and relationship building supported working in partnership with parents, which resulted in the team being extremely knowledgeable about children's needs and interests.

“Planning was very responsive to children's interests in nursery as well as at home. This had led to excellent outcomes for children.

“A highly skilled senior leadership team were very aware of the strengths of the nursery and their team as well as areas for further development.

“They measured outcomes and their impact, and identified priorities for improvement planning using their Standards and Quality Report.

“There were a wide range of self evaluation processes in place and the continuous cycle of improvement had a very positive impact on the children and their families.”

Parents also provided positive account of the service in the form of Care Standards Questionnaires (CSQs). Of the eight completed CSQs, seven had added additional comments, which highlighted a high level of satisfaction with the service.

All parents either 'strongly agreed' or 'agreed' that 'overall, they were happy with their child’s quality of care at the nursery.