A NURSERY in Stirling received a “perfect 6” from inspectors following an unannounced visit.

Cornton Nursery was given grades of “excellent”, the top grade of 6 on the scale, across both areas of quality of care and support as well as for quality of management and leadership.

The report from the Care Inspectorate said: “Children thrived in the service due to the team's enabling attitude and belief in their potential.

“Care and support offered was targeted and right for the children and their families.

“The strong focus on emotional support and resilience helped to build children's confidence, self-esteem and sense of worth and belonging.

“The family based care and support resulted in strong and trusting relationships between staff and parents.

“A significant success of this service was its family and community work. 'Community Action Days' gave children the opportunity to educate others and raise awareness of issues affecting their area.”

The report praised many other aspects, such as effective foundations of staff practice, shared leadership and collective responsibility as well as the management’s “clear vision and respectful ways of working”.

Sam Smith, head at Cornton Nursery, said: “As a staff team, we are privileged to serve the community of Cornton, as well as continuing to develop children’s experiences and learning.”

Kevin Kelman, Stirling Council’s chief education officer and chief officer for people, said: “This is a fantastic report that shows children at Cornton Nursery are receiving the highest standards of care and support and are benefiting from a wide range of learning experiences.

“Huge congratulations to all the staff and the wider learning community at Cornton for these excellent findings.

“It continues the recent raft of positive reports within our early learning and childcare education provision, and we will continue our commitment to ensuring our children receive the best start in life so they can fulfil their potential.”